This transcript was taken from the Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on July 14, 2020. To listen to the program, please click HERE.
Sam Rohrer: Well, in our postmodern culture, where Hollywood, media of all types and Marxist inspired propaganda, all of them together, they work hard, don’t they? To diminish the importance of the role of fathers and men, and not only that, they aggressively attack the masculine and the chivalrous male. When all that’s happening, it’s time. It is past time to recalibrate our cultural thinking, regarding the importance of men and fathers and masculine males and loving and caring husbands, all of them go together, and with that, I welcome you to stand in the gap today. I’m Sam Rohrer and I’ll be accompanied today by the whole team. Dr. Gary Dull, and evangelist, Dave Kistler, and I’m glad that you’re with us.
I hope that you plan on staying with us the entire program, as we focus on an issue of extraordinary importance to God, the same God who created all of us, but created the first man, as we know, in the image of God, and then created a help mate, that he called Eve, and, together, this team formed the template for God’s plan for the blessed society, the model structure for marriage, for family, for propagation, and for a demonstration of God’s love for mankind, all of that’s there. It’s not a wonder that the devil and a God denying culture works so hard at destroying the nuclear family, redefining marriage, diminishing the sanctity of life generally, and certainly the importance of the fidelity of husband to wife and wife to husband, but there’s one entity that is focusing like a laser, on men and fathers, and attempting to do what they can to lift up, and once again, exalt the God designed position, most men and their role in the family, in society.
Now, that group is the Promise Keepers. I’m glad to have as our special guest, right now, today, Ken Harrison. He’s the chairman of that ministry. It’s a group that will soon be holding a national virtual conference for men in just a couple of weeks. The theme for today’s program is time for men to stand up. Promise Keepers 2020, and this is also our focus of prayer today, on this, our 52 Tuesday prayer initiative. Well, Ken, you’re there in an airport in a city down South, waiting to get on a plane, and I appreciate you being with us for this program right now. Good to have you back.
Ken Harrison: Thanks, Sam, love being on your show.
Sam Rohrer Well, Ken, we appreciate you and what you’re doing. Again, as I mentioned, you were with us last year, 2019, in August, and we talked about the purpose of Promise Keepers, what the original Promise Keepers was about and what you and others have done to revitalize that ministry. Last August, you were talking to us about a national event being planned in Dallas, where you’re hoping to get 80,000 men, but we all know COVID has entered in. It’s changed a lot of plans across the country. It’s changed yours as well, but the necessity, Ken, for men to stand up and the focus on men, obviously has not changed with you, and I’m glad that you are continuing to go ahead with an attempt to pull the attention of men to God, and from God’s perspective, what they ought to do, but our emphasis here hasn’t changed either, as we try to teach biblical worldview, which includes, in part, starting with who God is, and God’s plan for mankind, and that certainly starts with the creation of man and then what happened after that.
So let’s go here, if we could, share just a little bit here about… We have about four minutes or so in this first segment, about the mission of Promise Keepers and the focus, again, the focus of the upcoming event.
Ken Harrison Yeah, Promise Keepers, most people probably remember 7 million men went to Promise Keepers’ events in the 90s. Of course, Bill McCartney put it together and it really culminated at Stand in the Gap in 1997, with 1.4 million men going to DC and just having an amazing worship service, and Promise Keepers kind of went away, but coming back, really, our theme this year is stand strong, because what we have to do is call our men back to standing up and standing strong for what we need to be. Who are we? What is our identity in Christ? Because, as I talk to men, especially young men, they really have forgotten who they are, if they ever knew it in the first place, and so this event is going to be, not a religious event. Not a bunch of speakers telling you to be more religious or trying to tell you how to work harder to be a better man.
This is an event acknowledging that we’re all broken human beings, because I like to borrow from my friends, D. Brown, we’re just beggars, telling other beggars where we found bread, and so we’re going to have speakers who are authentic and broken and giving testimonies and amazing worship, but also some serious challenges about, it’s time to stand up and start acting like a man, and all the things that that means in Christ.
Dave Kistler: Ken, it’s great to have you aboard again and let me ask you this. I know there’s a lot of interest that has been peaked already, just by what you’ve shared on. I know mine has. Can you tell us a little bit here, in these final minutes, how the event is going to take place, when it is, and if somebody wants to get aboard the virtual event, how would they go about doing that?
Ken Harrison: Yeah, so the events free. We already have people signed up in 27 different countries. We already have a huge conglomerate of churches in India signed up. They’re translating into Indian, or, I guess that’s Hindi, so you can just go into promisekeepersevent.com. You can also get it from our website, which is promisekeepers.org, but the easiest is promisekeepersevent.com. It shows all the speakers. You can register. It’s free and you can go one of two ways. You can livestream it into your house, and we’re hoping guys will have groups with them, have a barbecue, have a bunch of friends over. Don’t watch this alone but bring other guys and have them be blessed and be able to speak. Talk about what you saw. Or you can get it simulcast through churches. We’ve already had hundreds of churches signed up, amazing in this COVID time, but we have a lot of churches that are going to be showing it in their church on a big screen, inviting men in to watch together.
Sam Rohrer: Wow, Ken, that’s a great thing and, again, we’ll get into more of the how, and who’s going to be speaking in the next segment, but in just a little bit, can you give us just an overview again of the focus? Go back again. If you could sum it all up, what is the purpose for this event?
Ken Harrison: The purpose is to call men to stand strong and remind men that, yeah, you screwed up and Jesus loves you anyway, and, yeah, your neighbor screwed up and Jesus loves him anyway too, and so we need to hold each other up as brothers in Christ, remind each other who we are, because we’re seeing the Me Too movement. We’re seeing the Black Lives Matter movement. We’re seeing a lot of people that are standing up and saying, “We have been oppressed. We haven’t been treated fairly. Who is going to help us? Who’s going to stand up for our rights.” And that is the place…
Christian men should be in the center of that, wherever we see oppression, wherever we see a lack of equality and a lack of justice, we should be the leaders of that movement, and we haven’t been. We’ve been silent and, of course, Sam, you and I come from the same worldview. I certainly don’t agree with most of what’s going on in those two movements, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all bad. It doesn’t mean everything is false, and had we been doing our job in the first place, as Christian men, those movements would never have occurred in the first place.
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Sam Rohrer: In Genesis, chapter one, in parts of verses 26 to 31, the Bible records, in part. “God said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, and image of God created He him, male and female created He them.” And then in verse 31, it says, “And then God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning, or the sixth day,” with the creation of man started with the male, that clearly assumed a perfectly designed help mate. Together, they are man, as in mankind, so it’s appropriate to emphasize God, creation, man, the male, certainly the female, but this purpose now we’re looking at the male, and that is what we talk about a lot here on this program. That’s God’s plan.
Ken, on your website at promisekeepers.org in particular, and then you have another you mentioned promisekeepersevent.com, you say this. Promise Keepers, a virtual experience. Now talking about the event coming up, you already shared a little bit, but tell us about this virtual experience, how it will work and how those who are listening can participate in this virtual experience?
Ken Harrison: Yeah, so if you go onto the website, you can just hit the register now button, put your information in. It’s free and they will start on July 31st and you’ll be able to watch it live. I think it starts at 8:00 Eastern Time. There was a little bit of flexing on that, but I think that’s when it starts, on Friday night, July 31st, and it’ll go for three hours and continue again Saturday for another three hours. The best way to do this is to come together with a group of men, because this is really an incredible worship experience. It’s all in. So we have all these great speakers, which we’re going to talk about in a minute. We also have some amazing worship. So we’ll have Michael W. Smith, Danny Gokey, Phil Wickham, Evan Wickham, Bishop Garlington, which will be a name a lot of guys from the 90’s Promise Keepers will remember.
There’ll be videos. There’ll be live speakers. This whole thing is meant to really move and to bring your spirit into a place of great worship in a really authentic way. We’re telling guys, “Listen, we’re going to talk about stuff that you can’t talk about in church. We’re going to be men talking about men’s stuff and we need to deal with our junk. We need to deal with,” Sam, you and I have talked about this a lot, “guys repenting and understanding that there are two things that are required. You are required to repent of your sins, even if you’re saved, acknowledge your sins before the Lord and God will come in and he will run to you like the prodigal son’s father, and pick you up in his arms and forgive you.” Both of those things are true.
Sam Rohrer: As we look at your website, Ken, we can see that people can register for the virtual event or attend the simulcast. What’s the difference between the virtual and the simulcast and why might a listener prefer the one above the other?
Ken Harrison: Yeah, so they’re both virtual. I think what you mean is live streamer or simulcast. Livestream means that you get it to your own computer and you can watch it yourself, so if you want to do it at home, as we talked about, have a barbecue or have a group of guys come over, boy, and we’re encouraging you to bring your sons, bring your son’s friends, who may have never really heard the gospel before, and watch this together as a group. That’s a livestream. You register. You download it to your computer. You can put it up on your Apple TV on your big screen. Simulcast is a more sophisticated thing that churches will do, so you can bring it into a vast arena church, whatever might work, and watch it together, and so pastors or executive pastors of churches would get the simulcast, to show it to a very large group of several hundred people.
Dave Kistler: Ken, I’ve already been to your website and noted the incredible array of speakers that you’ve got. I wonder if you could do this. If you could share just a few of the names or maybe go through as many of them as you possibly can, and then talk, if you could, a little bit about some of the subjects that are going to be the focus of this incredible array of speakers that you’ve slated for this year’s event?
Ken Harrison: That’s a great question. I love that you want to know about the subjects. I think maybe the best preacher in the world today is Dr. Tony Evans, so he’ll be on there. He was made famous by Promise Keepers and he made Promise Keepers famous back in the 90’s, that great sermon he preached at LA Coliseum, in front of all those people. Dr. Evans is going to actually preach about what it means to be a man of God. Mark Batterson, who’s one of my really good friends, a bestselling author, he’s an expert on prayer. He’s going to be speaking about grace because we’re going to talk about a lot of really tough stuff as men, and we want to make sure that guys understand that, even if you think you’re not good enough, you are.
Because one of the biggest things that hold a lot of men back is self-loathing. They know all the stuff they’ve done. They know all the junk that’s going on in their head. Well, what we want to let them know is God knows it already. He still loves you. Now get on your knees, repent of your sins, and let’s go. We don’t have time for you to walk around in self-loathing and self-pity. We need you to stand up because people are counting on you, especially your family. Miles MacPherson is going to preach a salvation message. That guy, he’s also become one of my really close friends, he can bring the word, man. He could preach a salvation message like nobody I’ve ever heard. We’re going to have Bob Goff speak. Steve Arterburn’s going to speak on the issue of pornography, sexual purity, again, towards your repentance. Pastor Steve Berger, who may not be really well known, is, I think, again, one of the best preachers in the world today. He has got a church in Franklin, Tennessee. He’s on our board. He’s preaching on repentance. It’s going to close out Friday night.
And then one guy I want to bring up a little bit is John Gray. John Gray, many of you may not have heard of him, but he’s become a very controversial figure. John had a bit of a falling a couple of years ago. Nothing adulterous or anything but a lot of accusations, a lot of junk. He’s actually going to talk about repentance and restoration. He’s going to preach a powerful message on, we all screw up. On a war, when someone gets wounded, we pick them up and we carry them off. We help them to get better, but we, in the church sometimes, we see people get wounded or screw up and we turn around and we shoot them, and we’ve got to stop that joke. We’ve got to be there for our brothers and sometimes our brothers need a swift kick in the rear end, and sometimes our brothers need us to pick them up and carry them off the battlefield, while they get better, and so John is going to preach a really powerful message, one that is needed from him about repentance and restoration.
Gary Dull: Well, that’s quite a lineup of subject matters, Ken. I have Tony Evans. I think most of our people know what it means to be a man of God. You said Mark Batterson on grace. Miles on salvation. Bob Goff on pornography. Steve Berger on repentance and then John Gray on repentance and restoration. That’s a great, great, great lineup. A question that some who are listening right now would say, “Well, I’m not a man. Can I watch too? This is going to be geared to men, but is it going to be limited and is it something that, suppose a teenager who doesn’t have a dad who’s there, whatever. Can he watch it by himself and any restrictions?” What do you advise those who are listening? Does age make a difference? Somebody 40 years old, but not 80? What do you say?
Ken Harrison: Sam, I don’t think you’re old enough to watch this. I mean, first of all, we know that women are going to watch and they’re going to be curious, so they’re going to say, “What are these guys talking about?” And I think that they’re going to be shocked. We actually have a women’s panel, speaking throughout some of this. Women who have been deeply wounded by men and who have forgiven them and how those men have repented and come to Christ and those women have accepted them back. We have some powerful stories that we’re going to tell during this. I think women are going to be really delighted. We talked about my book last year, Rise of the Servant Kings, where I said, in describing this book, what it is for a man to be a man of God. Really, the book is just a discipleship book wrapped up in men’s clothing. In order to be a real man, you need to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and then you can learn what it is to be a man.
Well, the same thing for a woman. This program will be kind of that same light, really authentic, clear messages on this issue of giving up your life to Christ. It’s just it’s dealing with men’s issues specifically, but I think women will be very blessed. As far as kids go, nothing will be inappropriate. Everything is tastefully said, even when we… And by the way, it’s not Bob Goff preaching on pornography. It’s Steve Arterburn, who wrote Every Man’s Battle. I did say that confusingly, but we are going to talk about pornography and what not, but not in a way that would be inappropriate. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be okay for most ages. The issue would be really whether a child is old enough to really understand what’s going on, more so than hearing something that might be too much for sensitive ears.
Sam Rohrer: We’re going to pray it down with the program, Ken, for men, and I’m going to ask you to pray. I’m going to tell people who are listening right now. This is our 52 Tuesday. Every Tuesday is an emphasis on prayer, and I thought what a better emphasis to have, than an event that is coming up and a focus on men. Those of you who are listening to me right now, whether you are a man or a woman, whether you’re married or you’re not married, or perhaps you’re widowed, your spouse has gone home to glory or is gone of some type, we all know that the importance of a man, as a husband, who is both courageous and bold at the same time, loving and just and kind. We all want that, right? We don’t see it very much because the culture is tearing down that concept that I just described because that’s God’s view of what a man ought to be.
This event we’ve made for you, no matter where you are in that mix, you can go. Go to the website, promisekeepersevent.com, and sign up and become a part of it and pray into it.
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Sam Rohrer Well, welcome back to Stand in the Gap today. Again, I’m Sam Rohrer, accompanied by Dave Kistler and Gary Dull and our special guest, Ken Harrison. He is the chairman of the board of Promise Keepers. He also author of a book, Rise of the Servant Kings, and he was a former Los Angeles County police officer, among other things, and it’s really interesting and, as we focus on men today. Our theme, time for men to stand up and we’re talking about an event that is before us, July 31st and August 1st, the organization, Promise Keepers, geared to men, will be holding an event and you can become a part of that.
Watch it a couple different ways, virtual on your home and your own computer or you can organize it as a part of a church and download it and present it to a whole group of people, but their website, promisekeepersevent.com, is where you can find all of that information, as well as the speakers and the theme, which we just went through in the last segment. This is, again, as I mentioned at the beginning of the program, this is our Tuesday program. We emphasize and have started since last November, every Tuesday, when it rolls around, to think specifically about the need for prayer for our country. Now, we did not anticipate, at November of last year, that there’d be such a thing called COVID or all of the… I’m going to use the word, many draconian policies that are being put in place and an entire world could be affected and lives altered.
It’s an amazing thing and we must not lose fact of what is happening and, in the middle of this, people are searching for truth. They should be anyways, and that truth’s only in God’s word, but I’m telling you that, from God’s perspective, God uses people, and men are a critical function of how God made mankind and the roles that he gave to men, to fathers, to husbands, and then the wives as well. We’re not focusing on the wives today, but together, it’s a combination that you can’t beat, even if you try to redefine it, like the courts have done, you do nothing but destroy what God has done, so our events today on men and the Promise Keepers event is about the purpose of helping to recalibrate, in the minds of our men and women, as far as that goes, what the role of the men is. But I want you to pray into this, pray with us.
Go to our website, americanpastorsnetwork.net and there you can sign up to be a part and join the large number of people who are registered to say, “I will, on Tuesdays when it rolls around, pray for our nation.” Let’s go back here to the why. The fact that God created male and female in the image of God and told them to subdue the earth, to steward it properly, to propagate and bear children, to populate the earth. That part’s a fact. That’s the what, but the more important information to know is why, and why is the proper performing, according to God’s plan for the man, for the woman and the family, why is that so important for God’s blessing on society and the nation? The book of Deuteronomy speaks a lot about fathers in particular, teaching their children and their grandchildren about the fear of God, the works of God, the ways of God and the blessings that come to children, and societies by extension, and nations, when they, as a group, yield themselves to following God’s plan for life and living, and that’s why we’re going to ask and focus in this segment now, the why.
Ken, you’ve told us the what in the Promise Keepers event, July 31st and August 1st, the how, virtual, the simulcast. You’ve shared the who, the whole list of speakers beginning with Tony Evans, from Texas, in regard to who can attend, and it can be anybody, women and, or men, but now I’d like to go a little bit more to the heart of this. The heart of Promise Keepers, your heart, and the why for the event. Why is the focus, Ken, from your own heart? Why is it focused on men, so important, and why is it so important now?
Ken Harrison: Yeah, Sam, you made a great point, that men and women together are the image of God, that man was created in image of God, and man is men and women, and so we see the two parts of God, fully masculine, fully feminine, and, right now, what we see is Satan is trying to destroy the image of God in all of us, and he’s trying to do that by destroying masculinity, actually making us be ashamed of masculinity, and so, therefore we have a very effeminate view of God right now. We want to call men back… All people, really, but men to teach their families who is God? What is his image? Because, right now, you hear people who are in gross sin, who say, “Well, Jesus loves me and so he’s okay with my sin.” Is he? Jesus loves you. He also loves that person you sinned against, just as much as he loves you. We have this narcissistic view of the love of Christ, that he loves me, but we forget he also loves the person you wounded.
If you have children and you’re listening to this, and you walk into the house and you see your son beating your daughter severely, what would you do to protect your daughter? Wouldn’t you walk up and punch your son in the face or do what ever you had to do to protect your daughter? Does that mean you love him less? No, but you love them both equally and you will do what it takes to protect them both, and why would we expect our Father in heaven to treat us any differently? If we’re sinning against his daughters, if we’re treating them with disrespect, wouldn’t we expect God to smack us upside the head?
And, in fact, scripture says that very thing, that he will discipline those he loves. If he’s not disciplining you, I’d be a little bit afraid, because if he loves you, he is going to discipline you and your sin, and we see this view of Jesus in a different way that I think is very poignant and I think a little shocking, maybe even to some people listening to this call, but we have this feminized Jesus that we, and it’s not negative when I say feminine, it’s just only half of who he is. We’ve taken out the masculine side of who he is. We see this over feminized Jesus, who we say is love. What did we even mean by that? And we have… I’m going to read a little passage of Scripture I think is very helpful.
Jesus comes back in a vision to John in Revelation, at the very end of the Bible. John takes one look at what Jesus looks like and he faints, as if one dead. This is John who walked with Jesus for three years, who knew him as well as anybody. He takes one look at what Jesus looks like in his glorified body and he’s still terrified. He faints like he’s dead, and Jesus has to pick him up, say, “Calm down, John,” and, by the way, I’ve got some letters for… I’ve got some things to say to the churches, and he says this to Thyatira after he talks about their good works. He says, “I have this against you. You tolerate the woman, Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed idols, now listen to this. I gave her time to repent but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Look, I will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent, and I will kill her children with the plague.”
Who are her children? Her children are those who have in this… Her name really isn’t Jezebel. He’s equating her to the wicked woman of old, who led Israel in sexual sin. Now this woman is in a church, teaching people the sexual sin. Her children are those who have taken a teaching and now were teaching others that, and what does he say? He’ll kill them with disease. And what is our problem today with COVID? Do we think that God is any different today? This is the Jesus of the New Testament, the last book of the Bible, pronouncing judgment on a church of deadly disease, and so, as we remember that Jesus loves us, let’s also remember he loves us but he hates sin and he hates a lack of justice and oppression on other people.
So that’s what we want to remind men of. Partly, who are you and who is God? And when you really understand who God is and who you are, then you can really appreciate his grace, that despite everything we are and everything that goes on in our minds and hearts, he still loves us. He still gave his life for us and he still says, “If you’ll just repent, I will give you great blessing and great joy. I will bless your family and your kids. But if you want to continue living in blatant sin…” Hebrews, chapter 10 is a pretty terrifying chapter that talks about Christians, who live in blatant sin and it ends up in Hebrews 10:31 saying, “It’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” So we’re going to be very clear about, yes, male, female are both representative of who God is, so let’s not forget both sides of who he is.
Gary Dull: Ken, on your website, you say that, more than ever, America needs revival of Godly men. I ask you, why is this revival so critical and, if indeed it took place, what would it look like?
Sam Rohrer: Well, one of the things that we see when men are locked in sin is they become cowards. We’ve seen that several times in the old Testament. We see where the rise of actual Queen Jezebel and then Queen [inaudible 00:27:24] down in the Judah kingdom, where men were shaken and cowardly, and it took one man, Jehu, to come in after Elijah called him up and make a difference, and so when we have men who are living in blatant sin, they become cowardly. I think they become cowardly because they sense an impending judgment on their lives, and we’re calling me out and saying, “Satan’s going to tell you that you failed and that you can’t. God says you failed and you can, through my power, if you’ll just repent.” So this revival is so important because we could do this again.
Guys, in 1739, the out of wedlock birth rate in the American colonies was 39%. Today, the out of wedlock birth rate in America is 39%. In 1740 came the great awakening, such an incredibly powerful revival that whipped through the land because of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. America was so utterly transformed that, 40 years later, it was still so powerful, that it resulted in the constitution of this great United States. We can do this. Satan wants to tell us we’re defeated. We’re not defeated. We just need to rise up and remember who we are.
Sam Rohrer Rise up and remember who we are. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that, regardless of who you are and what your name is, we all have different names, right? That your name is written down in God’s book of life and that your identity, regardless of whether you’re old or young, male or female, black or white, whatever it is, whatever you are, that you, first of all, your identity is in Jesus Christ, as a son of God, a child of God an ambassador of Jesus Christ. That would make all the difference in this country, wouldn’t it, if people were to think in terms of who we are, relative to who God is? Throughout all of scripture, God highlights men, and men who grasp the importance of their biblical role, and oftentimes, it’ll highlight men who refused to grasp the understanding of their biblical role, but one who did grasp it appropriately is the man, Joshua, and he declared to the entire nation in Joshua 24:15, he said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
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A man leading a family, a man leading a nation, a man with boldness, who knew who he was and knew exactly what was needed in that nation, and that was to draw a line and said, “You’re either on God’s side or you are on some side opposed to God.” And he said, “Far as me, just let it be clear, I’m telling you what’s going to happen with me and my house.” King David gave Solomon his son a roadmap for being a King. When he was about to transition in second Chronicles 28:9 and 10 are two verses that actually David gave to Solomon a pathway for his purpose of rebuilding the temple, but then similar things were said when he transitioned and how he should perform as King.
Let me just read two verses. He said, “And now, Solomon, my son, know now the God of our father.” In other words, know my God. “Serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind.” It’s the heart and the mind together, right? Said, “For the Lord searcheth all hearts and understands all the imagination of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found of you, but if you don’t, he said he’ll cast you off forever.” And then he goes on and says, “Now be strong and do it.” And another verse from David to Solomon, he said, “Be a man. Be bold. Be courageous and just do it.” Well, that’s a great lesson for all of us today. Just do it. Ken, the importance of a decision to fear God and serve him is where it starts. That’s what you were talking about earlier will be the thrust of the messages that individuals will be presenting at the event, July 31st, and then on August the 1st.
Talk just a minute, if he could, about why it’s important, not only for men to pray, and to pray for their families, pray for all men generally, but also for Christian men and fathers to pray. We need to pray for these individuals, and then I’d like you to pray accordingly, so do just a few of that explanation, then I’d like you to lead in prayer and then, Dave, I would like you to follow and pray for men, I’m just going to tell you, however you feel led to pray for men across the country, then Gary, you the same thing, and if there’s time, then I will close again. This is our 52 Tuesday prayer initiative, certainly praying for our country, praying for men. Our focus here, a good emphasis. Ken, go back to you now.
Ken Harrison: We talked about the great awakening of 1740 and, what a lot of people don’t know, is when Jonathan Edwards preached that great sermon, ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’, there were 8,000 people who were praying during that sermon. America, the colonies, people were so filled with an angst over the sin, and really back then the biggest sin, besides sexual sin, which always seems to be one of the main ones, was alcoholism, which led to violence. The entire country was changed so substantially and I think about what it says in James five, that the original request of a righteous person is very powerful when it’s in effect, and then it talks about Elijah being a man with a nature, just like ours, praying that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t rain for three and a half years, and then when he prayed that it would rain, down came a flood.
And so Satan wants us to live in defeat, when in reality, we have such great power at our fingertips, that those who are righteous, those who have had their sins washed away by Jesus Christ, if we urgently seek him, if just a handful of us would be diligent in our prayer, seeking him, God will bring revival on this land.
Father, I thank you so much for this incredible power that you’ve given us, and I pray that you forgive all of us, especially me for not revealing myself of it enough, that we have not sought you with prayer and fasting the way we should. It’s so hard. We get caught up in the busyness of the day, even the busyness of you, or thinking that we’re serving you and we forget that the number one thing that you want is a relationship with us, which you want like a father with his child, as you want us just to crawl up in your lap, be content in your presence.
So, God, I pray that we would learn to be at the fountain of your joy, the relationship with you of being a father. You’re not a task master. You’re not a slave master, but you say that if we do your will, you’ll call us your friends. What an incredible privilege and honor. And so, Lord, I pray that you would not only bring revival, but, God, would you make this spirit spread amongst everyone listening on the radio right now and across this land, a spirit of prayer, spirit of seeking you out.
Lord, I pray that we would have such an urgency within us to be with you every moment, that we would truly be able to do what you commanded us to do, which is to pray without ceasing words. And also, God, I pray that prayer that you said, Jesus, as you are on earth. He said, “Father, let them be one, as you and I are one.” And he would not have prayed that, Jesus, if it couldn’t have come true, and so we pray that you would make us, this time for the first time in 2000 years, you would bring a oneness to the church in America and across the world, unified, Lord, in equality. We pray this in your name.
Dave Kistler: Heavenly father, I do thank you for the day you’ve given to us. Thank you, Lord, for this vivid clear reminder, as to what you want men to be, what you want all people to be and, Lord, if I could ask of you three things today, it would be this. That you would help the men of America to desire you. Lord, as the scripture says, as the deer pants after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, oh, God. Father, may we desire you like a deer searching for a cool stream of water, then, Lord, may we be your disciples? May we walk in your word and your will and in your ways, and then, Lord, beyond that, I pray you would grant to the men of America great discernment. Lord, may we be like 1 Chronicles 12, says the men of Ziklag were, may we be men in America who understand the times, to know what America ought to do. Father, grant this, I pray. Bless this upcoming event. Use it powerfully.
Bless further Ken, oh, God and all that he’s endeavoring to do and, father, may this be the stimulus for revival in our land and for this we’ll thank you. In Jesus’ name.
Gary Dull: Father, as we read through the book of Jeremiah, we are told that the folks that you delight in are those who get to know you and glory in you, and as Ken works together to put together this great upcoming event, I pray that all the men who participate will come to know who you are, what you expect and how you operate. Where repentance is needed, may it be done. Where revival is needed, may it occur. And, Father, we just pray that you’ll be the one who is glorified through it all. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Sam Rohrer: And heavenly father, as we continue today, what a tremendous thing that Ken in Florida and Dave in Illinois and Gary in Western Pennsylvania, and me in the Eastern Pennsylvania, can, with thousands of others across the country, actually come before you together, united in prayer. What a tremendous, tremendous blessing you’ve given us, Lord, and as Ken has prayed, we confess, oh, Lord, that we do not utilize the power of prayer as we ought, and you’ve told us, Lord, that when we come before you, we can expect the prayer to be answered, if we come with clean hearts and clean hands, and, Lord, you’ve told us that if we regarded [inaudible 00:37:18] in our heart, you will not hear us. So, Lord, I admonish. I hope. I pray for all of us who are listening. We look in our own heart, and if we have unconfessed sin, if there’s bitterness or anger or malice or any number of things, Lord, idolatry of all types that we are embracing, that we would confess that, because if we don’t, you won’t even hear our prayers.
We want our prayers to be answered, so we come to you on your terms, and we pray that that happens in this event that is coming up. Thank you for the program today. Thank you for who you are. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being with us today and stay in this attitude of prayer. Pray into this event.
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