Ep295, How to have God's life living in your Part 193
Teachings On The Prayer Life Of Paul, A Warning About Pat Robertson, And A Song From H.B. Barnum's LIFE Choir
World pastor Tony Alamo preaches program number 295 of his series How to Have God's Life Living in You, teaching on the Apostle Paul's prayer life, warning listeners about Pat Robertson, and reading testimony letters from New Jersey and a California prison, with music from H.B. Barnum's LIFE Choir.
Program 295 Opens With A Prayer Against Rome
Tony Alamo opens program number 295, part 193 of his series How to Have God's Life Living in You, telling listeners to keep paper and pen ready to request a copy of the broadcast, since Sharon will give four ways to do so at the end. He leads an extended opening prayer, thanking God for the privilege of communicating with the throne and praising the Lord as Holy, Holy God. Alamo prays against what he calls a second attempt by the Vatican to win world power, comparing today's media and "democracy" rhetoric to Hitler's Germany and the burning of the Reichstag, which he likens to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He asks the Lord to destroy the Antichrist and strengthen the church against the tactics of what he calls the Rome-based cult, and prays for American troops being sent to Iraq. The congregation answers amen as he moves into music.
H.B. Barnum's LIFE Choir Sings Higher Ground
Tony Alamo introduces H.B. Barnum, an old friend from his years in the music industry before either man was saved, calling him one of the best arrangers, directors, and producers in the world and now the choir director at his church. He plays "Moving Up to Higher Ground," performed by Barnum's LIFE Choir, telling listeners they can receive an album of the recording for a $15 tax-deductible love gift. After several minutes of music, Alamo returns to teaching that all power, wisdom, and strength belong to Jesus in heaven and on earth, and that God must receive the very first and best of a person's allotted dispensation of time on Earth. He contrasts time spent chasing money or worldly knowledge with time spent in fellowship with the Lord, insisting that without that fellowship, preaching and labor carry no real power anywhere, whether on Earth or beyond it.
A Warning About Pat Robertson And Two Testimonies
Alamo criticizes televangelist Pat Robertson by name, recalling his run for president followed by his claim he no longer wanted to be called a minister, calling the flip-flop double-minded and a bad testimony to the gospel. He recalls his late wife Susie once comparing such preachers wearing "metal hats" on television to a coming embarrassment for all genuine believers, and urges listeners to pray for Robertson and similar ministers rather than mock them, citing the biblical test that a true prophet's predictions come to pass. Sharon then reads two brief listener letters: one from Roseland, New Jersey, thanking Tony for giving people hope and direction, and a longer one from David in Corcoran, California, a prison inmate saved since April 2004 who read Alamo's article "Difficult Mountain" in the Sacramento Bee and requests literature to share with fellow inmates. Alamo thanks both writers and blesses them before returning to his main teaching.
Paul's Example Of Praying Before Reading
Alamo teaches that believers should imitate the Apostle Paul, quoting "Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" from First Corinthians, and describes telling his son Zion that prayer must come before Bible study so the Holy Spirit can direct which book and chapter to read. He describes narrowing a passage down verse by verse through a felt sense of tightening or flowing in his chest, and recalls receiving unexpected insight this way, including understanding of the seven thunders in Revelation that he says he had never heard taught before. Moving into Paul's letters, Alamo reads from First and Second Thessalonians about believers being established, sanctified wholly, and comforted in every good word and work, explaining that God wants to expand a believer's heart the way a contractor enlarges a small shack into a mansion, even when the remodeling is painful.
Tracing Paul's Prayers Through The Epistles
Continuing his survey, Alamo moves through Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, reading Paul's repeated statements that he prays without ceasing for the saints, for Israel's salvation, and for spiritual gifts of wisdom and revelation among believers. He contrasts this outward-focused prayer life with people who only ask blessings for their immediate family, calling that kind of praying selfish, and emphasizes verses promising that God will supply every need and strengthen believers with might in the inner man. Alamo stresses that Paul asked congregations in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Colossae, and Philippi to pray for him specifically, framing this mutual intercession as the "unity of the body of Christ" rather than the religious unification he says the world and the Vatican are currently pushing. He tells listeners that permitting the Holy Spirit to work powerfully is the only way this truth becomes real insight rather than mere head knowledge.
Numbers Chapter Sixteen, A Vision, And A Sinner's Prayer
Alamo previews tomorrow's reading from the sixteenth chapter of Numbers, recounting how Dathan and others rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were swallowed into the earth or burned for approaching the Lord's temple without being chosen. He warns that going to church is no guarantee of safety from God's judgment, recalling Miriam being struck with leprosy for opposing Moses, and describes his own vision at the time of his salvation in which questions poured from his heart while answers flowed back from heaven faster than he could process them. Running low on time, Alamo leads a spoken sinner's prayer inviting Jesus into the heart and promising forgiveness and assurance of salvation to anyone who prays it sincerely. Sharon then gives four ways to request program 295: the ministry's website, its Texarkana, Texas post office box, a phone number, and a fax number, and the broadcast closes with the choir's recording of "Teach Us to Pray."
