You can't be too bold, he says.
You're coming to a king, large petitions. That reminded me of
a true story of a king, ancient king, days gone by, who was going
to grant to a peasant, going to grant favors to a peasant,
and the peasant came in before the king, and the king had all
of his servants and all there with him
and the peasant king said ask what you will and the peasant
asked for a huge huge request huge sum of whatever and one
of the servants of the king started to strike the man down for his
presumption and his boldness and brashness to act to be so
you know presumptuous for the king king stopped him said don't
don't do that he honors me he's honored me I told him I would
give him whatever he requested and he asked great things and
I'm able to do it I'm going to give him everything he asks and
that's what our Lord said there Isaiah 7 may we don't trust him
enough all right Ephesians 6 this is the final message in this
study and the armor of God, the believer's
warfare, and the final message in our study of the book of Ephesians.
You remember this started out in the Bible study on Sunday
morning. We studied through the book of
Ephesians, and we're going to finish it up tonight. Lord will
it. Now, the apostle concludes his allegory or his typology
of the armor of God for the believer. And he concludes by saying this
in verse 18. This is the last thing in this
allegory. Praying always, along with taking
this armor, he says, Praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. He says, always, with all prayer. In other words, he says that
we should always be praying, and in all ways or manner of
prayer, whether it be silently in our minds, or audibly, out
loud, vocally, or privately in our homes, in our closets, or
publicly together as a church, with all prayer. always pray
and everything. Now, everything we do should
be preceded with prayer and everything should be concluded with it.
Now, he's been talking about this armor and he says in verse
eleven, put on the armor. Verse thirteen, take unto you
this armor. that you may be able to be able
to stand. Verse 14, have your Lawrence Girt with the truth,
be chopped, take the shield of faith, take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So
how do we do anything? How do we do anything except
we ask the Lord for the strength To do it, we can't. He said without
him we can do nothing. How do we do anything? How do
we? Approach any task, especially this thing, spiritual things. Without asking the Lord for the
will, the strength and the grace to do it, we can't fight. Can't
fight. Unless you're looking to our
captain. For his strength. I told you
how much I like to read these old seafaring books and I found
an author I like particularly well. I finished the one, I can't
wait to get to the next one. But his principal character in
it is a man of great character and strength and courage and
leadership and so forth. And he inspires his men to do great
things. great thing and they are emboldened
and they are encouraged only. As they look to him. And he knows
that he knows he cannot let down his guard he cannot. Appear to be frightened or anything. And so these men look to him
and they are. Strong and courageous to do great
things for him. That's the way it's always been.
And especially in this thing of spiritual things, we can't
do anything without looking to our Lord himself. So this is
most important, is it not? We receive all our strength,
all our courage, all of our grace from our captain. So we look
to him. Verse 18, he says, now praying
always, praying always. He says this quite often. Let's
just skim through here a little bit. Philippians, go over to
the next book. This is the next epistle of Paul,
prison epistle, one of them. Philippians 4. Paul says this
often, and I'll tell you where he got it. He got it from our
Lord, who said in Luke 18, our Lord gave that parable of the
importunate widow, that men ought always to pray, not to thank.
Our Lord gave that, you remember the parable, the widow came to
the unjust judge and kept asking him. And even that unjust worldly
man said, I'm going to give her what she wants, she's bothering
me. And our Lord said, shall not the judge of the earth, shall
not God avenge his very elect? Which cried unto him, oh yes,
speak. And our Lord said that men ought
to pray, always pray and not quit. Well, Paul picked up on
that. He sure did, he learned, and
he said it always. Philippians 4 verse 6, be careful,
that is, don't be overly anxious or full of care over anything. Careful for nothing, that means
don't bear the care yourself, it's not yours to bear. But in
everything, by prayer, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, Let your request be made known unto God and the
peace of God. This peace seems to be to come
from this unburdening, doesn't it? It's casting your care on
Him in prayer. And that peace of God which passes
finite understanding shall keep your heart and mind through faith
in Christ, through Christ. Go over to Colossians chapter
4. Book of Colossians chapter 4. Paul says it again. Verses 2 and 3. You have it. Colossians 4. Continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving with all. Pray also for us that
God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ for which I am also in bonds. That's just exactly
what he said there in Ephesians 6, was it not? 1 Thessalonians.
Here, 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 2. Now, Paul does what he tells
us to do, doesn't he? He practiced what he preached.
He said in verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you all. Making
mention of you in our prayer, always. Paul says that in all
of his prayer, always. We never cease to give thanks
for you. What he tells us to do, he did. The Lord sure blessed
Paul, didn't he? Chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 5, you have it, verses 17 and 18.
Pray without ceasing, in everything. Give thanks, for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 2 Thessalonians 3, 2 Thessalonians
3, verse 1. Brethren, pray for us, that the
word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even
as it is with you. So, go back to the text of Ephesians. So we're exhorted, and not just
exhorted, we're commanded. Whatever the Lord says, it's
a command. It's not an advice. We're commanded. Pray without
ceasing. Pray always. Praying always. This is not... Our Lord taught
us how to pray. Our Lord's model of prayer is
the way we are told or taught by Him to pray. After this manner
of praying, He said, I follow. Now He doesn't mean exactly according
to those words or repeat it every time like that. That's not what
He said. But the essence of what He's teaching, the, you know,
But what he says in that prayer is what we're to, the attitude
we're to have in prayer and the things we're to pray for. But
this is not a how-to message on prayer, but just an exhortation
to prayer. Okay? Pray in all that. Prayer,
I will say this about prayer. Prayer is not, certainly not
the posture. Bending the knee, bowing down,
is biblical. I recommend that in prayer. Our Lord did that. But that's
not what we're told to do all the time. That's not the important
thing. Even the words that we pray are not so much important as
an attitude. Prayer is an attitude. Prayer
is a, and I don't mean bad act, I mean prayer is an attitude
of heartfelt thanksgiving, an attitude of worship, of thanksgiving,
a desire to commune with our God. Some old writers said it's
better to have a heart without words than words without heart. Prayer is worship. What is prayer? Prayer is worship. It's a time
of worship. Prayer is worship, and we worship
our Lord in prayer by giving thanks. That's the chief way
that we worship our God is by giving thanks, and everything
by prayer with thanksgiving. Prayer is worship in praise. We praise Him. We acknowledge
who he is and we extol and honor and want to praise him. Prayer is giving, making requests
of God. Making our, let your request
be known. We're coming to a heavenly father. And we, we can talk,
well, we're told to in everything. Let your request be known. We
can come to our heavenly father and speak to him more intimately.
than our own earthly body. Prayer is making requests or
petitions, praying always without ceasing. Why should we pray without
ceasing? Well, prayer is, as I said, prayer
is praise and worship. And our God is worthy. He's worthy
of every breath we breathe. We're a very needy people. We're
so dependent upon the Lord for everything. Without him, we can
do nothing. We can't take a step without
falling on our face if the Lord doesn't hold us up. So we pray
without ceasing. We're very poor and we're very
needy. So we should call on him always,
without ceasing, in prayer. Go back to Philippians 4 that
we read a moment ago. Look at this again. Some of you
love these verses, don't you? I know you do. You've told me
so. Philippians 4, verse 6, he says, Be careful for nothing
but in everything by prayer at all times. In everything by prayer
at all times concerning all things. There's nothing too minor. There's
nothing too small that you can't approach your heavenly father
with. In everything. Doesn't it say
that? In everything. Now, I would not advise you to
ask others to pray with you or for you about every single thing
there is. That's not reasonable. People
do that all the time. To me, call me up or talk to
me and want me to pray for their uncle, jims, wife, cousins, nieces,
big toes full of... You know, pray for yourselves. Don't burden other people. They
have enough things to pray about. But you can't overburden the
Lord with anything. And nothing's too small or too
minor to approach Him about. It's presumption on our part
if we don't, if we think we can do anything. We're not sufficient,
Paul said, to even think anything right. Didn't he say that? We're not sufficient of ourselves
to think. So he says in everything. And
everything always with Thanksgiving verse six. I like this. Everything by prayer and supplication. With Thanksgiving. Let your request
be not. Thanksgiving. An attitude of
Thanksgiving and prayer will reduce your request to great. We need to be more thankful for
what we have, and that would make us ask for less, wouldn't
ask for much less. Now, the Lord knows what things
we have. Go back to the text. The Lord
knows what things we have need of even before we ask. Scripture
says. Doesn't it? Yes, He does. He
knows. He looks on the heart. He knows. I saw one thirty nine is not
all you're thinking you don't know what a far off. But yet
we're told to ask and we'll receive I don't fully understand this
nobody can. But this is what the Lord says
to do so what should we do. And keep asking. The proverb
says is in all that way technology. That is, seek his will, seek
his wisdom, seek his direction, seek his leader in all thy way.
Acknowledge him. And he shall direct thy steps.
That path. Prayer does not change things.
I know what modern people say. They like that little slogan,
don't the prayer change this thing? It doesn't change a thing.
It never has changed a thing. Known unto God, I quote that
a lot. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning.
Reason I quote it so much is because nobody else is, except
grace preachers. I don't believe anybody knows
that verse, except believers. But prayer doesn't change anything. Prayer does not change God's
purpose. He purposed all things in Christ
before the world began. But prayer, what does prayer
do? Prayer does something to us. Prayer does something to us,
does things to us. Prayer makes us conscious of
God, makes us conscious of God. Prayer makes us conscious of
our dependence upon God, of our need. Prayer makes us conscious
of His will. We seek His will, His Word. Prayer makes us conscious of
our responsibility. Prayer makes us conscious of
others. So prayer is not only worship and praise and thanksgiving
and requests, but it is, it does, it's very profitable for us. And it honors God, because God
said to do it. And I've never forgotten this.
When Pharaoh Griswold years ago said this, I've never forgotten
it. He said, why does the Lord tell us to pray for things? Because. If we ask, if we don't ask for
things and we receive them anyway, then we won't acknowledge that
God gave them. We just think it happened. That's
what the world does. They just think it happened.
And they call it things like love, you know. But if we do
call upon God and He grants them, then we acknowledge that He gave
them. They said, ah, the Lord answered my prayer. Does that
make sense? I'll never forget when I heard
that. It made perfect sense to me. All right, prayer is not only
these things, but it is casting all your care upon Him. It is
unburdening yourself. It's a good thing to unburden
yourself, you know. As much as we like to have a
good friend, a close friend, somebody here, a husband, a wife,
a brother, a sister, somebody, parents, to unburden ourselves
at times. We really cannot confess our
sins to one another. We're told to confess our faults
but not our sins. We really cannot open up completely. with a human being. Number one,
we just don't know what it's going to do, what the consequences
might be of that revealing our innermost secrets. But there
is somebody who can. I mean, just totally open up,
bare your soul unto the Lord without fear of being rejected
or whatever. And he does nothing about it.
He's the only one that can remove the guilt. So pray in all ways. And prayer is repentance. But
I advise you, all of us, men especially, who lead in prayer,
don't repent when you're publicly praying. Don't do that. That's a private thing. I mean,
we all know how bad each of us are. Don't go on and on about
how rotten I am. We all know that. Just ask the
Lord to forgive us our trespasses. That's what the Lord says, forgive
us our trespasses. We don't repent publicly. We sure do privately. We need
to confess all our sins before the Lord to purchase from every
iniquity. All right, verse 18, he says,
praying always with all prayer. Now, this is written to the church,
OK? This whole epistle is written
to the church, collectively. We're the church. It's written
to the church at Epstead. And it's written to all of God's
people, collectively, to the church. And he tells us that
we need to always, in every manner, in every way, every way possible,
be about this thing of prayer. I don't privately but publicly
this right here this Wednesday night used to be called. Prayer
meeting. Then. My dad still called. I'll hear him all the time said. I won't preach. In the prayer
meeting. That's what we used to call it.
Prayer meeting. And I remember distinctly as
a young man that there was more prayer, it seems, made on a Wednesday
night because that's what it was. It's a good thing. But look
at the early church. Let's go back to the book of
Acts. The early church, as they met together, were always about
this thing of prayer. All prayer. Always praying and
all opportunities in every way calling Now, the Lord had just ascended back to
heaven, and it says the disciples all went back up to the upper
room where they started, went back together, and others joined
them. Verse fourteen. Acts one, verse fourteen. These
all continue with one accord. That is, one heart and mind in
prayer and supplication with the women. This time the women
were included. So ladies, here we are. We're in the upper room
again. There are about a hundred and
twenty disciples in up there. A hundred and twenty. And they
continued in prayer. Chapter two, over here. Chapter
two, verse forty-one and forty-two. It says, those that gladly received
the word were baptized. Same day, they were added unto
them about three thousand souls. This is Pentecost. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in breaking of
bread and in prayers. Chapter 12, go over there. I
know you're tired, but refresh yourself here with God's Word.
Take a big drink with me, all right? Chapter 12, verse 5. Chapter 12. was kept in prison,
the prayer was made without ceasing in the Church of God. They were
so worried about you. I know a young man, we're concerned
about him. And to pray without ceasing. Without ceasing. Not a day goes
by I don't think about it. What did the Lord do? He got
Peter out of prison. Did he do it because they were
praying for him? He did it because he determined
to, but did he do it? Yeah. He honored them as a church
by answering their prayer. Chapter 16, Acts 16, Acts 16. You can be sure the Lord will
honor what he tells us to do, and we do it. Acts 16, verse
13, on the Sabbath, we went out of the city, Paul said, Paul,
Silas, Timothy, by a river where prayer was wont to be made. There
were some ladies, a bunch of ladies, that liked to gather
down by the river and pray. The Lord blessed them. How old
did he? One lady in particular, named
Lydia. And on and on we could go. After
that, well, let's go back to the text. We've got to go on.
So he said, we are to be praying. about all things at all times
and all manner public individually collectively inwardly vocally
all prayer every way possible every way possible is praying
you you need to be praying on your
way here or you'll not get a blooming
thing out of it Unless the Lord really, really graciously and
mercifully overrules, because you really need something bad. But if you're not asking the
Lord, you won't receive it. You have not, because you have
not. That's just a fact. Always a
fact. Always a fact. You need to be
praying on your way in, as do I. You need to be praying during
the psalm service. the whole time you're here. I've
sat right where you sit many, many times, and I know what a
struggle it is. And so you have to sit there
the whole time and say, Lord, please help me, help me, help
me, help me, help me, help me. The Lord will honor that. Yes,
He will. He won't if He don't. So pray and always. This thing of public prayer,
do you get anything out of when we pray together? Somebody leaves
in prayer. You men, is that worth doing
downstairs? It is to me. Well, nobody gets
anything out of it. I do. I know you do. I know you
do. It does me so much good to hear
you men pray. Every man in here thinks he's
the worst at it. But tell me, don't you enjoy
it? Kelly, don't you get a blessing
out of hearing the brethren pray? It's invaluable. It's invaluable. Despise not today a small thing
or small prayer. That's a good thing. It's a blessing. And it goes on to say in supplication
in the spirit. Supplication. What is supplication? It means, the word to break it
down, supply. Ask for supplies. Oh, we need
supply, don't we? Daily supply. Daily supplies
of mercy and grace and strength and faith and patience and wisdom
and on and on it goes, don't we? Daily supply. If we don't
have these things, we can't reach down within us and pull out these
fresh We don't have these, but they don't spring up out of us.
They come from above, from our supplier, from the Lord. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. So, supplication in the Spirit. Now look at this. In the Holy
Spirit. That's capital F. He tells us
to pray in the Spirit. Now, this definitely means pray
to pray sincerely, not hypocritically. But this is talking about the
Holy Spirit. Now, these idiots, these charismatic
idiots out there, love to run. They totally missed what this
verse means, as well as 1 Corinthians 14. But this thing of praying
in the Spirit, in the Holy Spirit, doesn't mean an indiscernible
babble. And these phonies, these fakes
that can lead silly women and impress silly people with their
silly talk. And nobody, who's going to dispute
them? They're babbling and they say it's in the spirit. Who's
going to dispute them? I will. You will. But nobody else does. They think
they're real spiritual people. They're just blooming idiots
is all they are. babbling idiots. This is talking about being under
the influence of the Holy Spirit. It's talking about being led
by, taught by the Holy Spirit when, as to the manner and the
message in prayer. The Holy Spirit It leads people in. Now, this
is what you're going to do when you get there. This is how you're
going to approach the king. This is what you're going to
say to him. This is what you're not going to say to him. You're
going to take your hat off. You're going to be dressed a
certain way. And so on and so forth. You understand? The Holy Spirit teaches his people. There's so much foolishness today
that goes on. under the name of prayer. But the Spirit of God now leads
and guides and teaches the children of God. Listen to this. He teaches
the children of God how to pray. Number one, he teaches them fear. Fear in reference. You approach
the king. You're not talking to anybody.
You don't come before anybody. Let me give everybody here a
little word of advice about prayer. We all pray around the family
table before a meal. Everybody in here needs to heed
this carefully, OK? Cut the foolishness out about
a good 30 seconds before you start calling on God, or else
that's just a silly little prayer before a meal, right? Don't be joking and laughing
and carrying on and all that and all of a sudden bow your
head. That's hypocrisy. Don't do it. Don't do that. Think
about who you're approaching every time you're approaching. That's something that needs to
be done. If you're going to pray and you know you're going to
pray, then set your mind and your heart to it. Or else it's
just a little ritual and God doesn't hear it. And where was fear and reverence
how to approach the Lord that's Holy Spirit teaches that do it
with fear and trembling. And you do it through Christ.
Do it through Christ. This thing of for Christ's sake
praying in Christ's name is not just by rope. We don't say that
a repetition of words or like a incantation. Oh no, this is,
this is, we believe this from the heart. This thrice holy God
hears us because there's blood for the Lord, because Christ
is our mediator. We pray through Him. We really
mean that when we say it. Don't let it just be word, but
by faith in Christ, through Christ. And according to God's will,
the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray according to His will. And when I say ask for great
things, I don't mean for a moment to ask for lavish covetous things. No, sir. Ask for Mercedes Benz. No, no. You know we don't mean
that. We pray according to God's will.
How did the Lord Jesus cry? How did he pray? He who could
have said, this is what I want. This is what I will. He could
have said that, but he didn't do what he said. Not my will,
thy will be done. Thy will be done. So the Holy
Spirit teaches his people kodakol in prayer. The true child of
God is always conscious of who he's praying to and how. That's
the reason you men don't like to do it. You know, that's the
reason you don't like to do it publicly, isn't it? Because you're
conscious of who it is you're praying to and how, although
we are self-conscious of what we sound like to others, that's
not really the burden of it. But it's who we feel so unworthy
to lead in prayer and incapable not knowing what to say. But
the Holy Spirit, he says in Romans 8, makes intercession for us
with groanings that cannot be uttered. So, you show me somebody
along these lines, you show me somebody who prays flippantly,
carelessly, irreverently, or familiarly, as if he's talking
to anybody. I'll show you somebody that doesn't
know God. You show me somebody who makes no mention of Christ
in their prayer, His blood, His righteousness, His salvation.
It doesn't ask God for mercy. I'll tell you, somebody doesn't
know God. And I'll tell you about a prayer
that bounced off a ceiling. That's as far as it got. It sure
didn't reach heaven. It sure didn't reach heaven.
So prayer is in reverence and fear and through Christ. Verse
eighteen supplication, as I said, is making requests for God to
supply us with all these needs. Read on. He says, Watching thereunto. Watching unto prayer. Watching
unto prayer. You want to turn quickly to Matthew
twenty-six with me? This is the story of our Lord
praying in the garden and the disciples sleeping. Matthew twenty-six. This is certainly relevant, isn't
it? Matthew twenty-six. Watch unto
prayer, and this is a good illustration. Peter, just a little while before
this, Peter said, I'll die for you, Lord. Now, he may have meant it, but
he was boasting in his own strength. He forgot how weak and helpless
he was, and he may have meant it. He said, I'll die with you. Well, the Lord gently rebukes
him here. The Lord talks to one person
after he comes. Verse 39, he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, this is
the way we're to pray, pray in his will, not as I will, but
as I will. And he cometh unto the disciples,
and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter." He didn't
say it to James and John, Sam. No, they needed to remember Peter.
Peter opened his big mouth. Okay, Peter, you're going to
get through. Peter, could you not watch with me one hour? You're
going to die with me, Peter? You can't even stay awake an
hour. Now he says, watch, verse 41. Watch and pray. You can't stay awake an hour. You can't make a resolve to do
anything and do it an hour later. You'll fail miserably. So he
says, watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The
Spirit indeed is willing. Peter was willing. And we're not wrestling against
flesh and blood. OK. Go back to the text. So be watchful
unto prayer. That means be conscious of the
need to pray. Always be conscious. Persevere,
he said, with all perseverance, diligence, and supplication for
all saints. This is good. This is good here.
Well, there's so much I want to say. I'm out of time. I got to say this, okay? This
thing of watching unto prayer. The older we get, the more we
ought to be conscious of our need to ask the Lord in all things. Pray in all things. The older
we get, the more prayerful we ought to be. The more prayerful,
the more watchful we ought to be in all things. The pursuits,
you know, we've made so many mistakes in the past without
seeking the Lord. We've run ahead so impulsively and got ourselves
in so much trouble, haven't we? So the older we get, the more
we ought to watch on the prayer. The pursuits, whatever it is
we're pursuing, we ought to be a little more careful about it,
a little more prayerful about it. Because in the past, in youth,
we'd just go after it, just grab it without much thought. You
understand what I'm saying? Old folks understand. Our pursuits
are whatever it is. Relationships, whatever it is. And I thought about this, and
I think you'll know what I'm trying to say. Relationships. You know, a husband,
a good husband or a good wife is a hard thing to come by. You know, the divorce rate is high
as it is. And it's, you know, as quick as people are to do
it, we ought to be, the older you get, if you're looking for
a mate, more careful and prayerful you ought to be before you rush
into anything, right? Especially if you've made a mistake
before. Good husbands are wise, don't throw them trees. They
come from the Lord. So, it ought to be more, and
that applies to everything, more prayerful and careful in all
things. Watch for what? That's what that
means to watch prayer. Don't rush headlong and what?
Wait, stop what? Think, pray, ask the Lord. And he says supplication for
all saints. This is good. This is so neat.
Supplication for all saints. Just jot this down, 1 Samuel
12 and read it for yourself sometime. 1 Samuel chapter 12. It's where the people asked Samuel
to pray for them. They sinned against the Lord.
Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against my brethren. I should sin against the Lord
and cease to pray for my brethren. That's where Samuel said that. 1 Samuel 12. But, you know, God
forbid that we should be so concerned, Tammy, about ourselves when there
are people in Mexico that are living daily for a loaf of bread. I mean brothers, people that
if you met them, you wouldn't love them. Dear brethren, just
as lovely and sweet and kind as Spanish. If you've met all
these brethren out in the Pueblo, men, they're the salt of the
earth. What if you thought that Stan
and Sherry were scraping, scraping to reach their next meal? The country's full of them. Dare we just think about ourselves
and pray for our light afflictions and not think about those brothers
who are, it's a daily struggle for somebody, huh? Also. We got it off. Off. God help us. The prayer he says
supplication for all and for me. Now he ends this thing of
prayer up with him. He says you pray for me. The utterance might be given
on the that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador and bonds for preaching
the gospel, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. You
pray for me. Paul ends it up by saying, you
pray for this and that and the other and the brethren and so
forth, and this is how the... Lastly, and perhaps most important,
you pray for the preacher. Why? We've considered this before. This is absolutely the most important
thing on planet Earth. Your brother was in this service, going out into the service. How
important is it, the message he heard? How important is it? What all the The consequences
or the ramifications of if the Lord blesses the message. To my husband, my wife, my son,
my daughter, my children, our children. If the Lord will, by his gospel,
reach our children, they're going to go out and find a husband
or wife, they're going to have children to raise. They're going
to have a world to face, a death to die. How important is this? How important is this? It's the
most important thing on planet Earth. It really is. I'm more convinced of that. Brother
Henry's 70-some years old. His body's going to be lying
in the box right here. I mean, before we know it, that's
just a fact, isn't it? It's just a fact. Let's face
the fact. How important is this to him?
He doesn't have much time. None of us have much time for
that matter. I may go before he does. I told you about when my wife's
mother had cancer. When they diagnosed
her with cancer, they said, they told her that her liver was the
worst they'd ever seen. No hope. No hope. Seven people died before she
did. Unexpected. Unexpected. people didn't you
didn't mean. We're all waiting on her to die.
Seven people went out to meet the Lord how important is it.
So Paul says. There's a lot at stake here you
pray for me. That I may speak boldly. You
pray for me that I might warn your children as I ought to warn
them and not mince any words. I warn all of us As I ought to
speak. Lord knows, we know there's too
much, just so much foolishness, foolish preaching
and preachers out there. God forbid that we be part of
that. So he goes on to say, you pray for me, pray for me. And he closes by saying, I'm
going to send unto you our brother Tychicus. He's a faithful minister
in the Lord. He's going to make known to you
all things. Paul was in prison, remember? Paul's in prison. He's writing to the church. You
remember that tearful farewell that they had at Ephesus? He wasn't going to see them anymore.
And then he got put in prison. Oh, they were so worried about
Paul. Weren't they? They loved him dearly. They wept
profusely when he left them. And now he's in prison, and they're
so worried about him. And he says, I'm sending a ticket
because our beloved brother, he's going to tell you how I'm
doing. And much like when I come back from the brethren, tell
you Rinaldo, or the Rinaldo doing well. Brother Rinaldo says, hola,
stand. That comforts you, doesn't it?
To know that, that's what he says here. That you might know
our affairs and he might comfort your heart. And then he gives
this closing farewell, and this is our peace be to the brethren. Oh, peace. Peace with God, peace
with men, peace with one another. We have it, don't we? Let's be
God. We have it. To the brethren. How do I know this is God's church?
How do I know these are God's children? How do I know that
we're brethren? God, we've got peace. We've got
peace. I know it. I know this is God's
church. He showed me a place where there's
always turmoil and all that. I didn't have to cast doubt on
it, because God has ordained peace. And we have peace. Peace means to the brethren,
and love with faith. God's people truly love one another. They don't go around saying it
all the time. But they do, don't they, Irene? Yeah, you can feel
it. Better to feel it than to hear
it all the time. But you do need to hear it every
now and then. With faith, God's people, where does faith come
from? Cometh by hearing. We hear more
of this than most of these so-called churches will hear in a lifetime.
We hear more in a year. with faith. The Lord is building
us up on his most holy faith, isn't he? Where's all this come
from? From God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace, all grace. All grace. Every grace. Eternal grace. Temporal grace. Be with all. Young, old, weak, strong. Everybody needs grace. We're
all dependent on his grace, and everybody has it. Everybody can
have it because it comes from the same source. Grace be with
all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. That is from the heart. Peter,
do you love me? Oh, yes, Lord. He knows. He knows I do. He sure
does. He sure does. Grace be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in What do you say to
all of them? Amen. Okay. That'll be our prayer. You're dismissed.