It is with indescribable joy
that I thank the Father, the God of
all mercy and comfort that we're able to meet together today.
This is so good. This is a good day. This is a
day the Lord made. He made it for His honor and
for the good of His people. I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 15. Romans, chapter 15. I'd like to look at the last
few verses, starting with verse 30. I've entitled this message, Striving
Together. in prayer to God. Let me start off by saying this, prayer. Prayer is that which
every believer exercises but readily admits. to feel himself
so weak and inadequate. Prayer. Oh, how much is written
concerning prayer, and how little do I know. Prayer, I know, It's the asking. It's the thanking. It's the crying of the new heart. Because I know this, until Almighty
God calls one out of spiritual darkness, there is no prayer
unto God, not the God of the Bible. It is the longing of the new
man, the new creation, that which is created in righteousness,
that which is imparted, that which is begun in this life,
eternally, as Brother Scott just read. Paul, writing to the church
at Thessalonica, said, We are bound to give thanks all the
way to God for you, brethren. Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Salvation is
by the grace of God and not by the works of man. Prayer is that
desire, is that response, is that Good work of the new heart
that longs to communicate with the God of all mercy. Prayer. It's the expression of the soul's
hunger to approach God. I said a moment ago it's a good
work of faith. It is a good work Because it
is a work that is wrought by faith, a good work, and is none
good but God. So I have not even the ability
to even pray, Bob, without Him working in me. Faithful is he
who calleth you who will also do it." We can't even pray. We are frail creatures, frail
creatures of the dust, dust back to dust. That's what we are.
Here just for a little moment, a work of faith. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. It's impossible to please Him.
You know why it's impossible to please God without faith?
It's because to be without faith is to be without Christ. No faith, you don't know Him. By grace are you saved through
the means of God revealing it to you by faith. Grace saved,
you know it by faith. Without faith it is impossible
to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
A man believes that God is as God says He is. Sovereign. God Almighty who chooses. Christ who redeems those that
the Father chose and the Spirit of God that calls out of darkness
those that the Father chose and Christ redeemed. That's God.
That's who He is. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is and that also that He is and will fulfill all His
promise in Christ. A man believes God. Believes
Him by faith. Prayer is by faith. Believers, when we pray, we believe three
things. First of all, we believe that
God hears the prayers of His people. Now, this is a great
comfort. to believe that God Almighty
actually hears. I want you to turn with me to
the book of 2 Kings chapter 19. Turn to 2 Kings 19. While you're turning there, let
me just kind of preface what we're going to read in a minute.
There was an evil king. His name was Sennacherib. He
was the king of Assyria, and he sent a letter to Hezekiah,
that's the king of Judah. And what Sennacherib, the evil
king, did is he wrote this letter and he demanded that Hezekiah
surrender. Kind of sent him a letter and
told him, he said, I want you to, you can go ahead and give
it up. Isaiah the prophet told the servants
of Hezekiah, King of Judah. He told them, he said, now, I
don't want you to be afraid. I want you to look in 2 Kings
19, verse 6. Isaiah, and Isaiah said unto
them, thus shall you say to your master, the king, thus saith
the Lord, be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard with
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I
will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall
return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword
in his own land." Don't be afraid. An unbeliever is that. Don't be afraid of him. Don't
listen to him. He has nothing to say that has
any consistency to it. I love talking to believers. Oh, they speak, Chuck, they speak
consistently. Life. Don't you be afraid. Don't you be afraid of what He
said. God said, I'm going to send a blast, a breath of pestilence
And he's going to hear of a rumor back in his land. He's sitting
out there in the desert, right outside the gate. And I'm going
to send a blast, and he's going to hear, I've got trouble back
at the house. I'm going to run over there,
and I'm going to take care of it. And he said, God said, I'll
take care of him. Don't you be afraid, he said.
Well, that letter that was sent to Hezekiah Here's what it said. Look at verse 10 and 11. It's
what the letter said that the Assyrian king wrote. He says,
Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, Let not
thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem
shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done
to all lands by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered? This is what the king of Assyria
was saying. We wiped out everybody else.
Now, don't you foolishly start listening to this God you say
you believe in, because I'm going to tell you something. We took
out everybody else, and we're going to take you out. Well, Hezekiah read that letter. Scripture says, starting in verse
14, Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers
and he read it. I read that again this morning. And here's what
happened. That letter was a true threat. That was a real letter. And here
was a king and he was an actual human being. And he was the one that that
letter was addressed to from that king over there. And it
was real. He was living. It was in time.
He had feelings and he had emotions. And he read that letter from
that king that wiped out everybody else. He read that letter. And the
Scripture says, latter part of 14, and Hezekiah went up into
the house of the Lord, and he spread it before the Lord. Hezekiah
prayed before the Lord, and he said, O Lord God of Israel, which
dwelleth between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone,
of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth.
Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear, open, Lord, thine eyes,
and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent him
to reproach the living God of a truth, Lord. The kings of Assyria
have destroyed the nations and their lands, and they have cast
their gods into the fire, for they were no gods. But the work
of men's hands, wood and stone, therefore they have destroyed
them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou
us out of His hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may
know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only. Then Isaiah the
son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying," now you listen to these
words, "'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou
hast prayed to me against the Necharim king of Israel, I have
heard.'" There is no comfort when a believer
prays as this. God hears. He hears. You believe that? You believe God hears? He actually
hears. This was real. This was a real
situation. This was real day in, day out
in the trenches. This man was actually living
in a time just like we are. He was a man. He was a man. You
say he was a king. He was a man. He was a frail
creature. And it was real to him. A real
threat. And he called upon God and he
said, Lord, look what He's saying. And Isaiah
the prophet came back and he said, God Almighty said, I heard
you. When we pray, we believe that
God hears. Secondly, this is what we believe.
We believe that God cares. He cares for those who have always
been the objects of His mercy. He cares. 1 Peter 5, 7 says,
Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. He is
concerned about you. God Almighty is the only source
of help. There is no other. There is none. There is none. All of our attempts to help,
to do ourselves good, unless they be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ, unless He undertakes for us, they are absolutely failure. Failure. The Lord speaking in John 10
says, The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth
not for the sheep. He doesn't care. Believer, listen
to me. Nobody cares. Nobody cares as He cares. Nobody cares as He cares. We care. We care. But nobody cares as He cares. He is touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He was in all points. tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Let me tell you something. When
God's people pray, when they're caused to pray, God hears and
God cares. There's no comfort like knowing
that He hears, and there's no comfort like knowing that He
cares. He absolutely Psalm 37, verse
5, Commit, roll thy way upon, commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in Him, He shall bring it to pass. There is no settling, knowing that He hears me and
He cares. Thirdly, as we pray, we believe
that God is able to do. to do according to His will,
His glory, all that is profitable to the eternal and temporal good
of His people. I believe He hears me. I believe
He cares, and I believe He's able. But I'm going to tell you
something. You can start to settle down
there. He cares. God, 2 Corinthians 9, 8, is able
to make all grace abound toward ye, that ye, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." God's sustaining grace. I said before, do you know when
you truly believe? God is when God Almighty has
placed you where you need Him. Someone asked Barnard one day,
do you believe all the Word of God? He said this, I'll paraphrase,
by faith we do. But he said, you know, he said,
I don't know because I haven't experienced it. I'll tell you
what you believe. You believe what you experience.
Then you believe it. Ephesians 1.11, In whom also
we've obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. We believe that God hears us. We believe God cares. We believe
God's able to do. So the Apostle Paul, now turn
back to Romans 15. The Apostle Paul addresses now
this church at Rome. There was a church that God had
raised up at Rome, just like the Lord raised up a church at
Cady, just like the Lord raised up a church in Lexington. The Lord had raised up a church at
Rome, and Paul addressed them, and he asked them Here in verse
30, that's where we'll look. He says, Now I beseech you, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit,
that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for
me. Paul asked the church at Rome
to be a companion with him in prayer. Strive together with
me. Strive in agony. in agony. That's what the word means. Now listen, I pray that God truly teach us
something today concerning prayer. We who have been taught by the
grace of God, of the grace of God, we believe in God's sovereign
saving grace. We believe that He does work
all things after the counsel of His own will. We believe that.
We believe that God Almighty is going to absolutely do that
which He's purposed to do. And here's something I want us
to learn concerning prayer. Prayer, that striving together
that believes God hears. that believes God cares, that
believes God is able, is an unimaginable blessing of
Almighty God. But it is never put away or negated
because we believe that God is absolutely sovereign. Let me tell you how the flesh
thinks. God is absolutely sovereign. I'm saying this is how the flesh
thinks. Now listen to me. The flesh can admit to God's
sovereignty. I can go back and show you passages
where the devils told the Lord Jesus Christ, we know who you
are. You're the Most High God. Are you going to send us before
our time? They knew who He was. The flesh
will admit. God's sovereignty. And in that
same thought, it'll think, so what difference does it make? Why is God going to save his
people? You know that. You know the answer
to that. Absolutely. John 6, 37, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Is God going to save His people?
Yes. Is God going to do all that God has ever purposed to do?
Yes. Can you tell me who believed that more than the Lord Jesus
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane as He went off a stone's throw
from His apostles? He asked him, he said, Can you
stay awake one hour? Can you stay awake one hour? Pray with me. And He who is God, who came in
the form, in the likeness of sinful flesh, in the frailty
of this flesh, in a body that was prepared Him, A body that
felt and hurt and thirsted and hungered and aged just exactly
like, not like flesh before it fell in the garden, but flesh
after it fell. Touched with the feelings of
our infirmities. Do you think that the Lord Jesus
Christ knew of His own sovereignty? And here he is, the man, Christ
Jesus in agony. He said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. And he prayed. How many times
is it recorded that he prayed? Have you ever thought that strange? Praying and agonizing. Praying
unto his Father. He who is absolute God and absolute
man, united as our mediator, substitute, praying,
agonizing. Paul knew that this life is a
life of struggle and warfare. He said we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of darkness of the world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Prayer for ourselves and for
others, listen, is not a formal ritual. It is not a dull, lifeless
set of repetitive, I'm telling you that it is absolutely
a living action of a new man. It's not heartless. It's real. It's a spiritual wrestling. I
want you to turn to Genesis 32. Let me tell you something. This
word, when Paul said, Strive together with me, here's the
same word, Genesis 32, 24, in Jacob. was left alone. Best thing in the world God do
for a man. Hem him up. Hem him up. Take him off to the
side. Put him in a corner. Oh, the blessing of being put
in a corner when God wants to talk. What a blessing. Jacob was left alone, and there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And
when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh
was out of joint as he wrestled with him, strived with him, in
agony with him. And he said, Let me go, for the
day breaketh. And he, as Jacob, said, I will
not let thee go. Accept thou, bless me. And he
said unto him, What is your name? What's thy name? And he said,
Jacob. Liar, cheater, supplanter, trickster. He said, Thy name shall be called
no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said,
Tell me, I pray thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I have seen
God face to face, and my life is preserved." Prayer. Prayer is a striving. Can I give you a word of advice? If you find yourself, let me
go ahead and be the first to admit it, so you won't have to
feel as though that you were the first to admit it. You find
yourself, and as you're beginning to pray, and it appears as though
that it's just heartless, you're starting and you're over here
somewhere. I've got to be at work tomorrow. I wonder how so-and-so
is doing. Would you be honest with God?
Just be honest with Him and just say, Lord, I don't even know what I'm doing.
What in the world am I doing? Lord, compared to what I see,
the Scripture says concerning prayer, and what I see in myself,
I am old wretched man that I am. Lord,
can I just be honest with you? Which is Barnard that said, God
doesn't send honest men to hell. He makes a man honest. Oh my! The response of the new
nature in prayer is that which is wisely and powerfully wrought
by the Lord Himself. Listen to me. God knows how to
bring a man or a woman to pray. He knows how. He knows how. When Jacob wrestled with God
Himself, and the Lord said, Let Me go.
And Jacob, knowing something of what his need was, When the
Lord said, let me go, and Jacob said, no, no, no. Let me ask you something. Where
are you going to go? Where do you want to go? Do you
want to run back to religion? Do you want to run back to your
profession? Mark, you want to go back with
me to Roman Catholicism? I don't want to go there either,
buddy. Where do you want to go? Let me go. I can't. Not unless you bless me. What's
your name? I'm a liar. I'm a cheat. I'm disrespectful to you. And
I know it. Not anymore. Your name's not
going to be called that anymore. You're going to be called a prince
with God. Prayer. Let me show you something else
about prayer. Turn with me to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel
36. I told you something a while
ago of the sovereignty of Almighty God,
God who is sovereign. I want you to look, starting
in verse 25. I want you to listen, and I want you to listen to what
God said He's going to do. Now, this is the God that we
serve. I do not serve. No believer serves. A God that is trying to do something. No believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ serves a God that is trying to do anything. I defy the little
g God of this world. I defy you because you are not
God. Let me tell you who God is. Ezekiel 36, 25, Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you. I'm going to send you the Word
of God. Clean water. The water of the
Word. I will sprinkle. And ye shall
be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you." Now listen to who's talking. This is God talking. This is sovereignty talking.
And a new spirit will I put into you. Let me ask you something.
So far, at what point did He say, if you will do this, if
you will exercise your faith, then I will. If you will do this
or this or this or this, no. No! This is God talking. And let
all the earth be silent before Him. The best thing the world
of man ever did is shut your mouth. Shut up. Open your mouth in disrespect
before Him. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk
in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them
You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you
shall be my people, and I will be your God, and I will also
save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn,
and I will increase it and lay no famine upon you, and I will
multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field,
and you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the
heathen. Then shall you remember your evil ways and your doings
that were not good, And you shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for
your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord. Look over at verse
22. It says, Therefore say unto the
house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your
sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine own holy name's sake,
which you profaned among the heathen, whether ye win. God
said, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for me. That's what Brother Scott said.
God's got to do something for himself. Not for your sakes do
I do this, saith the Lord. Be it known unto you. Be ashamed.
Be confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith
the Lord God in the day that I shall have cleansed you from
all your iniquities. I will also cause you to dwell
in the cities, and the waste shall be builded, and the desolate
land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight
of all that pass by. And they shall say, This land
that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden, and the waste
and desolate and ruined cities become fenced and inhabited.
Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that
I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that which is
desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it,
and I'll do it." When God saves a man out of darkness, Men look
and say, you know what? That was God that did that. God made that. God made that
new creature. Yet. Look at verse 37. I want you to hear what God said
He's going to do. But you listen to verse 37. Thus
saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them. I will increase them with
men like a flock. As the holy flock is the flock
of Israel in their solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be
filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am the
Lord." Let me tell you something. You
know what God said He's going to do? He said, I'm going to
do exactly what I want to do. And He said, you're going to
ask Me for it. You will ask Me for it. Listen to Me. Don't you ever,
ever think it's disrespectful for God Almighty to do? Don't
you ever think it's disrespectful for you to ask God to do what
God said He's going to do? Lord, you said you'll have mercy
on whom you will. Could it be possible you'd have
mercy on me? Lord, could you save my brother?
Will you save, Lord, my sister? Lord, You said You're going to
bless Your church. Lord, would You bless Katie Baptist
Church? God, have mercy on this church.
Lord, You said that You'll refresh us. Lord, would You be pleased
to refresh us? Lord, You said, You said, You
said. According to Your Word, You said. Prayer. Paul had asked back in Romans
15. He said, I beseech You, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the love of the Spirit. Strive
together with me in your prayers to God for me." Someone says,
but God's sovereign. He's going to do whatever He
wants. That's right. And God has been pleased to, by the means
of prayer, He said, I will be asked. You're going to ask Me. Paul the Apostle knew that it
was God Almighty who works all things after the counsel of His
own will. But Paul knew that God Almighty
had also ordered this intercessory prayer to be a vital necessity
in the life of his people. Listen to me. I do not consider
it, especially after just a little bit of what I've seen in this,
I do not consider a light thing when someone says to me, will
you pray for me? Oh yeah. If a believer asks you to pray
for him, take it to heart. Take it to heart. 2 Corinthians 1, 10 and
11 says, Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver
in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. Ye also, Paul
says, helping by prayers for us. That for the gift bestowed
upon me by the means of many persons, thanks may be given
by many on my behalf." Paul said, it is a great help to me when
you pray for me. Prayer. God said, I will. Paul's confidence, safety was
truly founded upon God's word and promise to preserve him. The Lord had taught Paul something
about asking the believers to pray for him. I'm telling you,
this is a necessity. This is not just a suggestion. It's a necessity. If this wasn't so, I can tell
you this, Paul the Apostle wouldn't have asked them. He didn't fill
in some words when he said, Strive together with me in your prayers
to God for me. That wasn't filler. He meant it. He knew something
of the need of it. Paul wrote in Colossians 4.12,
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted
you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers that ye may
stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. You think
God's going to cause His people to stand complete in Christ?
Will He not? The answer is yes. And here was
a believer. praying that they might stand
complete, settled, kept by the power of God. You think, is that necessary?
Yes. Yes. Why? God said, I will be inquired
of. That ends it. That ends it. That
ends it. I tell you, we who believe in
sovereign grace, We who believe He who works all things according
to His own will and purpose, we ask Him. We pray. I told you
the other day, Brother Scott made this statement to me. He said, I pray for you. And I thought to myself, Lord,
thank You. Thank You that You'd give this believer a heart to
pray for me. You know, the design of God seems
to appear to be in bringing honor to himself. It unites his people. You know, it's hard to think
disrespectfully towards somebody you're praying for. It's hard
for me to think disrespectfully, Bob, of you if I pray for you. But I tell you, But while the
Apostle sincerely requested the fellowship of prayer for himself,
it wasn't for his own honor that he was concerned. No, he said
this. He said, I beseech you, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, for the love of the Spirit, that
you strive together with me in prayer. It's the Lord Jesus Christ
who is deserving of all honor. It is Christ Himself who has
ever stood as the believers surety, the elect of God. He's always
stood. It's His honor. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ who lived obediently before God Himself. The man,
Christ Jesus, the man, as we said, that was in the form of
sinful flesh, yet without sin. He was a man, a man, perfect
man. that walked obediently before
God. This man is my representative,
my federal head. It's for his sake, Paul said,
I'm asking you for Christ's sake and for the love and peace of
the Spirit of God. Pray for me. Strive together. Agonize as Jacob agonized with
me. Help me. Paul knew. But for the Lord's
sake, except for the Spirit of God moving in grace, where would
we be?" Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. So Paul,
knowing that there is no merit in the natural man, knowing that
the believer's merit is found totally in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, he asked Him, he said, agonize with me. The Lord has been pleased, based
on what we read in Ezekiel 36, God has been pleased to be inquired
of. Ask Him. You got somebody in
your family that doesn't know the Lord? Ask Him. Ask Him. Ask Him. Lord, sustain me by
Your grace. Keep me by Your power. Do you
think He's going to do that? He said He would, but He said,
I will be inquired of. Lord, uphold me by your everlasting
arms." Did he say he would? He did. I will be inquiring. I tell you, when there's a burden
upon a believer's heart, that burden is for God's glory and
the saints' good, but it's God that gave that burden. God put
the burden there. Delight yourself also in the
Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Not only
did he put the desire there, But he'll fulfill that which
he's put in there. The Lord. Well, let's wrap this
up. Back in Romans 15, Paul had asked Him to strive together
with me. And then he says, I want us to
look at the three things he asks in closing. He says, number one,
this is what he's asking. He asked Him to pray with him.
Strive together with me. Here's the first thing, verse
31, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea,
that I might be delivered from unbelievers. That's what he asked.
Now, let me ask you this. Paul knew that the carnal mind
is enmity against God. He knew that. He knew that it
wasn't subject to the law of God, neither could it be. And
here was Paul being as wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove,
doing what he could to avoid danger. Do you believe that Paul
believed that God was going to keep him and protect him? Yes. What did the apostle ask the
church at Rome to do? Strive together with me that
I might be kept from those that believe not." In Judea. You see how we see God's sovereignty. We know God's sovereignty. We
believe in God's sovereignty. And He also said, ask Me. Ask Me. You don't have because
you don't ask. That's what he said. I tell you what, I've had just
a little inkling, a little light there in the last couple of weeks
or so on asking things that heretofore, to my shame, I would say I just
assumed. Is God going to? Yes, He will.
He said, you asked me for it. And I'll tell you something.
When God hymns a man up and he begins to see something of the
frailty of his flesh, he'll thank God Almighty that God gave him
a heart to ask. Ask. Secondly, Paul prayed and
he requested prayer for the blessing in the acceptance. Look at 31st
verse, that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted
of the saints. Listen, this service that he
was talking about, is back in verse 26, just a few verses back.
It was a contribution. We just sent, or getting ready
to, we're going to send some money over to a church over in
Missouri. They're trying to do a little
something over there and they need some help. And we're going
to try to help them. This church is going to send
them a little gift to help God's people. They want to do what
they can. And so we're going to do that.
And so what happened was there was a Gentile church and they
sent some money over to the church of Jerusalem. There's a lot of
there's a lot of prejudices. Jews believe in Jews or we're
still prejudiced people. Don't don't ever don't ever say
you're not prejudiced. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. We
all are. We've all got we've all got our
prejudices. But Paul said, look, pray that that this service that
this At this certain contribution, that's what he's talking about,
that service. Pray that the service, it will be brought relief. That's another word for that,
the relief. Pray that it will be accepted. Pray that when this
church at Jerusalem, Jews, realizes these Gentiles sent us some money.
Gentiles? Those that heretofore, before
God called them out of darkness, were dogs? They sent us some
money. Paul said, pray that it may be
accepted of the saints. Pray that God settle their heart
down and realize the spirit in which this was sent. You'd think,
well, anybody would accept that. No, they won't. No, they won't.
Oh, a believer is going to be gracious. He is. Always. You never see any deviation
in his graciousness. You never see any deviation Pray
that they'll receive this graciously. Pray that God will settle them
down. And thirdly, he requested prayer to be able to come and
visit with them. Verse 32, that I may come unto
you with joy by the will of God and may be with you and be refreshed. Oh, how much we see in the need
of praying that God might cause us to be able to be together.
Let me tell you something, there's nothing inconsistent with saying,
Lord, I pray that You'd bless our coming together. Lord, would
You bind us together in a spirit? Those who are Your people, would
You bind us together in a spirit of worship? Lord, would You cause
us to behold our absolute need of You teaching us? Lord, would
You help us as we hear? Would You help us to hear? The one who said, the seeing
eye and the hearing ear, I give it. Is there anything inconsistent
with praying, Lord, would you bless the hearing? Nothing inconsistent
there. Bless that I might be able to
come and visit with you. We are called to do what the
Lord has called us to do. Let me just read this to you,
1 Corinthians 6. 19 and 20. What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God? And you're not your own. You that have been called out
of darkness, you're not your own. The Scripture says you're
bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. We're servants. If God's been pleased to call
us out of darkness, created in us that new man that knows Him,
believes Him, prays to Him, believes that He hears us and cares for
us and is able. If God has called us to whatever
position we are in, whatever situation, whatever trial, whatever
it is, we're His servants. We're not
our own. I don't belong to Me. I'm His. We're bought with a price. He paid for me with His own blood. Can I not do with my own as I
will? Sure he can. We're His. We preach the Gospel. We pray
that God bless it. Paul, the Apostle, In that last
verse back in Romans 15, now the God of peace be with you
all, eternal and temporal. He said in Isaiah 45, 7, I form
the light, I create darkness, I make peace, I create evil,
I the Lord do all these things. So Paul says, the God of peace
be with you all. He means God's blessing on you. Listen, I pray that God teach
you. God keep you. God sustain you. God enclose you. God Almighty
would keep you to the day of Jesus Christ. Do you think He
will do that? Yes, He will. He said, now you
ask me for it. It causes a man to be just brought
down. And that's so good. Prayer. This really is the last verse.
1 Samuel. If you want to read it,
it's 1 Samuel 12. 1 Samuel 12, verse 20 to 24 concerning
prayer and how shamefully lightly we
thought of it. The Scriptures had said that
the people had asked Samuel, they said, give us a king. And
Samuel said, God is your king. And they said, no, we want a
real king. We want somebody we can look
at. We want somebody that sits in a palace. We want somebody
And the Lord told Samuel, He said, now, you give them what
they want. Oh, I pray God keep you from
giving you what you want in this life. I pray God keep you from
the desires of your own heart, your own carnal heart. Anyway, they said, we want a
king. The Lord said, OK, Samuel, you tell them. If that's what
you want, that's what I'm going to give you. But he said, this
is what he's going to do. He's going to take everything
from you. He's going to abuse you. He's going to use you. He's
going to stomp on you. I'm just paraphrasing. He said, he's not going to have
your best at heart. Samuel came and told the people.
He said, this is what God said you're going to get if that's
what you want. I said, that's good. That's what we want. So
he gave them Saul. So, after they realized that God
was truthful with them, after they'd gone through all
that God said they were going to go through, here we come down
to the end of it. 1 Samuel 12.20, and Samuel said
unto the people, after they realized what Saul had actually done,
Samuel said, Fear not. For you have done all this wickedness,
yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord
with all your heart. And turn you not aside, for then
should you go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver
for their vain. For the Lord will not forsake
His people for His great namesake, because it is pleased the Lord
to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, God forbid,
that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good
in the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve
Him in truth with all your heart. For consider how great things
He has done for you. But if you shall still do wickedly,
you shall be consumed, both ye and your king." When we pray, first of all, be honest with
God and tell Him, Lord, I realize I don't even truly know how to
ask. I'm a frail creature and I'm so weak and I'm so inadequate,
but Lord, By your grace, I believe you hear me. And Lord, I believe
you care. And I believe that you're able.
And then those things that God has brought to your heart, ask. Ask. Can I ask you to pray for me? Will you strive together with
me in prayer to God for this helpless sinner. I want you to pray that God would
be pleased to sustain me by His grace. Pray that Lord would keep
me by His power. Teach me by His mercy. Pray for one another. Lord, bind
us together in a spirit of unity. Ezekiel, under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, when the Lord said, I will, I will, I
will, I will, I will increase, he said, blocks of men. I was talking to a preacher the
other day, a dear friend, and he told me, he said, you know
what, we have such a small hearing, relatively speaking. He said,
what's wrong with asking God? Lord, I know you're going to
save your people. That's the ones you're going
to save. I know that you're going to call them out of darkness.
But let me ask you this. Is there anything wrong with
saying, Lord, according to your will and your purpose and your
goodness and your grace and your sovereign saving mercy and compassion,
would you increase our borders to your honor, to your glory? Ask Him. Ask Him. Amen.