Turn with me if you would now
to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 12. 1 Samuel is after Judges. 1 Samuel chapter 12. When I got into the study Monday
morning, I had something that was weighing heavily on my heart,
and that was our brethren in Mexico. I read to you the letter
that Brother Walter sent us Sunday night, and he mentioned a few
brethren down there specifically, and it just got me thinking about
them. There are a lot of brethren there
that I have never met and never will meet but there are some
that I did and they're special to me and I know that they're
special to everyone who had the opportunity to meet them. I want to tell you this. This
is not about the work in Mexico, but I want to tell you something.
I want to give an intro to this message, telling you something
that I believe will set up where this message is coming from.
I believe we'll be able to enter into more of what the message
is saying, knowing where it came from. When the Lord was pleased
to take brother Cody Groover, who preached in our conference
a few years ago, the Lord took him home to glory. When the Lord took him, and he
was the missionary to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, he and his
father, Walter, and we still support Walter. He's our missionary
there. But Brother Walter had passed
the torch, so to speak, to Brother Cody. Brother Walter's in his
80s now. And really, Brother Cody was
our connection to the brethren down there. Walter started the
work, but now, at this point, Brother Cody was our connection. When the Lord took Brother Cody,
that was about Two or three years ago, I was at that moment scheduled
to go down there to preach to the brethren. Brother Tony was
going to go with me. We had our airline tickets already.
And when the Lord took Brother Cody,
the trip was canceled. A lot of us here in the States,
I believe at that moment, wondered what would be our future involvement
and connection with the brethren down there, with the Lord removing
Brother Cody. And as I think on them, I realize
I may never see him again. Quite possibly, I may not ever
see him again, not in this lifetime. But this is what was weighing
heavy on me. Even though they may be out of sight, I don't
want them to be out of mind. They're my brethren. I mean,
they're my brethren, brothers and sisters, brethren. And this
doesn't just apply to the brethren down in Mexico. This applies
to the brethren all over the world. And it doesn't just apply
to the brethren all over the world, it applies to the brethren
all over this room. Concerning all of my brethren,
this verse of Scripture came to my mind and I couldn't get
it off of my mind. It's 1 Samuel 12, verse 23. It
says, Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. I'm being as sincere
as I know how to be. I pray the Lord will teach me
something about that. God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Prayer is the communication
of God. Now, just think about this for
just a minute. Prayer is, whether it's silent
or audible, it is the talking. That is what
prayer is. A man prayed a moment ago in my
study, and I just prayed right now. But it doesn't have to be
audible. Prayer is talking. It is the
communication. It's the language of God. Our Lord constantly prayed to
His Father. God to God. He prayed out loud
some and He recorded some of His prayers so we could hear
what He had to say. But many times He didn't and
He just went off on His own. He sent the disciples away and
He just went up into a mountain alone. That was God to God. He told Peter one time, he said,
do you not realize that I could right now pray to my Father and
He would send me more than twelve legions of angels if I prayed
to Him. The Lord said to all the disciples in John 14, I will
pray to my Father and He shall give you another comforter that
He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth." So
that's something that our Lord continually does with His Father. That's a continual
communication. He said, I'll pray to my Father
and He will send you the Spirit. And Romans 8 tells us that we
know not what we should pray for as we ought. We try, but we really don't know what
we should pray for as we ought, so the Spirit helps us. It prays
for us. He prays for us. He makes intercession
for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Silent, spiritual
prayer. So prayer is the communication
of God. the three persons of the Godhead.
That's something that the three of them do. And every soul that
is quickened to them, made alive to them, is allowed to be a part
of that communication. Our Lord said, I pray to the
Father, and He said, you can too. Now, knowing that, God forbid,
that I should neglect that privilege that has been given to me. We
take prayer for granted as though it's something anybody can do.
But that's not so. We have to be quickened to it.
We have to be allowed in on it. It's a commandment to pray to
God's people. It's a privilege to pray. And
it's also a sign of life. It is the sign that we have been
welcomed in. When the Lord converted Saul
of Tarsus, the apostle Paul, the Lord gave a man named Ananias
a message to go tell Paul. And Ananias was scared to do
it. He was worried about it. He said, Lord, I've heard of
this man. He's your enemy. He's the enemy
of you, the enemy of your word, the enemy of your people. The
Lord said, not anymore. Look at him. Behold, he prayeth. All right, now this was a leader
of religion. Spent his whole life in religion,
religion, religion. He said for the first time in
his life, he's praying to me. He's truly praying to me. So prayer is a sign of life,
true prayer, true heart prayer. And the Word tells us, it tells
God's spiritually alive people much about prayer. It tells us
many things that we should pray for. It tells us how we should
pray. It tells us when we should pray. It tells us to pray without ceasing. And the reason is because this
is the communication of God. So the Lord has said much about
prayer. Tonight though, I want us to
focus specifically on this matter of praying for each other. All
right. Praying for brethren in Christ. Our Lord said in John 17, I'm
not praying for the world. I'm praying for them, which you
have given me. and that's who we are praying
for too. When we pray for this city, you've
heard me pray for this city. I think about Jonah and Nineveh,
and I think about Paul and Corinth, and I think about Kingsport,
and I'm praying for this city, but I'm praying for God's elect
people that he chose from the foundation of the world who are
scattered abroad in the city. Those are the ones who he's gonna
call out. So to the brethren in Christ,
to those who have been or may be at some point called out,
out of the world and into Christ. To the brethren in Christ, we
say with Samuel right here, God forbid that I should sin against
the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Now, why do we pray for
each other? Meaning, what motivates us to
pray for each other? Well, the commandment of the
Lord motivates us. We want to be obedient to our
Lord. He has commanded us to pray for
one another. And we want to obey Him. But
it goes deeper than that. With His command to do it, He gives a heart to do it. With
that command to do it, comes a desire to do it. There truly
is a desire. We pray for each other because
He gives us a concern for each other. It has been revealed to us and
we who believe know this is so. It has been revealed to us that
we only have one place of help. All of our life, we spend our
life seeking out our help. And it gets shut down, shut down,
shut down until the believer finally sees we really do only
have one place of help. And when we see a brother or
a sister in need, Our desire is to cry out to the only source
of help for that brother or sister. Those dear brethren down in Mexico,
I don't know if it's still this way. It was 12 years ago that
we were there, but some of them work all day long for $5. all day long for five dollars
and some would say well everything's much cheaper down there no it's
not they just can't have it they live we look at what we live
in and i believe and i hope some of this is changing for them
but i mean up until recently at least we're talking grass
huts and dirt floors That makes me want to cry out,
Lord, these brethren love Christ. Lord, these men need to eat.
Their wives need to eat. Their children need to eat. They
need clothes. They need shelter. He knows they
have need of all those things before we even ask. And He is
going to provide them with all those things. David said, the righteous will
never be forsaken or begging bread. He will provide all of
their need. Isn't that comforting? But he's
still given us a heart of concern for them. That's what makes us want to
cry out on their behalf. We pray because we're concerned
for each other. Something comes up. We just mentioned
a brother. A pastor, a preacher who's having
heart problems, we pray for him. We're concerned for him. We have
a real concern for each other. Here's another reason. We pray
for each other because we love each other. We love each other. Turn with
me over to John 13. John 13 verse 34, it says, A new commandment I
give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. What David said in Psalm 133
is so true. He said, behold, how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's so good. It's so pleasant. That loving unity. Why do they dwell together in
unity? Love. It's loving unity. And it really
is love. We really do love each other.
We really do love each other. It's different from just, we're
not just in a religion, we're in love. And there's only one
reason for it, and only one source for it, and that's Christ. He
said, as I have loved you. If you love someone, you'll pray
for them. If you love someone, you will
pray. There's some people you pray
for, some people slip your mind, some people you can't get them
out of your mind. If you truly love somebody, you'll pray for
them. Why do we pray for each other? Why are we so concerned
for each other? Why do we love each other so
much? Here's the reason why. It's because we're family. We are family. In Christ, it doesn't matter
what country on the globe we come from. In Him, everything
is in Him. And in Him, we're family. We're family. In Christ, we are
all made to be members of the same body. He is the head. We are the body. Without the
head, there's no life. There's no life. There's no knowledge.
There's no word. There's no glory. In order to
have all of that, we must have the head. And that's Christ to
God's people. He is our head. And we're all
just thrilled to be a part of his body. And we love every member
of the body, just like we do with our own physical bodies.
We cherish every member, and we nourish every member. And
it's because we're all one in Him, all of us. We are members
of the same family. wrote this and really thought,
spent some time thinking about this. But what unites us, what
brings us together? We have all been washed in the
same blood. We're members of the same family. You think about your immediate
family. All right, we're members of the
same family. We're all washed in the same
exact blood. We all bow to the same Lord. We all live with the same hope. We have the exact same hope. What is it? Turn with me to John
10, back just a couple of pages to John 10. Verse 11, our Lord said, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Is that your hope? That's it, isn't it? I mean,
that's it. I could go around the room one
by one. Is that your hope? That's my hope. That's it. Same
hope. Verse 14 right here, He said,
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mind. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, And they shall hear my voice and there shall be one
fold, one body, one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God, the
father, one hope of his calling. And he said right here, all of
his sheep look to and follow the end of verse 16, one shepherd. That's one shepherd. We're all
marching to the same Lord. We're all side by side headed
to the same city. We're headed to a real city. Who's builder and maker is God. We're brothers and sisters in
arms. The everlasting arms of the Savior.
red, yellow, black, white, rich, poor, old, young. If we're in
Christ, we're of Christ, and we're one with Christ. And any
soul who is one with Christ, any man or woman who is one with
Christ, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing
to pray for that soul. You say, yeah, but he's an ornery
sinner. Yeah, well, so am I. Yet my Lord prayed for me. He
said I pray for them. Now give me just a minute here.
I want to leave us with four things that we should pray for
each other. And I pray the Lord will. Let
me get a hold of this. Four things we should pray for
each other. God forbid that I should not
do this. I must do this. And what should I pray for? Number one, salvation. Number one, salvation. I pray
the Lord will save you. That's as simple as I know to
say it. I mean, when you cut down to the heart of the message,
the heart of my desire, I pray the Lord will save you. I pray the Lord will save you. I pray that the Lord will save
me. I ask you to pray that same thing for me. But God forbid that I should
sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for God to save you. Number one, we pray for each
other's salvation. Number two, let's pray for each
other's growth. Growth in grace. I need growth
in grace. But the message here tonight
is I need to be praying that for you. I need to be praying that for
you. I pray God will cause you to grow in grace. I pray God
will cause you to grow in faith. Faith that'll give you peace
and faith that will give you contentment and faith that will
give you a sure trust I pray He'll give that to you.
I really do. I pray He'll give that to you. I would love to
have more wisdom. Everybody wants wisdom. Everybody
does. I remember years ago, I caught
myself selfishly praying for wisdom. Give it all to me. I pray God will give it to you.
I believe I mean that. He said Solomon was the wisest.
He said, I gave the most to Solomon. Whatever he's willing to give
up to what he gave Solomon, I pray he'll give it to you. I really
do. I pray he'll cause you to grow in grace and in faith and
in wisdom and in knowledge and in love. Let's pray for each
other's growth. Number three, let's pray for
each other's commitment. Let's pray for each other's commitment
to the cause and the ministry of the gospel of God's word and
God's people. David said, is there not a cause? Meaning, what are we doing here? Is there not a cause? We have
a cause here in Kingsport. We have a cause all over this
world. The Lord has given us the ability to put the message
out to the whole world. May God give us a commitment
to it, a commitment to support it, to give to it, to cherish
it, to see it to be the most valuable and needy and desirable
thing in this life. The scripture says where our
heart is, that's where our treasure will be. Let's pray for each
other that God will cause us to grow in the treasure of Christ
and that He'll create a commitment in us to give our all to it.
Turn with me over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 24, it says,
and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. He's saying let's do something
for each other. Let's consider one another. Let's provoke one
another to love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Nothing is more encouraging,
more supportive, or more profitable for the people of God than when
we all come together in unity, in God-given, created unity,
commitment to His Word and His worship. Nothing is more encouraging,
nothing is more supportive, nothing is more profitable than gathering
together as one man around His worship, around His Word. Let's pray for each other's salvation.
Let's pray for each other's growth. Let's pray for each other's commitment.
And let's pray for each other's comfort. Comfort is not going
to come through the things of this world. And I'm going to
repeat that. This is what we all think, all
of us. If I could ever just double my salary, I'll be comfortable.
Comfort is never going to come through the things of this world. Not for a believer. But our Lord
said that He would pray to the Father and the Father would send
the Comforter. And He said we can do the same
thing. We can pray for the comfort that God's Spirit brings to us
by taking the things of Christ and showing them again to us. When the Spirit comes to us,
He points us to Christ. When He comes to us, that's what
He does. He points us to Christ. He reminds
us of Christ. He reminds us of what we have
in Him. what's waiting for us in Him,
all the peace, all the joy, all the freedom from sin. He said, if you pray for that
comfort to come to your heart, I'll send it to you. God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray that for you. Praying that
for myself, I'm not praying it for you. I pray God would send
comfort to your heart. I pray he'll comfort your heart,
give you that peace and contentment. For those dear brethren down
in Mexico, for all the brethren all over this world, and for
all the brethren all over this room, This is my prayer. By God's grace, this is my prayer
for them, this is my prayer for you. I pray God will save you. He's going to have to do it.
It'll be by His will, it'll be by His work. It's out of my hands,
it's out of your hands. Therefore, I pray God will save
you. I pray God will cause you to
grow in the grace, the knowledge, the wisdom, the love of Christ.
I pray God will give you a strong commitment to the cause and the
ministry of the gospel of God's word and the ministry of his
people. I pray that he will convince
you that everything else in this world is empty and worthless. And I pray he will commit your
heart and your substance and your all to the treasure of eternity
with Christ. When you think about eternity
with Christ, everything else is a bowl of sod pottage. That's
all it is. And I pray he'll comfort your
heart. I pray he'll comfort your heart in the blood, in the promise,
in the finished work of his salvation. Now, I sincerely ask you to do
the same for me. I sincerely do. I mean that. I pray that you
will pray for me. I beg for you to pray for me.
Pray for me that God will not only save me, Really, pray for this. Pray that
God will cause me as a pastor to grow. Ask Him if He's willing to do
that for us. Pray that He will cause me to
grow in grace and grow in faith. Wouldn't that be a wonderful
thing for a pastor? Pray that He'll cause me to grow
in knowledge and grow in wisdom and grow in love. And that he
would give me a true commitment to the cause and the ministry
of the gospel of his word and his people. And pray that he would comfort
my heart too. I need it just like everybody
else does. I'll do it for you if you'll do it for me. May God
teach us the vital importance of doing this for each other.
This is God's communication. God forbid that we should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray these things for each other.
Let's do this. All right, let's all stand together.