OK, I want you to turn back to
1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Let's read verse 8 again. We're
not making a whole lot of progress through 1 Timothy, are we? But
that's all right. That's all right. I hope you're
getting some profit out of this message. I believe there'll be
one more after this one, one more on this subject of prayer. I believe next Wednesday night
we'll be looking at this thing of praying without ceasing, what
it means to pray continually, and this, and this should really
spark your interest, what it means to pray in the
will of God, or what is the will of God for me? What is the will
of God for me, my life? Is that interesting? What is
God's will for my life? I'm just certain that he doesn't
keep us in the dark. 1 Timothy 2, verse 8. The apostle Paul, on the inspiration
of God's Spirit, says, verse 8, Therefore that men pray everywhere
or men everywhere pray or men pray everywhere at all times
in all things everywhere in all circumstances in all instances
concerning all things that men pray everywhere lifting up holy
hands without wrath and out of without without wrath and And
as I said last time we got together, if anything, if I can impress
upon us the need to pray, if we leave this place with a
greater sense of urgency to pray to God, then this will be successful
and I'll be glad about it. And once again, I say, whether
or not I have any freedom or power or zeal or enthusiasm or
liberty, you may call it, to expound these things, these truths
to you, doesn't really matter. But the truth is necessary, it's
needful. Listen to this. Listen, this is John Newton
now. You can relate to John Newton. He was a nobody. John Newton was a sinner saved
by grace, a wretch. He's the one that wrote Amazing
Grace. And that's just one. That's not
his best. Amazing Grace is not his best.
Listen to this. Come, my soul, thy suit prepare. Christ loves to answer your prayer. He himself has bid thee pray.
therefore will not say thee nay. Thou art coming to a king, large
petitions with thee bring. For his grace and power are such,
none can ever ask too much." I remember a preacher one time
saying, Ask big things of God. Ask big things. He's a big God. There's nothing too hard for
him. Ask big things. Why be content
with asking little things? With my burden, I begin. He begins
praying. With my burden, I begin. Lord,
remove this load of sin. It's the first need, isn't it? Let thy blood for sinners spilt
set my conscience free. from guilt. Lord, I come to thee
for rest, take possession of my breast. There thy blood bought
right maintain, and without rival within reign. As the image in
the glass answers the beholder's face, thus unto my heart appear,
print thy own resemblance there. While I am a pilgrim here, let
your love, my spirit, cheer as my guide, my guard, my friend. Lead me to my journey's end. Show me what I have to do. Every hour my strength renews.
Let me live a life of faith, and let me die thy people's death."
Listen to this one. As I said, I could just go in
here and pick out any one, but listen to another one by John
Newton. Listen. Behold the throne of grace. The promise calls me near. Hebrews
4, 16. Come boldly to this throne of
grace. Behold the throne of grace. The
promise calls me near. There Jesus Christ shows his
smiling face and waits to answer your prayer. that rich atoning
blood, which sprinkled round I see, provides for those who
come to God in all prevailing plea. My soul, ask what thou
wilt. Thou canst not be too bold, since
his own blood for thee he spilt. What else can he withhold? Beyond thy utmost wants his love
and power can bless. to pray in souls, he always grants
more than they can express. It gives us exceedingly above
all that we even ask or think. Well, our text says, pray everywhere,
and over in 1 Thessalonians 5, it says this, He tells us in verse 17, pray
without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. We need
to pray. We need to pray. We need to call upon the Lord,
the Lord from whom all blessings flow, right? We're not going
to get a blessing anywhere but from Him, from whom all blessings
flow. We need to call on Him. By whose
grace we are what we are by the grace of God, I am what I am.
So we need grace where we're going to get it. We're going
to have to ask. We have to call upon him and he gives more grace. And he will, but he will yet
be inquired of it. Be inquired for it, seek, ask,
knock, the scripture says. And it says everywhere without
ceasing, everywhere on the mountain, in the valley, in the woods,
in the house, everywhere. And he said, here, pray without
ceasing. Listen to all of these verses that exhort us to continue
to pray and never quit. Listen, Colossians 4, continue
in prayer and watch with thanksgiving. 2 Thessalonians 2, we're bound
to give thanks to God always. Brethren, we love the Lord. Psalm
113, from the rising of the sun To the going down of the same,
the Lord's name is to be praised. Ephesians five, giving thanks
always for all things. So the word says to pray everywhere,
wherever we are, whatever we're doing, and to pray always without
ceasing, without ceasing. And in everything, give thanks. We're to pray about everything.
We pray about everything. Everything listen to these verses.
Second Timothy four watch it out in all things. All things. First Peter four watch unto prayer. In all things Philippians four
in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request
be made known. To God. So I ask you why pray. Why should we pray? Because God
bids us to, God tells us to, God says so. Number two, for
his glory, for his glory. Prayer is chiefly praise and
thanksgiving. You'll notice how often it talks
about thanksgiving in relation to prayer. Prayer is chiefly
thanks, thanks, thanks. And thirdly, for our good, for
our good. It's a means of grace, it's a
means of obtaining grace. It's a building block in faith
he said building up your sales on your most holy faith praying
in the spirit. Faith is built up through prayer
and then I gave you last week I gave you six things. J.C. Ryle gave them to us six
things. Concerning prayer let me just
review review these things with you a moment and then we'll I'll
not keep you long, I promise. Ryle gave these six very profitable
things, very needful things concerning prayer. Number one, he said prayer
is needful to salvation. In other words, no one's going
to be saved that doesn't call on the name of the Lord. Call
on the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall call shall be
saved. There's no salvation apart from calling upon the name of
the Lord. And that doesn't mean a one-time thing. That doesn't
mean making your decision or making one profession of faith
and then going on about your way. No, it's a continual calling
upon the name of the Lord. Importunate prayer. Pray without
ceasing. Number two, he said prayer is a sure mark of regeneration. You remember when Saul of Tarsus,
the Lord saved him? You remember that? You remember
what he said what the Lord said to Ananias was it he said go
to this one that I send you to Saul of Tarsus and you'll find
out he's a changed man. How would he know that Janet.
Behold he prayeth. He prayeth. And not thus with
himself like he probably did as a Pharisee before. You know
he oh have mercy oh. Like he talked about in First
Timothy. Number three, he said, there's nothing so neglected
as private prayer. Nothing so neglected like little
children, you know, we we fail to communicate with our parents,
our heavenly parent. And there's nothing we need more
exercise in than this and talking to our father. And number four,
he said, prayer is a secret of Christ likeness. He used the
term imminent holiness, but we we a ball hit terms like that
but then this means Christ like prayers the secret of Christ
likeness if you'll study the man. Mostly man speaks of in
the scriptures who were. Imminent men of God. Bear Christ
like Daniel. Joseph David. It was a great
characteristic of these people what these men. Number five,
neglect of prayer is the greatest cause of our spiritual decline
and moral failure. Neglect of prayer, and I talked
about, I added to that how that so many sermons are heard without
praying about them. I wonder how many really prayed
for me tonight before this service began. How many times have I
said to us that we get out of this what we put into it, right?
We can't expect God to bless us if we don't come seeking one,
can we? We can't presume upon God for that. He doesn't have
to bless us at all. Thank God He does. Thank God
He always overrules, doesn't He? Thank God He does work in
spite of us, in spite of our sloth and so forth. But the fact
of the matter is, how many sermons have we heard without Seeking
the blessing from the Lord, how many prayers pray, how many times
we read the scriptures and so on, how many decisions made,
how many marriages contracted, how many trips, destinations
have been undertaken without seeking the Lord's faith. Number
six. And like and I use the illustration
of Peter, how that the Lord told Peter, watch now. in prayer that
you enter not watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.
Peter didn't do it. And it wasn't too long after
that, real shortly, he took the greatest fall he'd ever taken.
And the Lord just exhorted him, Peter, Satan hath desired thee. I don't know when we're going to
listen to the Lord, are we? When are we going to listen?
We're going to have to be sixty years old. I hope not. Number six. Lastly, he said prayer
is one of the best recipes for happiness and contentment. Take
your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Generally, when you
get to praying about a matter, you get to thanking him for your
blessings and pour out your heart. It does you good to unburden,
you know, unburden. And finally, you go away with
your burdens lifted and you're a lot more content than when
you started. All right. I'm going to enlarge on what
this thing of true prayer consists of, OK? I urge you to pray along
these lines. I urge you just to pray last
Wednesday night. Now I'm going to be a little
more in depth with what this thing of true prayer consists
of, OK? And then next Wednesday night,
we'll talk about what it is to pray without ceasing and what
it is to pray. What do we pray for? The will of God. Now, this is not a lesson on
how to pray. I'm not about to write a book
on how to. That's ridiculous. The audacity
of a man to pretend to tell people how to pray. That's between that
person and their God, right? And that's what they're trying
to do. They're trying to be mediators, aren't they? Well, pray after
me. Y'all, now, I want y'all to come up front here. I want
you to repeat after me. That's not prayer. Is that fervent
heart prayer? No, that's Paul Parrott prayer.
That doesn't avail anything. That doesn't get past the ceiling,
does it? I'm not trying to tell you how
to pray. Romans 8, 26, quoted that while ago, that we know
not what we should pray for. He said we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. We're little children. We're
talking about a thrice holy God, infinite God. We're flesh, God's
spirit. We're flesh. We can't understand
God, the mind of God. Anybody got a secret? Like God said to Job, where were
you when I laid the foundation of the world? You got a monopoly
on the will of God? You know all about it? We're like little children before
us. a pair we don't know what we should pray for as we all
but the spirit itself make it intercession for with groanings
which cannot be other thank God the Holy Spirit makes our prayers
right. We pray all wrong Barbara and
he turns right if the heart there is there that's all that matters
really in the name of Christ. Now the disciples did ask the
Lord Lord teach us to pray Didn't they? Didn't they say, Lord,
teach us to pray. And so the Lord did, didn't he?
He did. He taught them how to pray. And the Lord has inspired his
ministers, his apostles, his ministers, some prophets, some
evangelists, some apostles, some pastors, some teachers with wisdom
and good counsel. And I've read many good things
on the subject of prayer. I read those things I read to
you from J.C. Ryle, good things. And I don't
deny those at all. I don't disesteem them at all.
So I'm giving you some things here on what true prayer consists
of. OK. Number one. Number one. What is true prayer
consists of? Number one. Worship. Praise. Worship and praise. Worship and
praise. And I'm going to give you these
things in light of what our Lord said in that disciple's prayer. What did he say first? He said,
after this manner, pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Worship and praise. Worship and
pray. We don't rush right into God.
I need, I need, I want, I want, I want. Do it. Gimme, gimme, gimme. You've never
done that? Doesn't it make you mad? First
thing in the morning or something? Just say hello to me first. Acknowledge
me first. Don't start asking. Number one,
so is worship and pray. Our Father, hallowed be thy name.
Number two is thanksgiving. In everything, by prayer and
supplication, went to thanksgiving. We always have reason to be thankful,
don't we? Always thankful. Number three,
repentance. There's no real prayer without
repentance. We're sinners coming before a
holy God. What's the one thing we need,
Terry? Forgiveness, pardon, justification, salvation through the blood of
Christ. Repentance. Forgive us our debts. That's what he said. Right. Forgive
us our debt. Forgive us our sin. Number four,
prayer through prayer, consistent requests. There are requests.
We do, we come. Give us. We do say, give me.
That's what the Lord said. He told us to pray, give us what? This day, our daily bread. Give
us what's necessary. Having food and rain, but let
us therewith be content. give us our daily sustenance.
We are to ask for those things that are needful, daily needs.
And it goes much beyond bread, doesn't it? Mercy, grace, sustenance,
wisdom, guidance, right? We need guidance through the
day. We need His presence, don't we? Don't we, John? Out there
on the job site with this God-hating, wicked world that we rub shoulders
with, we get dirty. We need cleansing. Wash my feet,
Lord. Wash my feet. Guidance, wisdom,
how to conduct ourselves. Restraining grace. Keep us, Lord. Keep us from falling. Prayer
is communicating. Prayer is talking to God, isn't
it? I wouldn't make it any more difficult than that. I wouldn't
have you to think it's any more difficult than just talking to
your Heavenly Father. Ellen, talking to God. Now what
it is, huh? It's not preaching a sermon.
It's not trying to impress anybody with your eloquence. It's talking
to God. Talking to God. Casting all your cares on Him.
Tell Him your needs. Tell Him your heart. Prayer is
unburdening yourself to God. Unburdening yourself. Prayer
is a heart going out to God in worship, thanksgiving, praise,
and needs. It's just outpouring of the heart
to God Almighty, from whom all blessings flow. And the form
is not important. Who says we have to be on our
knees? Who says we have to have our eyes closed? Who says we
have to have our head bowed? Huh? Who says we have to do this? Who says? Who says? I don't find
it anywhere in the scripture where it says that you must be
in this particular position, a particular time of the day.
The form is not important. The words are not that important,
except in the name of Christ. The words are not that important.
Sometimes I believe prayers without words are better prayers than
many eloquent words. Huh? Somebody one time said it's better
to have a heart without words than words without heart. Right? Eloquence doesn't matter. The
length of the prayer doesn't matter. Doesn't matter a bit. Lord, help. That's a good prayer,
isn't it? Great God, I praise your name.
Thank you for everything. Help. Amen. That good enough? That enough? And above all, though,
above all, now this is of utmost importance, every prayer should
be in the name of, that is, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
By faith in him. God won't hear you, Charles.
except through his son. You have no right, you have no
part in the matter, except through his son. He always hears his
son, doesn't he, buddy? He always hears his son. Nobody
else is promised to be heard. Somebody asked me that. Can anybody
pray? Yeah, anybody can. Anybody can pray. Who's keeping
us? Who's stopping They say they
try to keep our kids from praying in school. Ridiculous. That's the most ridiculous
thing I've ever heard of. You can see these bumper stickers.
Kids ought to pray. Well, who's stopping them? Huh? Who's stopping
them? You don't pray. Who says you've
got to pray out loud? Who says you've got to bow your
head? Like Bernard said one time at the dinner table out in public,
somebody said, aren't you going to pray, you know? He said, well,
how do you know I didn't? Huh? It's form, it's ritual,
isn't it? It's tradition, ceremony. All
that we go through. All that we go through. Who can
pray? Well, anybody can pray. Everybody ought to pray. That's
what he said there in 1 Timothy 2, didn't it? Verse 8. I will,
therefore, that men pray everywhere. Men everywhere pray. Everybody
ought to pray. All men ought to pray. Kings, everybody ought
to pray. Children ought to pray. And nobody
can stop them from praying. It's just you better be praying
in Christ. You've got to pray through Christ. You can't pray
to Allah. You can't pray to Buddha. Mohammed, that dude in the paper,
you know, on the back pew. That's a very appropriate name
for his column, and ain't nobody can hardly gather much from the
back pew. He'd be up front where you could
hear. The back pew. That fellow, he's talking about
all sorts of faiths, and there's only one faith, one Lord, one
faith. One hope of your calling, one
way to pray, not many. That fellow's missed the boat,
and everybody else has, too, that doesn't pray through the
authority in the name of, and the authority of, through the
person of, based upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Ain't no prayer where it's going to be heard outside
of Christ. No. Right? If that's not so, let's
go someplace else. We can go anywhere in so-called
worship, can't you? Only in Christ, through faith
in his person, his work, his blood, his righteousness. Now,
here's some thoughts on prayer, and I'll be brief, OK? I'll be
very brief. Here's some thoughts, some more
thoughts on prayer, concerning true prayer. This is a whole
other line of thought here, OK? And many of these things I gleaned
from J.C. Ryle as well. Number one, the
importance, I want to stress and impress upon you the importance
of reverence and humility in prayer. Now, buddy, isn't this lacking
today? Reverence and humility. It's
not lacking among our people. But you watch these dudes on
TV. You watch these fools. You watch
them. It's sickening to me. It makes
me angry. Can you imagine the disdain God
Almighty has for their arrogance and their presumption? Dare you
to call my name in such a fashion, you wiggling, filthy worms. God
is in the heavens, the Scripture says. We're upon the earth. Therefore,
what? Let your words be few. And you
better weigh them carefully. We don't approach the thrice.
We need to always consider who it is we're approaching. Always and never forget who we
are and to whom we speak, right? A holy God. Yes, he's our father,
but he's first our holy God, isn't he? That's what it says there in
our text, that lifting up holy hands. Holy hands. Reverence and humility. Never rush in. Almost like to
ward off or send off before a holy God. You know how the angels are in
his presence? Man, they don't have any sin.
The cherubs have no sin. What do they do in the presence
of the thrice-holy God who says in Isaiah 6, huh? They've got
three sets of wings. With two, they cover their faces,
don't they? With two, they cover their feet,
their lower parts, in modesty and humility. With two, they
didn't fly. Who are we? Now those are bright,
angelic creatures. We're wiggling maggots. Stinky
maggots. Right? We're before a holy God. So reverence and humility. And
anybody I hear praying that rushes right into the prayer, they're
not praying. Anybody rushes right in. You
know these preachers. You ever seen these preachers
preaching all of a sudden, you know? They're preaching grace unto
you and peace. From God the Father, let us pray. Dear God, I pray
that this... Man, that guy didn't... That's an abomination, isn't
it? And then as soon as they get through praying, I turn to
praise God. Man, are you going to stop and think about what
you did just for a moment? I had to instruct our daughter
to that the other day. Praying at the table, thanking
God, you know, and immediately afterwards, it's like, She and
all of our children do this, you know, immediately after the
last word, you say, Mama, they're tearing into asking you something
or talking about something. Wait a minute now. Had to stop
and say, wait a minute now. Do you know what we're doing
here? We're not just going through the motions here. We're not just
doing our little ceremony here every day before the meal. You
know, we're talking to God. And when you talk to God, you
think about what you're doing. And after you get through talking
about it, you just don't forget it so quickly. You think about
it a minute. Reverence and humility. Number
two. Reverence and humility. Number
two, earnestness. Or zeal, sincerity, earnestness. That's another word for being
real, being sincere. And where does that come from?
It doesn't come from my head. You can talk off the top of your
head, can't you? You can say some good words. I've prayed
some good prayers off the top of my head. I sure have. Haven't
you? I mean, they might have sounded
good to somebody else, but after they were through, I thought,
man, that wasn't from my heart. God forgive that prayer. Haven't
you? From the heart, earnestness,
true, fervent, warm. The words of the old Puritan,
warm prayer. heartwarming prayer. Beware of
form. Beware of duty. Vain repetitions. Use not vain repetitions. Earnestness
from the heart. Number three. Number three. Faith. Faith. Turn to Mark chapter eleven
with me. Mark chapter eleven. Faith. This is of the utmost importance. Faith in prayer. that our prayers are going to
be heard, if we pray according to his will, that our prayers
are being heard. They need to believe that. He said they would
be, without wrath and doubting, the scripture, our text says,
without wrath and doubting. And this is a plain command of
Christ. Look at Mark 11, verse 24 with me, verse 24. Therefore
I say unto thee, what thing soever you desire, when you pray, Believe
that you receive them. And you shall have. You remember that woman that
came to him and the Lord said, said, Do you believe that I can
do this? That was the man, wasn't it, who wanted his son healed.
Do you believe? Does thou believe? Do you believe
that I can do this? Oh, Lord, I believe. Help my
unbelief. According to your face will be
empty. He said that several times in
according to your face will be empty. Woman, thy faith is safety,
go thy way. Isn't it? What's the thing soever
you desire? I mean, that goes back to our
last point, doesn't it? From the heart. Desire. When you pray, believe that you
receive them and you shall have them. There's nothing so honors
God as faith. That. Taking him at his word
listen to this in first John if you want to turn you can and
first John chapter five he says this or this is. This is down
here where the rubber meets the road you want to know something
about prayer. He said first John five verses fourteen and fifteen
this is the confidence that we have in him. that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us. I'm interested in that. And if we know that He hears
us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petitions we desire
to be. That's some kind of Scripture
there. Oh my, Lord, let me know something about believing prayer.
According to your faith, so be it, if that much faith. We don't have
to believe in sovereignty of God, old Jack. That's it, that's
it. He heareth us. Now, here's the blessed consolation. We go to God in prayer, asking
for a particular thing, and we need to do that, and that's my
next point. But if we receive what we've asked for, oh boy! Have you received answers, clear
answers to prayer, and the Lord has blessed you in answer to
your prayer? How many times? How I've proved
Him over and over, the Psalms, how many times has He answered
and given you your request? What joy and praise and thanksgiving
you can render unto Him because of His blessed answer to your
prayers, huh? And you say, I know He answers
prayer. I know He does. Sammy, I know
He does. That psalm says, Now I know that
the Lord saves his anointed. I know he saved me. Now I know
he saves sinners. He saved me. Now I know he provides
for his own. He just provided a miraculous
provision for me. Now I know God answers prayer. I know. We quickly forget, though,
don't we, Barbara? But there are times when we can
say with utmost confidence, I know he hears my prayer. He answered
it. There it is. a miraculous answer,
just what I was asking for. Can you say that? It might not be overnight, but
that's the reason we need to watch unto prayer. That's the
reason we need to watch our prayer, watch for the answer. And when
it gets answered, don't think it's some strange thing. You
asked for it, didn't you? Remember I gave you the... Well,
I'm getting ahead of myself. But if we don't receive what
we ask for, then what? Now, when I'm talking about asking,
I'm talking about Ernest, Furbin, and next week we're going to
talk about, or this week, continual prayer, importunate prayer, like
that widow who kept coming, kept coming, kept coming until she
got an answer. If we don't receive what we ask for, then we know
we better take it. We better understand it's not
the Lord's will, right? I'll give you an example. I was
wrestling over being called to that little church in West Virginia.
Went up there for eight or ten months. Loved those people just
as much as I love you. And there are believing people
just as much as you are. Lovely people. Nice little facility
just like this. It's not one whit different from
this church right here. And I was seeking the Lord's
will for eight or ten months. Kept driving up there. And one
day I'd say, it's the Lord's will. Next day, no, it's not.
Up and down, up and down. Lord, show me. He never showed
me. Why? It wasn't His will. Finally,
I thought, well, it must not be His will. How long does it
take? Huh? Came down here twice. Lord,
show me. Go. Here I am. Plain as day. I look back now and think, well, if He doesn't answer it,
it must not be His will, right? He doesn't give it to you? One
of the old Puritans talked about arguing with God. Now, you'd
have to read the Puritans to understand what they're talking
about. We don't, in our generation, we don't argue with God or bicker
with God back and forth. What they talk about is pleading
God's Word against God or holding God to His Word. You know that,
and honors God, it's the same thing as faith. And honors God,
Ryle said, take one of his blessed promises with thee, and have
him to be true to his word. Lord, you said. How many times
have your children done that to you, huh? Now, we're forgetful. We forget. A lot of times we
make some promises to our children, you know, and we fully intend
to keep them, but later we forget. We're busy, you know. But they
haven't, you know, they've been consumed with it and they bring
it up to you like that. You promise and it makes you
feel bad. Oh, I did. And you won't be true
to your word. You want to prove yourself to
your daughter, your son, that you're true to your word, that
you're faithful, that you're loving. Kind, compassionate Father,
she said, I did promise that. Well, I'll do it. I'll do it.
God never forgets. He waits on you to plead it with
Him. Lord, you said, call on me in the day of trouble and
I'll deliver you. You said, whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord, that's what He said, didn't He? Well, bless God, I'm going
to keep calling. How about you? If you don't,
you don't believe what He said. Isn't that about as plain as
day? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, right? Does he give him qualifications
for that? Whoever's thirsty, those are
the only qualifications he gives. Thirsty? Sure. Sinful? Wretched? Vile? Miserable? Helpless? Without strength? Without hope?
Are you? Call! I don't know about y'all, but I'm
going to call. I have called. Roberta, you answer me? Keep
calling, he keeps answering me. By God's grace, I'm going to
continue to call, and I expect him to keep on answering. That
honors him. That honors God. Do you see that? That honors God's Word. He delights
in that. I intend to do what Proverbs
22, 6 says concerning my daughter. By God's grace, now I'm not being
brash and braggadocious and presumptuous at all, by God's grace now, according
to the will and the grace he gives me in order to train up
my child, the ability he gives me, by God's grace now, I intend
to take him at that promise. He said, train a child up in
the way it should go, according to the scripture, and when it's
old enough, depart from it. Hannah, we're going to do, by
God's grace, we're going to do things the way he says to do. And I just trust God that when
she gets fifteen years old or eighteen years old or twenty
five years old she won't be a prostitute on the street. Is that presumption? Huh? Huh? Or is that just taking God
as His Word? I intend to do what Romans 10,
13 says. How about you? Number four, particular prayer. Prayer needs to be particular.
You ever, your children, I remember going to my dad, my dad was,
well, a generation or so ago, parents
were a little bit hard to talk to, weren't they? They were hard
to approach. They weren't real approachable
were they? And I don't know, you know, things have changed.
But I remember going to my dad, and I had some things I wanted
to talk to him about. Boy, I just had a hard time getting it out,
you know. And I'd sit there and, you know, you know how you do. Oh, Dad. Beat around the bush
and trying to get it out. Dad? Yes, son, what is it? Well,
I just, you know, well, Dad, I, What is it that's been about? Well, I just hope what I mean
to say is. Ask, you know, he knows what
things you have neither before you ask who you hold in front
of hiding in front of you. He knows exactly what's on your
mind. Tell him. Right. I remember my dad one time talking
about a Sunday morning. This is funny. I remember on
Sunday morning, he's in Adelaide, Kentucky. basketball fan as all
of us blue blooded Kentuckians are. It's hopeless. It's hopeless. But I remember
him saying that one morning, one Sunday morning, you know,
they had played a game that Saturday night, like me and like so many
of us, we won't watch the game live. We're afraid to get beat,
you know, tape it. If they win, you watch it. But
he said Sunday morning, He woke up after the game and he wanted
to look at the papers and see if they won or not. He wanted to
look at the papers. He thought on Sunday morning
he'd have a mind on things that God said he couldn't get out
of his mind. Oh, I had to find out. I've done the same thing.
Same thing. This morning I looked to see
if they'd beat Louisville. They did. But he said, I wanted to
look at the paper so bad. I said, if I wouldn't it's Sunday. Sunday morning, you know, I've
got to have my mind on things. He said, That plagued me. I was
about to walk out the door. He said, Oh, gee whiz. God knows you want
to look at the paper. Look at the paper. Right? What are we trying to hide from? Go ahead and look at the paper.
Find out, and then go on about your business. Right? Take your
burdens, all of it. Father knows what things we have
in need of. Tell it to him specifically. Lord, I need a job. Lord God,
I've got this particular problem. Tell him, plead with him, open
up to him. Lord God, I got this one particular
thing, you've got to do something about this. And only you know
what that is. We want that openness in our
children or no one. All right, number five, thankfulness.
I've already said this, I'm just repeating myself, but thankfulness
in everything Everything this side of hell is mercy. But old brother Barnard said,
and it's true, everything this side of hell is mercy. Perhaps
we ought to open up every prayer with, thank you God I can pray to you.
Right? Thank you God, you're a God that
I can pray to. Thank you, God, that I'm not
in hell right now. Wouldn't that be a good way to
open up our prayer? Thank you, God, I'm not in hell.
It's where I belong. Thank you, God, for all your
mercy, your love, your grace. Thank you, thank you. We might
not even ask for anything else. Thank you for Christ. Without
Christ, Lord, I couldn't call on you. I couldn't take your
name on my lips. Thank you for Christ. Thank you that there's
a man that sits at the right hand of God. His hands, his wounds
plead for us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
sending your son down here. Without him, I couldn't call
on you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
so much. Sixthly, sixthly, intercession. And I want to dwell here just
for about 10 minutes and I'll let you go, OK? It's important
thing of intercession intercession and prayer. Intercessory prayer
is so vital. Would you listen to me? Would
you give me a few more minutes? Intercessory prayer. This is
a vital principle throughout the scriptures in everything
vital. Vital, you know. That God's treatment of us is
directly related to how we treat other people. God's treatment of us is directly
related to our treatment of other people. You know that? Where
does it say that? With the merciful, thou wilt
show thyself merciful. The Lord loveth what a cheerful
giver. If you forgive others. Your Heavenly
Father will forgive you. And not only if I didn't put
that in there, the Lord did. Forgive us our trespasses you
remember right after the Lord gave that in Matthew six gave
that prayer to us. He said for he said the art. That is the king the power and
the glory forever a man for. If you forgive not men their
trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive your.
Right at right on the end of that he said for if you forgive
men your trespasses so will the heavenly father forgive you if
you don't neither will you forgive Our treatment, or God's treatment
of us, is directly related to our treatment of other people. If you pray for others, and I
know this is so, I know it's so, I'm telling you something
from experience now, I'm not just preaching to you, I'm going
to tell you something. That's what Brother Scott said, I'm
going to quit preaching now and I'm going to tell you something. If you pray for others, the Lord
will grant your prayer, your own prayer. It's so. It's so. Our Lord is the greatest
example of that. I'll give you an example. You
want an example? A biblical example? I'll give
you the best one of all. Jesus Christ. He took on himself the form of
a servant. He said I didn't come to be ministered
on to getting out our problem. We think people ought to be our
beckoning call we think God ought to be we think that you know
everybody exists for us and we get all down and out and we get
all full of self-pity because we don't have that we don't they
don't treat me like they don't do this for me I don't have this
I don't have that who said you had any right to anything who
are you anyway who am I anyway who are we that God that the
son of God who thought it not robbery to be equal with God
took on himself the form of a servant he said I didn't have to be minister
unto but to minister and give my life a ransom for many if
he took the form of a servant what should we service day we
are just be what we are He gave himself for others, didn't he?
He gave himself for others. He, even the Lord, it says, pleased
not himself in all things, but pleased others, didn't he? Hmm? He didn't look on his own thing. Barbara, can you think of one
instance in all the scriptures where the Lord did anything for
his own, to meet his own need? You'll not find it anywhere,
will you? He only found one time in all the scriptures where the
Lord prayed for himself. And that was in the garden, because
he thought he was going to die right there in the garden before
he got to that cross. And he knew he had to get to
that cross, or else redemption would not be accomplished. And
he said, if it be possible, let this cup right now pass from
me. I'm going to die right here. And he sweat blood out of him.
John, he would have bled to death without a wound being inflicted.
And that was a time, we don't know much about that, but that
was a time when he said, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, even then, he said,
not my will, but thy will be done. God answered him then,
didn't he? Immediately he sent his angels
to minister unto his spirit. He didn't look on the things
of others. He prayed for the needs of others. So what did God do?
What did it say in Philippians when it talked about him taking
on the form of a servant? For this cause, For this reason,
God hath highly exalted him." Why? Why? Well, in the context, the
principal reason, John, is because he took the lowest of the low,
didn't he? He that abases himself shall
be what? Exalted! Here's a real vital
principle here, people. You know it? He that exalteth
himself, I'll have you know I'm somebody. Why doesn't everybody?
You're going to be a beast. Count on it. God is highly exalted. And because
he did this, because he prayed for others and not himself, God,
he said when he went to Lazarus' tomb, what did he say there at
Lazarus' tomb? I know you hear me. You always hear me. Why do
you always hear him, Nancy? Because he's always praying for
somebody else. Is that a pretty plain thing?
Huh? Huh? It couldn't get any plainer than
that. He prayed for others, and the Father always heard him.
In blessing others, God will bless you. In looking on the
things of others, God will see to your needs. I know it's so. Cast your bread upon the water,
as the Scripture says. Cast your bread upon the waters.
You'll see it again after many days, and I guarantee you it'll
be of interest. Count on it. We give our little
pittance, you know, to the missionary or whoever, whatever, and we
think we've given sacrificially. God gives us back a hundredfold.
We give ten dollars, we get a hundred dollars unexpectedly. It's a
principle that God Almighty gives. I'm not Bob Tilton here. Now,
wait a minute. I'm not telling you to do it
for that reason. I'm just saying it's so. Even
though that maniac has gone berserk, it's so nonetheless. You can't
out-give God. His motives and his principles
are all right. I just broke my hand, I believe.
Cast your bread on the water, you'll see it after many days.
And not only bread, but corn bread, and beans, and black-eyed
peas, and taters. You cannot out give God, Brother
Henry, can you? How many years have you been
in this thing? How often have you seen that?
Huh? We give five dollars, ten dollars a year, fill a tank here,
do this and that and the other, and it comes back, doesn't it,
buddy? It comes back. Pray for others. God will bless
you. Pray for others. God will bless
you. Here's an example. Lord, bless the preacher. I couldn't give you a greater
example. Lord, bless the preacher. Would you enable him to preach
today? You know, if God blesses me,
people, if this thing would get ahold of me, I'm telling you,
if God will enable me to preach with some fervency, some zeal,
me or anybody who preaches, but Terry, whoever stands up, you
know, God will bless the preacher. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred,
you're going to be blessed, aren't you? Isn't that a good reason
to ask for a blessing on the preacher? Lord, meet so-and-so's
needs. Would you meet this? He'll give
you back. He'll give you extra to help
meet their needs. I've seen it happen. I know it's
so so and so Lord they need this and then he'll give you something
you give them. It's so. It's so. And lastly. Lastly. Watchfulness over your prayers
and I alluded to this briefly a moment ago watchfulness over
your prayers number seven watchfulness Peter said watch on the prayer
He said in Colossians four, turn over there and I'll quit. Turn
to Colossians four and look at this one passage with me. Colossians
four, look at verse two with me. Colossians four, and this
is watchfulness in prayer. Watching over your prayer. Colossians
four, verse two, continue in prayer. There it is again. Pray
without ceasing. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same. with Thanksgiving. Now what does
that mean? Well it means I believe that
partially means keep an eye to keep an eye to your prayer make
certain that you keep praying. Number one. And then watch for
an answer to it. Watch for an answer expect an
answer. But watch make sure that you keep praying. And then watch
out Be expecting an answer. Be expecting an answer. Don't
be like the people that prayed for Peter's release, you know,
and then when he came to the door, they all said, who's that?
It's Peter. Well, we don't believe that.
Can't be, he's in prison. Well, what were you in prison
for? Right? Well, along that first line,
keep an eye out or watch out, make certain of your prayers. This is the pith and the marrow.
The essence of true religion is our personal relationship
with God, OK? It's not going to church on Sunday
morning. It's not reading our Bible. It's not even prayer.
Although prayer is inseparably connected to it, but our personal
relationship with God, communion with God, is walking with God.
Enoch walked with God. You want to know what faith is? Go figure that out, Rick. You
want to know what faith is, what discipleship is? Three words. Enoch walked with God. Walked with God. All spiritual
life and vitality comes from the presence of God with us.
All spiritual life and vitality come from the presence of God
with us. God is our strength. God is our peace. God is our
comfort. God is our health. God is our
happiness. Without him, we can do nothing. Right? We are nothing. Or better,
we know nothing. We can do nothing. We don't know
where to go. We don't know where to turn. We don't know the first
thing. And when we begin to get in trouble is when we begin to
go without seeking him. Right? Every time. Every time. We go our own way and it's not
God's way. Never is, is it? Never is. And like a small child, without
its mother. When I went down to the nursery
this morning and one of our children was squalling. Squalling. I wanted to jerk a knot in his
hand. The mother of that child would
have, you know, her heart would have been broken for him. But
he only had all these toys for her to play with and he's squalling.
Well, that's a good picture, though. child without his parent
is unhappy. He's a little small child, and
we need God, don't we? We'll be alone and we'll be unhappy
without him. Well, the scripture says, it
promises, draw nigh unto God. And he'll draw nigh unto you.
Nothing. Hm? Draw nigh unto God, and he'll
draw nigh unto you. That's another scripture I'm
going to take to the bank. John, how about you, buddy? By
His grace. And what is drawing nigh to God?
What we've been talking about all night here. Prayer. Next
Wednesday night, the Lord willing, you come on out, listen to this
message. Importance of continuing in prayer,
of praying without ceasing, and praying the will of God. Lord,
what's your will for me? What's your will for me? You
want to know that? You think God leaves his children
in the dark? No. No. Shall not your heavenly Father
give good things, give a good word to them that ask him? Shall he not answer you? I say
he'll answer you speedily. He'll tell you. It may not be
what you want to hear, but he'll tell you. If you want his will,
it'll be what you want to hear. I guarantee you this, it'll be
best. It'll be best. All right. Let's stand together
and let's sing a song. I feel too incapable to pray. Sherry, come up and let's sing.
Let me find it here. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. What is the name? Leave it there,
yeah. 153? 353? 353. Charles Tindley, that old black preacher, wrote
this song. 353. We'll sing a couple of verses. If the world from you withhold
of its silver and its gold, then you have to get along with me,
your pest. Just remember in His word how
He feeds a little bird. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Leave it there, leave it there,
leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there, leave it there. If you trust and never
doubt, He will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the
Lord, leave it there. Some of you bass singers remind
us. We need reminding, don't we?
Leave it there. Some of you remind us, that's what that is, a reminder,
isn't it? You remind us, buddy. two is the last. If your body
suffers pain and your health you've kept regained and your
soul is almost sinking in despair, Jesus knows the pain you feel. He can save and He can heal. Take your burden to the Lord,
leave it there, leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If you trust to never die, He
will surely bring you back. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there.