2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (If It Weren't for These Thorns, Jeff Kliewer)

Turn with me this morning to Hezekiah chapter 37. And if you're struggling to do that, that's a good thing, because there is no book of Hezekiah in the Bible. But there is a book of Isaiah, and it has a 37th chapter.

So go with me to Isaiah chapter 37 to learn about Hezekiah. We're gonna begin here in the Old Testament, talking about the subject of intercession, prayer, going before the Lord, standing in the gap, interceding between God and men, which is a privilege that we have as Christians because Christ has interceded on our behalf.

He tore the veil, He made a new and living way, and by His blood intercedes for us and allows us to come before the Father and make intercessions through Him, because we are in Him. So intercession is a very important part of the Christian life.

It's something that we grow in as we go. And this morning, I pray that all of us will grow by first of all, looking at Hezekiah, what he does well, and then also some shortcomings, which maybe we'll see ourselves in that as well.

So from Isaiah chapter 37, and then through the end of this first section, the book of Isaiah is really divided into two parts. The first 39 chapters paralleling the Old Testament is 39 books, and then from 40 to 66, kind of paralleling the 27 books of the New Testament, you see kind of a change, a dispensational change between chapter 39 and 40, and you see a very hopeful messianic anticipation of the coming of Christ.

So there is that parallel in the first 39 chapters here. At the end of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, we have Hezekiah as the king. And we learn this morning about how he interceded, how he prayed. Three wonderful and positive examples, and then one negative example.

The first positive example comes at the beginning of chapter 37, verses one and two. Rapshacha has been talking some serious smack. He's been talking trash. He is telling the Israelites he is going to come through and wreck them.

They're hopeless. They might as well just surrender. So what does Hezekiah do in chapter 37, verse one and two? He intercedes. He goes to the father in prayer. As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna, the secretary, and the senior priests covered with sackcloth to the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos. So what does he do? In his time of desperation, in his pain, in distress, he goes to the Lord.

He gathers leaders, and that would parallel us gathering pastors, gathering elders, and saying, hey, I need prayer. This is a serious situation. Would you anoint and pray over us because of this trouble that's come into my life?

He goes in intercessory prayer and calls upon the Lord, and the rest of this chapter describes the amazing answer to prayer. The Lord turns back the army because there's a disturbance on the other front, and so the army has to turn back, and Israel, specifically Jerusalem in the southern kingdom, is delivered through prayer.

But that doesn't derail the Assyrian king. He still would like to conquer, and so he sends a troubling letter. And here is the second occurrence of intercessory prayer. He sends a letter, again threatening to conquer, and saying, listen, no one has ever withstood Assyria.

Every king has called upon their gods, and they've failed them. We conquer and we destroy, and no one can stop the Assyrians but God.

Yahweh, the true God.

Hezekiah, again, a positive example of intercessory prayer. Chapter 37, verse 14. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

I love that physical display of his taking something before the Lord. He took that letter to the house of the Lord and spread it out before him. Verse 15, and Hezekiah prayed. Sometimes our prayer lives become weak, malnourished, because I guess we begin to doubt the power of our God.

But here Hezekiah prays in verse 16. O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, and you have made heaven and earth. He confesses who God is and then says, incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.

Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. He brings the mockery to the king, knowing that God will hear this and answer. In hope, he prays that God would incline his ear and open his eyes.

Truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste all the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone, therefore they were destroyed.

So now, O Lord our God, save us from His hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord. He turns in prayer. And in verse 21, we're told that because he interceded, Isaiah, the son of Amos, saying, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed.

So prayer makes a difference, folks, doesn't it? Whether or not we pray evidently matters. Even though God has a sovereign will over all things, He hears our prayers. And because He prayed, the Lord answers.

The answer is beautiful. I especially like verse 26, where God does acknowledge that Assyria has been conquering other countries. But what does He say about that? Have you not heard that I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins. God says to Assyria, yes, by your wicked instrumentation, you are accomplishing your will, but you are doing nothing but what I in my sovereign decree said would happen.

I determined it, verse 26, from long ago. And so a great answer to prayer is given. And that night, an angel of the Lord rides out against the army of Assyria, and this one angel destroys 185 ,000 troops of the enemy.

How powerful is our God in answer to prayer? He lays them waste, but that's not the end of Hezekiah's worries, because now Hezekiah is struck in his body with a terminal illness. Look at chapter 38, verse one.

And here is the third amazing intercessory prayer of King Hezekiah. In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came to him and said to him, thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.

This is the prophet Isaiah who speaks, thus saith the Lord, bringing a word that he will die. And yet, Hezekiah is still free to pray. And wouldn't you know that God hears the prayers of his people? Look at verse two.

Another beautiful picture of intercession. This is the way we should pray. Not a half-hearted prayer offered, and then we get distracted and think about something else in the middle of our prayer, and the next thing we know, we're thinking about the eagles and if they're gonna win today.

No, look how Hezekiah prays. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, shutting aside every distraction, turning his face to the wall, praised to the Lord and said, please. That's pleading, that word please means he's begging, he's calling on his God, please, oh Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight.

And Hezekiah wept bitterly. He calls on the Lord passionately in intercession. And then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, go and say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, behold, I will add 15 years to your life.

A powerful answer to prayer and a wonderful third example of the power of intercessory prayer, God answers prayers. He hears us when we cry to him. It matters if we do or if we don't. I wish that Hezekiah's story ended here in chapter 38, but there's one chapter left regarding this intercessory prayer and it's a negative example.

He's so elated over what God has done to answer his prayers that when a different king from another kingdom, namely Babylon, sends representatives to Israel and he has just driven off the Assyrians, the Babylonians come and Hezekiah does a very foolish thing.

He shows the representatives everything that Israel owns. All of the treasure in the temple and surrounding the temple, in the palace, he shows them everything, which of course makes the Babylonians quite envious and jealous and greedy and desiring to come and take those things.

It was a foolish move, but that's not the part that I'm pointing out. In chapter 39, he does these things, but I want you to see what God says through Isaiah. In verse six, he says, "'Behold, the days are coming "'when all that is in your house "'and that which your fathers have stored up till this day "'shall be carried to Babylon.

"'Nothing shall be left,' says the Lord. "'And some of your own sons who will come from you, "'whom you will father, shall be taken away. "'And they shall be eunuchs "'in the palace of the king of Babylon.'".

Now, before we read Hezekiah's response, just remember the context of his intercessory life, how he's prayed before and God has answered. And now he's being told, your own sons will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

They will be emasculated and serve a false king. And worship a false God. At this point, the righteous response of a Christian, well, this is before Christ, but of a godly father, is to say, no, Lord, never, let it never be so.

And to fall on your face and to tear your clothes and to put on sackcloth, turn your face to the wall and weep bitterly before the Lord saying, no, have mercy, Lord, no, not my son. That will not be his fate.

That's prayer.

And that's what he had been doing, but not this time. In verse eight, it says, "'Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "'The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good. "'For he thought there will be peace and safety in my days.'".

It's a horrible thought. It's a selfish thought. He's been healed of his disease. He's probably worn out from the struggle and he stops praying. Brothers and sisters, are you worn out in the struggle?

Have you been battling long and hard in prayer? There is a time to relent in prayer and submit to the will of God, accepting when He tells us no. But that time is not when our children and our loved ones are destined for eternal destruction.

It's not when the day of prayer is still upon us. There are some things we never stop praying about. You have a wayward son, a wayward daughter, a prodigal. Never stop praying. Never stop believing that God will bring the prodigal home.

It's not the time to stop praying. We're going to turn now to 2 Corinthians 11 because there does come, 2 Corinthians 12, there does come a time when we accept the will of God, that He is allowing a certain thorn to remain in the flesh.

But it's very important that we learn this principle of when to intercede and to continue to pray and when to accept the will of God in His saying no to our intercessions, to our pleadings. Paul, finally, after three times pleading, will accept no regarding a thorn in his own flesh.

But we must pray and learn to pray the way Paul did. So let's read it first. We're only doing 10 verses. That's why we had some time for the Old Testament. This is 2 Corinthians 12. And before I read, just remember the context here.

Paul is boasting, but that's a rhetorical device. He's not boasting because he's prideful. He's boasting because he's meeting the boasting of the enemies, the super apostles, the deceitful workers who are great speakers and they have credentials and they commend themselves and they puff themselves up.

Paul is using a rhetorical device to boast, but not in his greatness, he boasts in his sufferings,.

Being beaten, being whipped, being stoned.

And left for dead and shipwrecked and in all this danger in all of his journeys and the toil, the sleeplessness, the hunger, the thirst, the sufferings of the apostle and above all these things, the constant anxiety of his concern for the churches.

Paul will boast in his sufferings and now he moves on to dreams and visions and then finally the thorn in his flesh. That's the context. So he's gonna go on boasting. I must go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it.

I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Many a Christian over the years has found great comfort in these words, and I hope you have too. Because God is the God of all comfort. He begins 2 Corinthians 1 by calling God the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies.

And in verse 9, we're taught that many of the calamities and the sufferings that come into our life are to teach us to rely on God. In chapter 1, verse 11, it's to teach us to pray so that as we intercede, God answers our prayers and we give him the glory.

But sometimes God says no. Sometimes God's answer is not what we want it to be, but it's no for the time being. In verse 1, we see some visions that Paul has had. Now, there's some debate whether this is Paul who had this vision these years ago, or if it actually is a man other than Paul, but remember, he's speaking very rhetorically.

In this section.

And most commentators think that this, in fact, is Paul who had the visions. He says, though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven.

Whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

Assuming here that this is Paul, he had a vision 14 years prior of heaven. He saw what's called the third heaven, and now we can't derive doctrine from what that is because there's no other reference to the third heaven.

Or what are these divisions of first, second, and third heaven? All we know is that here third heaven is paralleled in the next verse with paradise. So he's caught up to paradise, perfect place where God is.

And he has shown things that men are not ordinarily allowed to see. And if they do see it in a vision like this, they're not allowed to speak about it. So if you see a book that tells you about what heaven is like because a person claims to have been there, they should have been quiet about that vision that they had.

Don't believe what their vision is. He heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. And so I think I need to take just a minute to talk about dreams and visions. Because Acts chapter two, in quoting Joel chapter two, says that at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and gives us dreams and visions.

Their old men will dream dreams, their young men will see visions. We cannot say that there are no dreams and visions in the Christian life. The Holy Spirit may give you a dream at night that doesn't direct your life so that you live by it, but somehow inspires you or directs you to be more devoted in the things you already know from the scriptures.

We don't want to outright say that there are no such things as dreams and visions in the Christian life. God is able to do that. And according to Acts two, that's part of what the Holy Spirit is apt to do.

But there is great danger in becoming puffed up about a dream or vision that a person has and putting that over the scripture. And we see this very often on television. As people collect donations through the stories that they tell, there is a motivation to tell more and more fantastical stories to wow the audience.

Sadly, I was just listening last night to one, and I'll say his name. His name is Jesse Duplantis. On September 13th, 2012, he says,. And Jesse goes on to explain how he was coaching Jesus in a dream.

I would say it's more likely that he ate bad salsa right before going to bed. But even if he saw something, let that be between him and the Lord. Don't teach us by this vision a man-centered theology that contradicts the word of God.

Very often, people tell, and they are puffed up with stories of the great and fantastic visions and dreams that they have. Colossians two talks about these kind of Gnostic teachers who are puffed up through the things they claim to have seen.

We must be careful with those things. And in fact, if you want to debate or talk helpfully with a word-faith proponent, someone within the charismatic kind of ladder-reign movement or New Apostolic Reformation, these guys on TV that talk great game about the things that they have seen, the first passage that I would go to is 2 Corinthians 12.

Because Paul here, assuming that it's him who saw the vision, and even if it's not, he makes the explicit point that he heard things that cannot be told in verse four. And then moving on, verse five and six, why would that be?

It says, on behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weaknesses, though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth.

In other words, Paul genuinely saw things. He had these great revelations and visions, but what does he say? I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

That concept is called sola scriptura. What the apostle writes, the apostolic writing that comes from his pen as he's carried along by the Holy Spirit, what you hear from him, that's what deserves your attention and your devotion.

Paul doesn't even want them to think of him as hyper-spiritual, even though he's the great apostle.

Don't look at me, he says.

Whereas much of the charismatic world and probably all Christians could fall into this danger, the temptation is to say, look at me. Follow me because I have this figured out. I'm the spiritual one, follow me.

Paul does say follow me and imitate me, but as I imitate Christ, he's directing the attention not to himself, but to Christ, and this is very important. We're not to look to our dreams and visions and experiences to puff us up, but rather to point to Christ.

We direct people not to ourselves or any charismatic experience, but rather to the word of the living God. What you hear from me and the character as we live out the commands of Scripture. So then moving on to verse seven, such an interesting part of the Scripture here, and I'm sure all of us have read this and been blessed by it over the years.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Now that is a deep teaching.

Notice a couple of things. One, the one who gives the thorn has the purpose, and it's a good purpose. What's the purpose? That Paul would not be conceited. God wants Paul to remain humble, and so he gives him a thorn.

But there's an instrumentation that you wouldn't expect would come from God. This is a messenger of Satan. God is sovereign even over evil as he works the plan that he has ordained from the beginning of time.

Look at verse seven. The key word here to understand the text is purpose. What is the purpose? It's to keep me from becoming conceited. God knows that what Paul has seen and the position that Paul has as the author of Scripture and the one who's establishing the church in all the Gentile lands, this could lead any human man, and remember, Paul is not Jesus, this could lead him to become puffed up, to become prideful in his position.

And so God, not Satan, God gives a thorn. A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. So this thorn is also a messenger of Satan. God is the giver, but within his sovereign decree, he uses evil within his purpose.

It's hard to understand. It's important to understand. Charles Hodge says, world history and all its events are not the result of accident or chance, nor yet of necessity or fate, nor of human caprice or satanic malice, but the orderly working out of the purpose of our Father in heaven, the infinitely wise and holy one.

Hodge is right because he agrees with the scripture, Psalm 135, six, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth. Isaiah 46, 10, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.

And Psalm 76, 10 tells us, even the wrath of man shall praise him. So understand that God has a sovereign decree for everything that happens, whatsoever comes to pass. And yet evil exists within that plan and God holds the perpetrator of evil, in this case, Satan, but also us when we sin, he holds the sinner responsible for sin, never himself.

His decree takes these things into account and works them together for our good while he himself remains blameless and scripture never attributes evil to God. He's not the author of evil. The instrument, the sinful instrument is held accountable.

It's important for us to understand because when suffering comes into your life, you're going to be prone to doubt the goodness of God. Or the power of God, but he is both good and powerful, even when he allows these things to come into our lives.

Look at verse eight.

So what do we do?

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. Guys, when suffering comes, when your child gets sick, when you are diagnosed with an illness like Hezekiah and the doctors say it's terminal, when some suffering comes into your life, you take that suffering to the Lord and you kneel and you cry to him.

And I have seen more times than I can count that God answers the prayer of his people when we do that. I can't tell you how many answers to prayer I've seen over the years. It's just time and again we call to him.

It seems like he almost loves the drama. When you see the history of Israel and the precarious position in which they always lived and time and again he sends the judge to deliver. And when all hope was lost and Israel was wrecked and ruined and darkness covered the land, even then that little baby was born in Bethlehem, the savior of the world.

And he comes to our rescue and time and again, this is how God works. He allows suffering to come into our lives in order that we would call on him and he would deliver us and then he would receive glory from us.

Our hearts would be overwhelmed with thanksgiving. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this. That was Paul's pattern, see? That's what Paul does when suffering comes. He pleads with the Lord. He didn't give up on Corinth when the false apostles took over.

He went to the Lord and begged him for deliverance. But that's not the end of the story here. And the last couple of verses are very profound.

But God speaks.

The Lord says to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Guys, do you believe that God is allowed to say no.

When you pray?

There's much of the, maybe even a majority of the Christian world in the world that doesn't believe that that's the case. They've been taught that healing is in the atonement, Isaiah 53, and in Matthew, the application of that, he healed them because by my stripes, we are healed, by the stripes of the Lamb.

And so since healing is in the atonement, you can claim it and demand it of God. But the real application of Isaiah 53 is that that healing is of transgressions and iniquities, first and foremost, a spiritual healing.

And the physical healing that is in the atonement is only promised for heaven. We're not promised to be healed. In fact, the end result of all of us is that we're not healed. And then we are in the resurrected body.

Do you believe that God has a right to say no? There comes a point in our pleading. Paul says for him, it was three times I pleaded with the Lord. Sometimes God will allow suffering in your life and for that thing to remain, and it's very important, Christian, not to become so fixated on that thing in your life that you become useless in other areas of your life.

It's possible for us to fixate on this one thing that we're praying for and praying for, but what if he said no? This condition is chronic. There comes a point to accept that. Doesn't mean we can't pray from time to time, but we're no longer pleading like Hezekiah, face to the wall, tears running, begging God for this one thing.

There comes a point of accepting his sovereign will, his secret decree, that this is allowed in my life for a reason and the purpose of it is to keep me humble and dependent on him, even in the midst of this suffering.

This suffering is teaching me to pray. It's teaching me to rely on him and not to be prideful. There comes a point when the paralyzed man accepts that it's not the Lord's will to regenerate the severed spine, but it is his will for that person to trust and be made strong in the weakness.

And for that very weakness to be used as an instrument of glory to the king.

Follow that.

Sometimes the suffering that you're going through is to bring more glory to him. Your suffering well testifies that the king is able to sustain his children and that you don't even need a perfectly healthy body all the time in order to serve him.

That you can accept like Job, both good and pain from the hand of God. I struggle with this passage and I'm sure you do too, because we want God to take every suffering away, but it's important that we at times can say, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

So in closing, never stop pleading for the salvation and wellbeing of people you love. That's where Hezekiah went wrong. Know the difference here. The difference is being other centered and being eternal focused, eternity focused, to recognize that this life is not all that there is, but the life to come is what you're pleading for.

When it comes to certain sufferings you endure after having pled with the Lord many times over a prolonged period, consider if your suffering might be of the same nature as Paul's thorn in the flesh. Perhaps it's God's secret will not to remove the thorn.

Maybe it keeps you humble and dependent on Him during the brief time of your sojourn on earth. Instead of constantly pleading for relief of such a thorn, ask for His strength to be made perfect in your weakness.

Concern yourself more wholeheartedly with His glory and live more singularly for the world that is to come. So contrast now the sons of Hezekiah, eunuchs in the palace, groveling eunuchs. Compare that with the remnant sons of Israel, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, sons of the promise, sons of faith, standing in the fire, defying the king.

God can rescue us, but even if He doesn't, we will not bow to the statue. I will not stop praying until that's my children willing to stand in that fire. Brothers and sisters, never stop interceding for yours.

And we are a church, we will never stop interceding for every last wayward son and daughter of ours who have wandered. We learn that lesson negatively through Hezekiah. And the promise, look it up later, of Isaiah 59, 21 is one that I cling to.

That not just my children, but their children and their children and their children until Christ comes back will worship the Lord. That's how I intercede. Contrast Hezekiah who failed to intercede with the Lord who bore the thorns for others.

Hezekiah was willing to accept the suffering of his own kids, being made eunuchs in the kingdom and being made king of the king's palace. But Jesus stepped in as a substitute and took a crown of thorns on his head and bore that.

Jesus was beat with the reed that they put in His hand to mock Him. He bore the thorns for others. That's how you intercede, standing in the gap. We didn't have time to look at it, but in Isaiah chapter 59, God says, where is the intercessor?

Where's the one who will stand in the gap? And there was none. And so He took on righteousness and He took on the robe and He came and He stood in the person of Jesus Christ, the intercessor, the one who stands between.

He stood in the gap for us. Jesus is the perfect picture of intercession. He never fails and He never stops interceding because Hebrews 7 .25 in closing says this, consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them.

That's our model.

That's how we pray.

And so let's do that. Let's go to the Lord. Worship team, come forward. Guys, if we're honest, we're not there yet. We don't know how to intercede the way Hezekiah did.

When he did it right.

Let's ask now for that spirit of intercession to come upon us, to learn how to pray and to call upon the Lord, to keep believing. So Father, we do come to you now. We know that you are a good God and even the painful gifts that you give us, the thorn in the flesh, we don't know what Paul's thorn was and maybe that's why we aren't told.

So we can understand that whatever thorn we are facing, the giver of the thorn is working a better purpose through it, working all things together for good. Your grace is made perfect. Your strength is made perfect in our weakness.

So Lord, we accept suffering, having pled with you, if it be your will for us to suffer with Christ. This life is short and we endure that joyfully as you keep us humble, as you teach us lessons, as we rely upon you.

But this morning, Lord, teach us how to plead with you three times or more, again and again, ever living. As Christ ever lives to make intercession, teach us to be constantly praying. Now, Lord, lay on the hearts of your people, those for whom we need to intercede.

There is a prodigal who's wandered away from you, Lord. We ask now in the name of Jesus that you draw the prodigal home. We will not stop begging you for this, Lord. We will not stop. Don't let them wander off into destruction.

Rescue them, Lord. It's never too late. As long as we're living, as long as there's breath in our bodies, we're praying to you, Lord. Rescue them. Bring the prodigals home. Teach us to intercede, Lord, for those that we love.

Teach us to pray. Father, I have in my mind the picture of a prodigal. I ask that this person come home, turn from wicked ways, leave the pigsty, and come to the running arms of the Father. Teach this church to pray, to intercede.

I pray that our prayer meetings, Sundays, from 845 to 925, would be filled with intercessors, people who come to pray. Teach us to pray, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for your intercession on our behalf. You interposed your precious blood.

Thank you for Calvary. Help us now to come through that new and living way to make intercession before you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's stand and worship.