Pauls Epistle to Colossians (22)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Now let's turn in our

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Bibles to Colossians 4 as we continue our study and I think after today it may move pretty quickly toward the completion of our study, we're of course in the last chapter here.

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Today, Lord willing, we'll consider Colossians 4 verse 2 through verse 6, which we've described and is not original with me, but it has been described,

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I think it was F. F. Bruce, described these verses as watch and pray. Now we addressed some important aspects of prayer last week and in doing so I recited a number of points made by the

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Puritan Thomas Brooks in his work entitled The Secret Key to Heaven, The Vital Importance of Prayer and it's reproduced today by Banner Truth.

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Excellent book, I recommend it. And in this book Brooks set forth 20 arguments for private prayer, and that is for Christians to be faithful in their private prayer life.

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However it was pointed out to me after service that after I had mentioned Thomas Brooks at the beginning,

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I thereafter referred to Boston rather than Brooks. In fact when

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I did a word search, I replaced six times in which I intended to say

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Brooks rather than Boston. Thomas Brooks was an Englishman and he pastored a congregational church in London, whereas Thomas Boston was a

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Scottish pastor who was not widely traveled, and if I remember right he had a library that consisted of just one shelf of books, but they were well read and marked up.

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And he was a good man, both of them were very good. And they were roughly coinciding with one another in history.

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I had the complete works of both men, and so commonly when

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I'm talking about Thomas Brooks I'm meaning Thomas Boston, and when I'm talking about Thomas Boston I'm meaning Thomas Brooks.

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It's just I've done that many times. And so anyway, if you have your notes,

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I was going to send out amended notes, but I thought no, I don't want to trouble people, but if you have your notes you might go through and correct those.

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Now let's continue our consideration of this matter, watch and pray, as said before us in Colossians 4 .2,

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through actually verse 6, not verse 4, but we're going to read just through verse 4 at this time. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, and at the same time pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which

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I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak.

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Now as we look at our passage again, we first read an exhortation to pray, verses 2 and 3.

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And of course first, the Apostle gave the command, continue steadfastly in prayer. We addressed this last week.

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Christians are to be a prayerful people. We are each to be steadfast in prayer.

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I wonder how many of us are, frankly. This means that we are to be always praying, continually praying, and remaining faithful to pray.

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This should be a regular practice of Christians. As Matthew Henry once wrote,

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Christians should lay hold of all opportunities for prayer, choose the fittest seasons, which are least liable to disturbance from other things, keep their minds lively in the duty and in suitable frames.

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It's something that should characterize our lives daily. We are to continue steadfastly in prayer.

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We dealt with that again last week. But Paul adds to his instruction that Christians should continue steadfastly in prayer, and while they pray, they are to be watchful in it, he declares.

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Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. So what is meant by watchful?

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Well, the verb form is actually a present participle, and I put the

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Greek word there, not that many of us probably know how to even read it, but it's

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Greek or untes, and it's actually a participle, a present active participle, which conveys continual action.

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In other words, while you're praying, you need to be watching also. They go hand in hand.

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And I think this participle should be understood as a participle of manner. In other words, it describes the manner in which we are to be praying.

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We are to be praying while we are watching, is essentially what's being said. But again the question remains, what is it to be watching while we are praying?

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And two possibilities are often suggested, presented. First, some argue that we are to be watchful in praying and that we are not to have confused thought while praying, but rather we are to be attentive and alert to be watching while you pray, and that may be right.

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Probably what is meant, however, is that we are to be watchful in praying and that we are not to grow weary in our prayer and we are to see to it that our praying does not become routine and mechanical.

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That happens, doesn't it? Be watchful in your praying, that it be of a right nature and a right kind.

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This was Calvin's view. He wrote that the exhortation to be watchful in prayer involved watching in opposition to coldness and listlessness.

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And those of you that pray faithfully know that you have to deal with that all the time, don't you? Watchfulness in prayer may also suggest being attentive to all the various matters that should be the subject of our praying.

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The Christian should be attentive to his own needs, yes, but more. He should be praying both for the physical and spiritual needs of his family, his church, his community, his nation, and even the world.

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And so being watchful may carry the idea of, you know, make sure you pray for everything that you ought to be praying for.

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He should be praying for the Lord's protection against the threats and dangers that threaten the well -being of all those for whom he is praying.

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And of course, we are to pray continually for God's mercy and grace upon all, desiring the best for all about us, even our so -called enemies.

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Pray for them that despitefully use you. And we are not to grow weary in this in any way whatsoever.

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And of course, we are to pray for the will of God to be done. We always append that, don't we? Nevertheless, as our

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Lord Jesus did in the garden, nevertheless, Father, may your will be done. And that should be our desire.

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Watchfulness in prayer carries the idea, perhaps, of obstacles to prayer that must be recognized, acknowledged, resisted, and overcome.

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Because it seems to be like a warning, isn't it? Or maybe, I was thinking this morning, it might even be like someone standing in a wall guarding the town or the city, and he's watching, as it were.

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And we're to be watching in prayer. And so here would be a good question for us to consider.

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What kind of obstacles do we say as Reformed Christians need to overcome? Now there are some obstacles that say

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Armenians have. Not Armenians, you know, from eastern Turkey, but Armenians who do not believe in the sovereignty of God as we do.

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Who do not believe that God has decreed everything that takes place in history. There are certain obstacles to our prayer life as Reformed Christians that we should be alert to.

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And so I wish us to consider some words regarding prayer set forth long ago by the Dutchman Wilhelmus Abrakel.

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Many of you probably have never heard of him. And it's understandable. He was a theologian, of course, living back in the 17th century, who wrote in Dutch, alright?

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And his works have been available in English. Now, theologians who know

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Dutch, you know, would speak very highly of him. God bless

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Joel Beakey, among all the other things he does, he oversees a

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Dutch theological translation society. And they have translated these four volumes of Wilhelmus Abrakel into English, and they are now available to us.

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And the title is The Christian's Reasonable Service, and it's in four volumes.

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And that Reasonable Service title is taken from Romans 12, verse 2, to be transformed by the renewing your mind, alright?

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And then it speaks about which is your reasonable service. And so the systematic theology of Abrakel is called

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The Christian's Reasonable Service. And here is Derek Thomas' assessment of this, and he's been a

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Bolton Conference speaker. We know Derek Thomas, he's a good man. And look what he said of Abrakel's work.

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No systematic theology compares to Wilhelmus Abrakel's The Christian's Reasonable Service for its explicit concern to weld the objective and subjective in theology.

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Emerging from the Dutch Further Reformation, there's a thing called the Second Reformation, the

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Neo -Reformation that happened in the Netherlands, Abrakel is without equal to exploring both the intricate details of the

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Reformed theological system whilst ensuring that at every turn theology is done in the interests of piety, personal holiness, and the glory of God.

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In an era when the subjective has either been lost in a sea of post -modernity, or viewed with suspicion for its apparent lack of academic integrity, and that's a problem among some

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Reformed people, only those who have never read this monumental treatise would dismiss it as guilty of either.

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An achievement to place alongside Calvin's Institutes and the systematic theologies of Turretin, Hodge, and Burkoff.

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I mean, that's the top list there. And Derek Thomas puts that before him.

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I've had these four volumes for quite some time, and I actually have them in PDF format on my hard drive, and I can give you copies of them if any of you want them.

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Just give me a thumb drive and I'll get you a copy very easily. I have to say, this is one

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I haven't really started reading through, I'm working through some others at the time, but I picked it up the other day, and I found this section on prayer.

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And I found a number of the systematic theologies I had didn't even address prayer as a subject.

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But Abrakel, again, seeming to be very practical in a systematic theology, has quite an extensive section on addressing prayer.

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And I zeroed in on just one section, and that was this mental obstacles to prayer.

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And again, Wilhelmus Abrakel was a Calvinist, he was Reformed. And so he mentions these obstacles, and they're all obstacles that you and I would have because we're

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Reformed Christians. We believe in a sovereign God who's decreed all things. And just understanding that sometimes will be an obstacle or a reason, a wrong reason, that we might have for not praying like we ought to pray.

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You follow where we're going with this? And so he sets forth certain obstacles, you know, as to why we might hesitate or fail to pray rightly.

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And then he provides an answer. And I found these very helpful, and I thought I would share them with you.

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Obstacle number one, God is well acquainted with my needs, anxieties, and desires.

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Why then do I need to bring them before God in prayer? Good question. Answer, it's not to make something known to God which

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He is unacquainted, rather you thereby show that you are also acquainted with them and are sensible of them, as well as that you acknowledge

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God to be your only helper. Good answer. Check off obstacle one.

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Obstacle two, God has already decreed what I shall or shall not have.

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I cannot change that decree by means of prayer. You see how only a Reformed Christian would have problems with this obstacle, his response.

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Answer, the secret things are for the Lord, but the revealed things are for us.

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And God has bound us to the means, and He wills that we believe and rely upon His promises made to conscientious users of the means.

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And God has also decreed already how long you will live. Would you therefore desist from eating and drinking?

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No, because He has appointed the means of eating and drinking to sustain your life until the day He has decreed you die, right?

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Well God has decreed all things come to pass, and He has also appointed the means you pray, and that's how those things come about.

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And so again, this is a problem that Reformed people might have that would lead to prayerlessness.

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Obstacle three, many people do not pray and yet receive everything in abundance.

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So why pray? This is a wonderful answer that has far -reaching implications.

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And for you men, we've talked about this in men group. I forget whether yesterday or the week before. Answer, these are but temporal matters with which you are not satisfied.

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In other words, things of this life, of practical temporal matters that these people enjoy.

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These earthly goods are not a blessing to them, and due to their sins they abuse all the blessings of God to their destruction.

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And in this context, we were talking about the unbeliever. Everything is a curse to him. Even the so -called blessing of God is a curse to him.

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It aggravates his condemnation. In contrast to the Christian, everything for the Christian is a blessing.

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There is no curse for the Christian. Now, that doesn't mean everything is good, but he brings good out of it.

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He brings good out of everything for the Christian. And this is what he's addressing. Prosperity will be the death of the ungodly.

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However, the little that a righteous person receives upon his prayer is better than the abundance of many ungodly.

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The righteous have received it as a blessing, and they have thereby been drawn to God. And furthermore, you are primarily concerned with the spiritual.

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And this the Lord will most certainly grant you upon prayer. You would have more if you would pray more.

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That's a truism. Obstacle 4. I've prayed very much for various matters, but God does not hear me, and I don't receive them.

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In other words, you're discouraged because God doesn't seem to answer your prayer. Answer.

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Perhaps you, as was true of Samuel. This is when he was a little boy in the house of Eli. Perhaps you, as was true of Samuel, are not acquainted with answering the voice of God.

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Remember, Samuel heard the voice of God. You know, Samuel, and he ran to Eli. Did you call me? Did you call me?

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And finally, you know, after the third try, you know, showing that Eli wasn't very sensitive either, he said, listen, it might be the

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Lord talking with you. Perhaps you've not given careful attention to what you've received upon prayer.

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Or else, due to unbelief, you've not related that which you've received to your prayer. Perhaps you're too covetous or too bent on having your will, and you do not acknowledge it as long as you have not received everything which your inordinate lusts demand, and there being no submission to the manner and the benevolence of that which is dispensed to you.

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In other words, you don't recognize and appreciate what God has done for you through prayer. Because you're asking on your own sinful desires.

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James rebuked people for doing that, right? You have not because you ask not, and when you do ask, you're asking to consume your own lusts.

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If you take note of all this, you'll not be able to say that God has never heard your prayer, and that you have never received anything upon prayer.

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In other words, he's arguing that's a total wrong conclusion that you're drawing. Fifth obstacle.

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I lack all that I have heard said in this discourse on prayer. My heart closes up when

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I wish to begin. In other words, you feel so rotten, you know, God's not going to hear me.

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Answer. You're focusing on a measure of spirituality in prayer which exceeds your measure of spirituality.

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And you want to pray at such a level of spirituality or else it is nothing. In other words, if I can't, you know, if I can't be, you know, like a praying

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Hyde, if any of you ever heard of him, well, I'm not going to pray. And that's wrong. If you were a child, pray as a child.

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If a man, pray as a man. God also hears the mourning of a dove and the chattering of a swallow.

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I love that. Even sighing is not hidden from him. God does not give because of prayer but upon prayer.

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That's a good statement. You think my praying isn't good enough. It's not holy enough.

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It isn't biblical enough. God's not going to answer me. No, God has promised to answer upon your prayer.

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Not because of the merit of your prayer because it rises to some level. Such is not only true of very spiritual and fluid prayer, but also for those feeble efforts in expressing desires.

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He does not despise the prayer of the destitute. Very good.

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Obstacle 6. I sin time and again, and therefore I do not dare to come again unto

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God. It would be as if I were mocking with God. This is common for people.

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I remember my old friend Tony out in Sacramento. He stopped coming to church. I chased him down. Why? Because I have so messed up.

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If I came to church, God would curse your church. I mean, he imposed himself in exile.

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He was sinning egregiously. But that was a wrong response, of course.

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Well, here, Brock will answer. When you prayed in a most acceptable manner, and when God heard and answered your prayer,

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God saw all your future sins as if they were presently committed. In other words, there is nothing you can commit as a

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Christian that somehow will disintegrate your relationship with God.

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I mean, destroy your relationship with God. It may disintegrate in a measure, of course, depending on how you live.

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It is God's will that we shall forgive our neighbor 70 times 7, this being required in one day.

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God, however, is infinitely more long -suffering and benevolent than man. See, if man is supposed to forgive a person 70 times 7, don't you think

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God is going to outdo that? Do you think you can sow sin that you shouldn't be praying, or God isn't going to hear your prayer?

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Reconciliation has already been accomplished in Christ, and you may accept this at all times to your continual justification.

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We have peace with God, Romans 5 .1. We stand in this grace through faith.

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You do not have it in your power to keep yourself from sin. Your old man is too evil and too strong for this.

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God permits sin to remain in you for the very reason that you would always be of a humble disposition and make use of Christ daily.

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That's why God allows sin in your life. It would be a mockery if you did not repeatedly have a heartfelt desire to sin no more, while yet praying for strength against and the forgiveness of sin.

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Since, however, this is the case with you, do not allow the fact that you sin repeatedly keep you from prayer.

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Rather, come all the more, since you are in need of forgiveness and strength, so that the grace of God may be glorified all the more.

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Obstacle 7. I fear that I'm not regenerated. I'm not born again.

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I fear I'm not a Christian. What business do I then have to pray, since the prayer of the unconverted is not pleasing to God?

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Answer. Pray because necessity compels you, and because you cannot go on without the matter you desire, even if your prayer could not be recorded on the register of virtues.

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So what? Your prayer isn't maybe all that it should be. You have a need, and that ought to drive you to prayer.

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Regardless, God indeed hears the young ravens when they call to Him.

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God heard the crying of Ishmael. Ishmael wasn't one of the covenant people of God. He was cast out.

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When he, having been laid under a shrub, would have perished for thirst, you desire to be converted, to be a partaker of Christ, to be holy, to possess all spiritual benefits.

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The more you would be a partaker of them, the more it would be to your liking. Such desires and motions are indeed the beginnings of regeneration in life.

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The Holy Spirit, in other words, signs or evidences of regeneration, the Holy Spirit alone has wrought them in you and stirs you up to pray for them.

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Therefore, follow the Spirit, and you will experience that your prayer is pleasing to God, and that He will repeatedly give you all that you need according to body and soul.

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And so we are to be watchful in prayer. Watchful because it is assumed there are obstacles.

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And a broccol sets forth these obstacles that you and I as Reformed Christians probably deal with.

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Very helpful. Very good. However, thirdly, in our prayer we are also to be always thankful to our

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God. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being thanksgiving. This is what should characterize our prayer.

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And of course, this expression of thanksgiving is found repeatedly associated, linked with prayer throughout the scriptures.

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Ephesians 5, when we are worshiping our God, do not be unwise, understand what the will of the

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Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the

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Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the

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Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. That is prayer, isn't it? Giving thanks. Even while we are worshiping, we should be giving thanks, a spiritual sacrifice as a priest before God.

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And then Paul to the Philippians, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving should always accompany our praying. That's one of the primary motivations, isn't it?

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For praying, to thank God for what He's done, what He hasn't done.

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Thank Him for that too, right? Pray for mercy and grace. And then 1

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Thessalonians, rejoice always, pray without ceasing. You know, how can you pray without ceasing?

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Doesn't it take focus, concentrate? I've got other things to do in my life. Talking about a continual, you know, conversation that you have with the

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Lord. You know, I don't know if people followed me about and watched me, they'd think I was talking to myself.

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I mean, that's just what we do, isn't it? We talk to the Lord. And sometimes, you know, we start moving our lips.

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Sometimes, you know, Mary will call out, What did you say? Are you just praying again?

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You know, we don't talk to ourselves. We talk to the Lord. I mean, this is what we do.

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And pray without ceasing. But in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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We ought to be thankful. We ought to express thanksgiving for everything. And I always distinguish whether it's right or wrong between thankfulness and gratitude.

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Gratitude describes the appreciation you have in your heart. Thanksgiving is the verbal expression of that gratefulness.

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You give thanks to God because you're grateful. The Holy Scriptures teach that every true

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Christian is a holy priest before God. If you're a Christian, you're a priest. God has made you a kingdom, a part of that kingdom of priests.

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He's made us kings and priests. And therefore, we are to be regularly offering spiritual sacrifices.

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Priests would go into the temple every day, and they would, of course, bring in fresh bread. They would trim the lamps.

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And there must have been, you know, in the tabernacle, there was just one priest that would do it. But in the temple, there must have been others. There was only one priest that would go in and offer incense on the altar right before the veil.

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But, you know, there were ten tables of showbread in the temple. And weren't there ten candelabras?

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Isn't that right? Ten with seven branches. I mean, there had to have been more priests than one.

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But they would do that every morning and every night. Fresh bread, fresh oil for the lamps.

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And we, too, are coming before our God as priests. And we have a better access and a better ministry than they ever had.

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And we offer spiritual sacrifices, too. And we ought to be consciously doing that. We offer them through Christ.

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And as Hebrews 13 says, Therefore, by Him, that is, by Christ, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

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And so we're offering sacrifices that are just as real, and I would argue they're more special to our

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God than even those priests in that earthly tabernacle or temple. We are offering sacrifices to our

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God when we express thanksgiving. And so continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

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Well, followed by that, the Apostle then requests to pray for the

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Lord's blessing upon the proclamation of His Word. And so the Apostle Paul asked the church at Colossae to be faithful and pray for him that he would be both fruitful and faithful in the proclamation of the

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Word of God. At the same time, while you're praying, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the

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Word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how

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I ought to speak. He said something similar to the church in Ephesus, that he wrote that epistle about the same time he wrote this.

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And so he desired the church would pray for him and for the Lord's blessing upon his ministry. And I was reading some applications of some of the commentators.

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The people of God ought to always be praying for their ministers and the blessing of the

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Lord on the Word. And I always try and express and have the opinion that whatever

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I do, whether it be a funeral, a wedding, a radio, whatever it is, that I'm doing it on our behalf.

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It's not just me, but I'm doing it as a spokesman on your behalf as a church.

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And, of course, we're going to share in any fruit and any blessing that is accomplished through that, aren't we?

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Thank the Lord for that, right? Give a prophet a glass of water, you get a prophet's reward. Isn't that a wonderful thing?

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Wonderful promise? So we need prayer. And we're seeing a fair amount of fruit in our ministry.

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Not like we'd like, no one ever sees what he likes, but we've seen a measure of fruit.

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And I'm wondering, which one of you ones are the faithful ones in praying? Because I don't regard the credit to that in myself.

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It's got to be as a result of somebody praying faithfully for the blessing of the Lord on His Word.

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And I hope that we continue to do that. And those who are very faithful, there are some prayer warriors, the

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Lord just seems to call them. But I hope we would all be faithful in this matter. And so, he said, pray also for us.

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To me, this is amazing. And again, here we're talking about, you know, perhaps

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Reformed Christians. Hey, God has decreed everything that comes to pass. Why pray?

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It's going to happen. And here, Paul, you think about him. What he's saying and his implications.

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Now first, even though he was the Apostle Paul, who had the

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Lord Jesus personally appear to him, bringing him to salvation, and although the

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Lord Jesus declared to Paul directly that he would have an expansive ministry in which he would be instrumental, nevertheless, the

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Apostle Paul saw the need for the Lord's people to pray for him that these things would take place.

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Think about that. Matthew, Henry wrote, Paul had been particular in telling them what he prayed for on their behalf.

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Chapter 1, here he tells them particularly what he would have them pray for on his behalf. Paul knew as well as any man how to speak, and yet he begged their prayers for him that he might be taught to speak.

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Think about that, the Apostle Paul. The best and most eminent Christians need the prayers of meaner, and that means more simple

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Christians, and are not above asking them. The chief speakers need prayer that God would give them a door of utterance and that they may speak as they ought to speak.

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And that's very good, and Paul illustrates that for us. Now here again we see the divine employment of means that the

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Lord has ordained in order to accomplish his work in the world. Although the Lord had called Paul, equipped

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Paul, directed Paul, nevertheless Paul would need the prayers of the people of God and the Church at Colossae in order that the

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Lord's blessing would be upon his ministry of the Word. God has appointed the means as well as the end.

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Paul is essentially telling them, while you continue in prayer, pray for me and for the blessing of the Lord on the ministry of the

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Word. And the assumption is, if you don't, it's not going to happen. Well, hasn't God decreed it will happen?

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He's also decreed the means of prayer, hasn't he? Paul asks them and actually commands them that opportunity would open for the furtherance of the ministry of the

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Word. And this is a common metaphor in the New Testament. Acts 14 .27,

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now when they had come and gathered the Church together they reported all that God had done with them. This is Paul and Barnabas reporting back to the

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Church of Antioch about their first missionary journey and how God, the Lord, opened the door of faith to the

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Gentiles. It opened wide and they were able to go through into this arena of service and blessing.

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1 Corinthians 16. Paul said, I'll tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost for a great and effectual,

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I'm thinking King James, effective door has opened to me. And then that last clause

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I think is very revealing and there are many adversaries. Some people stand back and say, well the

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Lord is only opening the door if it opens easily and you go through without any opposition.

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And that's how you determine if it's the Lord's will, if everything falls into place. That doesn't coincide with what

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Paul is saying here. He looks at the opportunity and he says all kinds of adversaries are blocking the way but he still sees it as an opportunity and so he's going to fight against those adversaries nevertheless and go through.

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And sometimes it's the will of God to proceed and overcome obstacles and adversaries that stand in the way between you and whatever it is you're attempting to accomplish for the

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Lord. You see that? I think that's an important principle. 2

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Corinthians 2 .12 .13. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel and a door was opened to me by the

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Lord, I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother. Taking my leave of them,

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I departed from Macedonia. I was recounting this to Raymond the other day and I know

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I've recounted it in church in the past. At this event, he's describing the second missionary journey in the book of Acts.

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Of course, it's written to the church at Corinth. It was a very significant lesson for me in my

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Christian ministry. I came to the Doctrines of Grace around 19... Well, it was in December of 1979 as Mary and I were starting a church.

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And I came to the Doctrines of Grace. I came to understand God was sovereign in all He was doing. And coming to the sovereignty of God and that God has decreed all things, for several years

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I was too passive. Well, if it's God's will, it'll happen. If it's

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God's will, He'll lead. He'll open the door and it'll be clear. And so I sat passively rather than being aggressive and creative.

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And several years, probably early, 82, 83, I was reading the book of Acts. And the first missionary journey was begun in the way that I envisioned this is how the work of God is done.

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The church of Antioch was gathered together, fasting and praying, and the Holy Spirit spoke to them.

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And I'm not saying I believed in an audible voice of the Holy Spirit at the time, but that's what happened in Acts 13 .1.

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Separate me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work I've called them to. And so laying hands on them, they went forth.

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And we have the record of the first missionary journey. You know, they went out to the islands. They went up into southern

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Turkey. They had a wonderful, fruitful ministry, starting churches everywhere. And then they came back and they related to the church the great things that God had done.

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However, I then read about the second missionary journey, which is reflected here. I got to Troas and a great door of opportunity.

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A man in a dream said, come over here and help us. Well, the second missionary journey didn't start with all the fanfare of the first.

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Paul, sitting around with Barnabas one day, let's go see those churches that we started to see how they're doing. And with that, you know, the second missionary journey was begun.

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In other words, it was just an impulse on the part of Paul. Now, we know it was born of the Holy Spirit. But with Paul, it was just a desire, let's go check out the churches and see how they're doing.

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And they proceeded, they followed the churches, did that, but then they continued westward to what is now Turkey.

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It says the Holy Spirit forbid them from going south into Asia Minor. The Holy Spirit forbid them from going north.

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And as I was mentioning the other day to Raymond, now back in those early days, I would have argued, we're running ahead of God.

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See, we didn't wait upon the Lord. And here we are, see, we can't go where we want to go.

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That's not what Paul did. He didn't turn around and go back. He proceeded onward. He continued to the west coast of what's today's

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Turkey, went up to Troas on the coast. And it's there he had a vision of this man in Macedonia, clear across the

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Aegean Sea up in Macedonia, come over and help us. And then he says, and I think maybe Luke joined him at that point, we were persuaded it was the will of God calling us to Macedonia.

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But the point is, it's that the Lord led them in different ways. And they were aggressive and creative.

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And they asked the Lord to help them in their journey. And from that moment on,

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I no longer would sit passively, but rather be aggressive.

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And so rather than sitting and waiting for the Lord to open a door because I'm looking to see it looks like an easy path or course.

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Uh -uh. You know, in my opinion, if you see a possible opportunity, you go up and you rattle the doorknob and see if it opens.

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Lord, I'm going through this door unless you stop me. And I think that's a better understanding and way of doing ministry than the other way.

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And I'm afraid that there are Reformed people that are more in that other bent.

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And they might regard themselves as spiritual, waiting on the Lord, and the Lord doesn't seem to be opening doors.

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But on the other hand, what are they doing? And so I don't want us to be that way.

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I don't want to be that way. I think we ought to be creative and look and be aggressive in attempting.

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As Andrew Fuller once countered the Hyper -Calvinists in his day, he wrote a track when he met resistance.

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Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God. And that really, he was a

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Baptist and he was a theologian that really built the foundation for the modern mission movement of the 19th century between him and William Carey around the year 1800 or so.

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We have to wrap this up. And so Paul asked for them to pray that the

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Lord would open a door of opportunity. Interestingly, Paul was in prison, wasn't he?

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He was in jail in Rome when he wrote this. He didn't directly say, Lord, pray for me that I can be released from prison.

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That wasn't his primary concern. Now I suppose if being released from prison enabled him to have greater opportunity for the gospel, well, by all means, but that wasn't necessarily a requirement.

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If the door of opportunity could open through him being in prison, that's what he desired.

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His primary concern was the furtherance of the word of God and the gospel, not his own comfort and ease.

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And I think that's another important principle, isn't it? Oftentimes we're praying just simply for our own well -being and restoration of health and whatnot, but there are bigger fish to fry.

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And we should pray for the word of God to advance through us.

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And we ought to be praying for the Lord to give us opportunities. By the way, here we see the necessity of praying for the

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Lord's blessing upon the word in order for it to take effect in people's lives.

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Pray for a door of opportunity that the word would go forth. Some people assume that that is not necessary.

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You don't need to pray because the word of God will do it on its own. Please don't misunderstand me by this.

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The scriptures declare the word of God to be powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword, and it is.

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But the word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and the word of God is powerful when employed by the

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Spirit. And some people take that passage from Isaiah, I won't read it, but you know the passage where God promises that whenever he sends his word, he'll accomplish the purpose to which he sent it.

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And they assume the Bible is like that, or a gospel tract that has the scripture in it.

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And so you can like throw them out of a helicopter, and every tract or every Bible that falls into somebody's hand,

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God's going to bless that. There's going to be something that happens. And that I don't see as being promised in the scriptures.

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What's being promised is the word that God sends forth out of his mouth. In other words, the scriptures that the

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Holy Spirit blesses. That's the key. Paul argues in the

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Corinthians that the letter kills. Now he's talking about the law, but he's talking about the written law of Moses, that it doesn't bring forth life.

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It's the Spirit that brings life. And that's why we have to pray, not presume that the word of God proclaimed here or on the radio is going to have any benefit in and of itself in the lives of people.

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It won't unless the Holy Spirit blesses that word. Hence the need to pray, to accompany the word of God, or it's not going to happen.

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That's why it's so valuable and important to say, like Raymond has been trying to do, get people to pray during the radio ministry.

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Now it really doesn't have to be during the radio ministry, but pray for the radio ministry. And I try and do so all the time.

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Because again, that word that goes forth is not going to accomplish the ends to which we desire unless we pray that it does.

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Pray is one of the means. Teaching, proclaiming the word is one of the means. And the two, the

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Lord blesses. We should not presume that the scriptures, apart from the power of the

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Holy Spirit, are going to have any impact on people. It just falls on deaf ears and hardened hearts and has no impact unless the

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Holy Spirit blesses. It's the Spirit that gives life. Paul said, pray for me that the word of God would go forth widely and clearly.

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We don't have time. We're going to close. But again, Paul, the apostle, was asking, pray for me that the word

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I preach can go forth clearly. And whether or not people understand the word of God that's taught or proclaimed,

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I realize a lot of that rests on my shoulders. It doesn't all rest on my shoulders. Because it's a two -way street, isn't it?

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Not only do I have to teach it clearly, but you've got to have ears to hear. And unless both things happen, we're not going to benefit from the word of God.

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And so I've got to work on making it clear. And I think

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I generally do that. I've told you in the past about a search committee chairman.

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He took me to breakfast in Sacramento years ago because they were considering me for this church that was running about 1500.

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And he said, Lars, you're never going to pass for large church. He was probably right. And he said, this is why.

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He says, you make things too clear. Every time your name comes up, you divide our search committee.

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It's a battle, half for you, half over our dead body. You've divided our search committee.

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You'll divide our church. You just make things too clear. You know, as though that were a bad thing.

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But, you know, that's not how you build a big church. Apparently, you've got to be subtle and not be too clear.

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I was flabbergasted as I was sitting here listening to this. But Paul said, pray for me that I can make the word of God clear.

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And I know what it's like to stand up here and have the Holy Spirit. That fly is bugging me here. I know what it is to stand up here and have the

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Holy Spirit upon me if I use that biblical expression. Because there's a clarity in my thinking and there's assurance

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I have when I go out. They're understanding what I'm saying. And I know the

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Holy Spirit is hitting them in the mind and heart. What he's saying is true. And I know what it is to stand up here and there's just words in the wind.

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And I don't like that at all. And I don't enjoy it. And you don't profit from it.

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And so this matter of praying is so important accompanying to the word of God.

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I hope, and someone commented some months ago, and I think he may be right, that one weak area of our church is its prayer life.

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I hope that changes, if that's true. And I hope that this matter of prayer will become something that is characteristic of this church.

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Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Amen. Let's pray. Father, help us to take these matters to heart and be faithful to you.

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And we do pray, our God, that your will be done and that you would bless your word in all of our efforts, our

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Lord, to make it known. And we are, our Lord, scattering the seed broadly and widely, and you have declared in your word they who sow much will reap much.

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And yet we know, God, that you must bless and so continue to bless. Thank you for the fruit that we would see an abundant harvest,

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Lord, through our individual witness, each of us as we speak of Christ to others and as our church uses all the opportunities that you have provided for us to make your word known more widely.

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And again, we pray for our becoming friend, Pastor Prem in India, as he makes this effort,

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Lord, of evangelism to keep him safe. And his wife, Dina, and those traveling, bless their efforts,

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Lord. And thank you for the privilege we have to have a part in that. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.