June 5, 2019 Show with John M. Otis on “The Role of Prayer in Missions”

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Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

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Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

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Cumberland County Pennsylvania Lake City Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com

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this is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this fifth day of June 2019 and an old friend of mine is joining me once again on this program somebody who

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I hold in the highest esteem and value his friendship greatly and his ministry equally as greatly his name is

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Reverend John M. Otis the M stands for Marshall and he is an ordained minister he's an author and the founder of Triumphant Publications and director of the

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Good News Bible Series for Reformation Christian Ministries today we are going to be addressing the theme the role of prayer in missions and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Reverend John Otis.

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Always good to be with you Chris always. Yes the feeling is mutual brother and let me give our listeners right away our email address if you have a question for Reverend Otis about the role of prayer in missions you can also ask a question on really any theological issue but we would primarily want your questions to be involving prayer or missions or both and the email address is

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ChrisArnzen at gmail .com C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com

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please give us at least your first name your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter before we go on to our major theme today the role of prayer in missions why don't you tell our listeners about Triumphant Publications and then also tell our listeners about the

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Good News Bible Series for Reformation Christian Ministries be glad to Chris it was about 1988 we started

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Triumphant Publications the purpose was to put into print distinctly reformed literature and over the years we have probably these are not exclusively my books but we've launched out maybe

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I have eight or nine books on Triumphant Publications we have published four other works and by the way we have just published as of a week ago a great catechism a children's catechism that had been in works for over 15 years

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Jeff Donnan who started Reformation Christian Ministries and about 18 other people worked on this catechism one of the most notable was

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GI Williamson oh yeah and we have just put that in print

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I have looked at this and I'll tell you what's so great about this catechism

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Chris is that it is very the answer the questions are short but we have proof texts and they are completely written out now as an adult and as a preacher

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I'm telling you I'm going to use this children's catechism just for the proof text on major theological issues it's that good

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Wow GI Williamson is known for his commentary in the

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Westminster Confession of Faith correct that is correct and he was one of many who worked on this so that's the latest publications that we have what's it called the what's the title it's called questions about Christianity with proof text a new children's catechism for inquirers and and their children great and you can find it on we got it on our website but you can find it on Amazon under the name

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Jeff Donnan d -o -n -n -a -n that's how you can get it but it really is great some of the people have already got it really excited about it using it for their families and we might as well give out the website anyway for triumph of publications it's triumph of publications comm that is correct so if you go there on the home page you'll see that this is the newest work so we're excited about that and of course with Reformation Christian Ministries I'm directing one facet of that ministry called the good news

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Bible series and presently we have these are all courses that are free you take them online we presently have two courses

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Reverend Donnan wrote a tremendous gospel course it really is good and by the way we have that in Chinese we have it in simplified and traditional

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Chinese so every Chinese speaking person in the world is covered you can go on the website of good news

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Bible series calm and you just click on that and you can get the

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Chinese translation we have it in Russian presently we're working on other languages as well last time

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I was on your program we talked about these scriptures authority that's the newest course so we have we got about so far about 40 people that are at some stage taking the course we've given out five certificates of completion we get about three or four hundred people a week inquiring so we're really excited about what the

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Lord's going to do with that and it's the website is good news Bible series calm good news

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Bible series calm right all one word good news

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Bible series calm yes great well we have a theme today that involves two major aspects of the

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Christian life that would be prayer and missions and the specific title that we are going to be addressing is the role of prayer in missions today what was it that was burdening your heart that led you to want to speak on this theme today actually you wrote something on Facebook back in January had to do with prayer and missions and that caught my eye

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I've been concerned about prayer for many years and written on it and I contacted you say well let's do a program on that you said great but you know as of this past month

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I've now been an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church for 40 years Wow and during that 40 years

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Chris what is sad as I look out across the landscape

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I don't care what denomination it is a prayer meeting in a church is usually the least attended of any church meetings and that is sad that that is the case and I hope today to inspire your listening audience just how important prayer is and how the gospel missions is directly linked with our faithfulness to prayer and during the program

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I want to just go over a few great historical examples of how prayer moved in some of the great revivals in church history so we really need to capture the ministry of prayer and learn to pray

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God's promises into actions what we're doing in fact you just recalled to my memory

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I don't know if this is one of the revivals you were going to discuss but this one actually took place in New York City my old stomping grounds in the 19th century at the

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Marble Collegiate Church which back then in the 19th century the

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Dutch Reformed Church was biblically faithful unfortunately many not all of the congregations in that denomination now known as the

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RCA are far from their biblical roots but there are some there are some faithful remnants there but was that one of the the revivals you were not

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I did not know about that you mentioned that the last time we were on I need to learn more of that but I want to mention what happened during the ministry of George Whitfield and the

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Wesley's Jonathan Edwards and the Erskines of Scotland and William Carey the

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Reformed Baptist of the role of prayer and in that and I really want to talk about there was a great revival at the

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College of New Jersey of Daniel Baker Daniel Baker was one of the great preachers

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Presbyterian preachers of the 19th middle 19th century he was almost oh nobody's quite like George Whitfield but he wasn't far from it and what happened at the

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College of New Jersey was amazing so that's one of the things I want to talk about in terms of persevering in prayer yeah well the the

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I would strongly advise you since you are unfamiliar with this particular revival but there is a book on it that banner of truth publishes called the power of prayer the

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New York revival of 1858 by Samuel prime and it's a remarkable story because this revival started with just a tiny handful of people that were dedicated during their

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I believe it was during their lunch breaks during the workday during the work week and it turned into a an enormous thing that caught on with people all over the

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Manhattan area perhaps even all of New York City and where there were they grew to a movement of thousands of people praying and it was just a fascinating story that you could get from banner of truth and the website just so our listeners can have that on hand is banner of truth org banner of truth org and the power of prayer by Samuel prime is the title one of the things that's interesting about this theme that we are addressing today is that our theological opponents and sometimes we might even categorize them as our theological enemies depending upon how fierce or how fiercely they oppose what we believe but we who are reformed are often accused of not believing that prayer and missions or prayer or missions have any kind of significant meaning since God has ordained all things that come to pass now we do believe that God has ordained all things that come to pass but they would conclude our enemies or our opponents would conclude from that that prayer is nonsensical and meaningless and so his missions for that matter and if you could before you get into perhaps the the main points that you were intending to bring to our audience before the show started perhaps if you could just at least in a summary fashion explain to our non -reformed listeners why even though God has decreed all things that come to pass he is the sovereign over all things nothing catches him by surprise nothing is not known to him and nothing that takes place has not been ordained by him why then would we even bother praying and why then would we even send out missionaries that's a great question and it is unfortunate that our non -reformed brethren have that mentality first of all some of the greatest evangelists of all time were

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Calvinists of course we refer to the Apostle Paul as the foremost there but George Whitefield was an arctic

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Calvinist Daniel Baker that I've just told you about and you're gonna be speaking about a little bit later arctic

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Calvinist Charles Spurgeon had a heart for prayer and missions so all of these understood that missions is one of the twofold missions of the church and as we read

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God's scriptures and I want to address several key passages today

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Chris that will hopefully stir up the listening audience as to why we believe that prayer and missions is so important but here's a misnomer that in fact this past Sunday I was filling in for a pastor in our denomination and I spoke on at one of the services on the relationship of divine sovereignty and human responsibility now

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I didn't focus so much on prayer but I was dealing out of the Westminster Confession of Faith chapters on God's decrees

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God's providence and what we see it was the reformed scholar

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Barkov who simply said the same

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God who is ordained the end has ordained the means to that end and that God has ordained in scripture we're going to say that prayer is one of the divine means to accomplish a divine in now there's a great book out

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I'm not going to make reference to it today but I highly recommend this I don't he may have been on your program

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Doug Kelly of Reformed Seminary Charlotte if you had him on I don't recall well he wrote a book that I highly recommend it's been out for quite a few years is if God is if God has chosen or decided

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I'm messing up the title but why pray it is it is it is a wonderful work as he relates

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God's decrees with the means of prayer that there is no no problem in relating those two there shouldn't be so I can remember one time

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Chris actually I got to know

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Ken Gentry he's been on your program I think I went to East Tennessee State University and he was a pastor of a

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Presbyterian Church I went to seminary with him and there was a local Baptist Church they were a reformed

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Baptist I think there's a regular Southern Baptist Church and they were having in their training union class they were having opportunities for whatever denomination they bring in a live one and it was

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Presbyterian week they want to know what Presbyterians believe so Ken Gentry called me up and said

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John I can't go can you take my place okay and you can imagine what that was like they had two questions one about baptism but the primary one was on predestination and I made a comment during that time

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I said well you know I don't know how much you all of y 'all do evangelism but there is a possibility

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I may have more confidence in my evangelistic endeavors than maybe you

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I don't know whether the perplexed look on their faces and I said look yes

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God has his elect that he is determined for the foundation of the world but he has ordained the preaching of the gospel as a primary mechanism means to bring to saving faith by the power of spirit and I go out on evangelism

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I believe that the Holy Spirit is going before me to to prepare the way and I remember when

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I left that meeting it had an impact because they began to debate several several saw the point

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I was making they were debating among and we have to be honest enough to admit or at least we should be honest enough to admit that throughout history there has been a tiny fragment comparatively tiny fragment of people who have twisted what we believe who claim to be reformed or Calvinists who are what we would call hyper

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Calvinists and for those of our listeners who think that if you are a five -point

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Calvinist you're a hyper Calvinist no that's just historic Calvinism right a hyper

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Calvinist would be one that elevates the and distorts the role of God's sovereignty while eclipsing or wiping out or ignoring or neglecting the responsibility of man that's typically what hyper

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Calvinists do there there are different kinds of hyper Calvinist but there are hyper Calvinists some of whom are in the primitive

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Baptist movement and I have to always be careful not to broad brush because there are biblically

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Orthodox and historically Calvinistic primitive Baptist but there are some Baptists that so overemphasize

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God's sovereignty to the expense of man's responsibility that they don't even believe God's elect will always and certainly come to faith in Christ they believe that there will be people going to heaven that never heard the name of Christ people who are pagans and in false religions who have been elected by God nonetheless and will never have faith in Christ on this earth and we would reject that obviously as being heretical right we're going to see in some of the passages that I want to address today just the importance that God has placed upon missions and the role of prayer to carry out the

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Great Commission great well why don't you begin with what you most want to start the program with well let me just say this that when

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I was in seminary Reform Seminary in Jackson Mississippi unfortunately I was not that involved in missions

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I just I knew that that was an important part of the Christian faith but I just didn't have much to do with it and I have repented of that over the years and especially when

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I came to see the victory oriented nature of the gospel that is when

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I got really excited Chris about missions and then prayer as it relates to missions when

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Jesus for example when Jesus started his ministry and in Galilee we read in Matthew chapter 4 it says when he came to the land of Zebulun the land of Naphtali by way of beyond the

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Jordan Galilee of Gentiles the people which sat in darkness saw a great light and to them which sat in the region under the shadow of death light is sprung up from that time

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Jesus began to preach to say repent for the kingdom of God is at hand so as you know the

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Great Commission there in Matthew 28 18 and 20 tells us that Jesus came after his resurrection prior to his ascension he came to his disciples saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth go therefore and disciple the nations now since Jesus has all the authority that's important that we understand when he gave the task and then he ends the commission by saying well

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I'll be with you always to the end of the age or the end of the world Jesus has mandated the

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Great Commission and he has all authority to do that now in that regard in one of the ministries of Jesus for example in Matthew chapter 9 verses 34 to 36 we read this it says in verse 35 of Matthew 9

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Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom healing every sickness every disease among the people but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd then said he to his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few pray ye therefore to the

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Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers so right there we see that Jesus said that the harvest is ready to be picked we need to have those to go out so there is a crying need of not only preachers who will go out and do it but regular

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Saints who have this desire to see the gospel go to the four corners of the earth he says you need to pray that God your father will send them forth so right there is a exhortation of Jesus to be praying for God to raise up people to go out and preach that gospel we were told for example in Romans chapter 1 that the the gospel verse 16 that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to the

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Jew first and then to the Gentiles that word there for power in the Greek is the word dunamis which is actually there's a voice when

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I've preached on this to the young people I've said you know an English word that sounds like doing the most and they go dynamite that's right our

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English word dynamites derived from this Greek word dunamis so the the gospel is the dynamite of God and so that we pray

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Jesus says pray for God to raise up people to go out to the harvest carrying that gospel to those who are sitting in darkness under the shadow of death pray that God raises them up because it is through primarily the preaching of the gospel through that means that God is going to bring to salvation those elect which he is determined from the foundation of the world so we see right there that we have that that mandate one of the things we

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I like to talk about or what what is in the progress of the gospel when the preaching of the gospel what are the the divinely ordained means of God carrying out his purposes you know in 2nd

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Corinthians there's a great passage in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 5 which reads for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ I've always said that two of the most powerful divinely ordained weapons is the preaching of the gospel and the ministry of prayer and with those two things those two weapons we will assault as it says here the strongholds of the evil one and we will bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and so we see right there the the vital nature of prayer as one of the means that God uses to the spreading of his gospel we have a question for you all right we have

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CJ in Lindenhurst Long Island New York who says

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I know that the preaching of the gospel and prayer are not means

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God uses to predestine or elect his children but are they means that God uses to bring about the gift of regeneration to the lost well we know that the scripture says that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world

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Ephesians 1 talks about that we were elect from the foundation of the world so that election was as the scripture says

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God's determination according to his will the mystery of his will so he has already determined as Isaiah says the end from the beginning and in from the beginning meaning from when

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God is existed he was always existed that he was going to save a people and in due time as Jesus says in John 6 now all that the father has given to me will come to me and he loses none of those so it is through that preaching of the gospel and prayer is the means that God brings about his sovereign decree of election and so that is what we were talking about earlier and Doug Kelly has a great we shot in my book on preaching the victory of the gospel

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I have that on prayer I have a whole chapter on prayer and missions talks about how in the mind of God as we pray that activates as he says the decree of God into space -time history so I think to answer that it is not the cause but it is a mechanism that God uses to bring about the

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Holy Spirit uses to bring about the regeneration of those who are elect yes and when we have like in 1st

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Corinthians the fact that we as humans all we can do is that we can plant seeds and water them but God can only give the increase so I would imagine from that and other texts if God is bringing about an increase meaning the salvation of the lost through using our planting and watering that that I'm assuming you would agree that the planting and watering is evangelizing and praying that that evangelism takes effect in the hearts of sinners that that God is using that as you just demonstrated as a means to bring about the rebirth and the lost of course this will only occur with those that he has already chosen but we don't know who those are until they give evidence of repentance and faith

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I'm going to talk about Daniel Baker in the great revival at the

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College of New Jersey in 1815 but in in Baker's ministry he will go out into the

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Texas territory this is around the 1830s when Texas was still a territory and he he was one of the first to go out into the

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Texas region and he went to Galveston Island he said nobody had ever gone to Galveston Island he says he went there and there was a fort there because they were concerned about the

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Mexicans invading we asked the commander of the fort if he could preach to the troops and the commander said well of course so all the soldiers are standing in attention and the great preacher

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Daniel Baker is preaching to him and Baker says in his autobiography he says for some reason

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God had me change up a little bit what I had to say and he mentioned he says perhaps some of you may have a godly mother back in the

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States been praying for your soul and as he was saying that he can see one of the tears starting to come down one of the cheeks of one of the soldiers and he saw that he says young man come up here and he came out he said do you have a godly mother in the

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States praying for you and he says yes I have a godly mother been praying for my lost soul in Pennsylvania she she lives there and I've gone astray and he began to cry so loud

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Baker says you could hear from a hundred yards and he said

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I had the pleasure to lead that man to Christ and the next day he was rejoicing in Christ and he said if there was no other reason for me to go to Texas but to preach to that man to answer the prayers of his godly mother it was worth it amen well we have to go to our first break right now if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own just like CJ and Lindenhurst did our email address is

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Chris Arnzen at gmail .com Chris Arnzen at gmail .com please as always give us your first name your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away we'll be right back with John Otis and the role of prayer and missions right after these messages from our sponsors

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John Otis and he is talking about the role of prayer and missions if you'd like to join us on the air our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

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chrisarnsen at gmail .com please give us your first name at least your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the

42:30

USA and please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter pastor

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Otis do you want me to take a listener question or you want to pick up where you left off right before you do that before I forget

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Chris I wanted to let people know that I will anybody that's in several years ago

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I wrote a book a booklet it's about 40 pages called the praying

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Christian God's warrior and anybody that writes me

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I'll be glad to send you a free electronic version of that booklet so you can write me or I may have sent that to you

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Chris you may have it in your email so they could either get it from you or they can get it from me but at my email address but I would like to offer that to everybody free great now what is your email address

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J M Otis 5 1 at gmail .com

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J M as in Marshall Otis 5 1 at gmail .com

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yes so if you have someone wants to email me I'll send you right out that in my good news

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Bible series one of the things that I offer we have a tab there it's all talked about prayer support and I talk about the role of prayer admissions there and I'm always looking for someone who will commit to weekly prayer just for that ministry that list is growing praise the

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Lord and I always offered anybody that joins the Vanguard the reason

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I call it the Vanguard is a specific purpose the Vanguard on a military speaking is the tip of the spear it is the elite fighting force that is the first to engage the enemy and Chris the prayer warriors are the vital link in that gospel taking the gospel to the world and I'm always trying to get as many prayer warriors as I can to see that so I wanted to mention that before I forgot so what's the next question here

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Chris we have John and Bangor Maine who says isn't it proof that God does not love all of humanity equally that there have been for centuries many millions of people who lived and died without ever hearing the gospel because the gospel had not yet reached the lands they were lived in okay so I'm not in other words if if Jesus loves every single person that ever lived in an equal fashion if he loves them all as or as God loves a parent or a spouse

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I'm sorry as God behaves as a parent and or loves them as a spouse

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I should say then would not he have made his word available to every single person that ever lived if Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation how could he have let or even ordained as we would say that for centuries there have been many countries and nations and lands across the globe who never had an opportunity even to hear the gospel and yet in fact there are still people alive today in tribes that have not yet heard the gospel so is

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I think I think our listener and Bangor Maine is making a valid point that if God has provided sinners one way of salvation that is faith and the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary in his resurrection how then could he claim to love everyone in the same exact way if he did not make that gospel known to millions

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I mean doesn't that mean I think he's making sense here okay well I would agree that God doesn't love everybody in the same way it's we don't believe that's what the scripture teaches and but what's interesting there's a passage because that comes up from time to time when

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I talk to people Chris and Romans chapter 2 addresses that point because someone said what about the heathen in Africa I said okay talking about the heathen in Africa let me just read there it says verse 14 and following for when the

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Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law these not having not the law are alone to themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another in the day when

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God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel so right there it talks about it doesn't matter uh

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God is under no obligation to save any anybody the fact that he saved some of us and he has elected some is his act of his grace and mercy and as Romans 9 teaches he has chosen to pass over others and to give them what they justly deserve and but here in Romans chapter 2 talks about those that still are going to be judged through Jesus Christ we don't need to get into a whole extent we know that there are degrees in hell uh

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Jesus talked about that some being being beaten with more uh lashes than others but and so no

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God doesn't love everybody in the same way he has elected uh some and that's whom he has hit who he has foreknown or foreloved and he will provide that means but you see since we know that God has given us the command to take the gospel to the four corners of the earth there's a reason why missionaries have bothered to go to New Guinea to go to the

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Congo to go places to the Amazon regions to bring that gospel to people and so um

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I don't know if that answers yeah I think that that's a fine answer and uh it is sad that there are some and I have to make myself very clear here there are some who reject reform theology who see this consistency that I just mentioned or that our listener in Bangor, Maine mentioned uh that there are people that for centuries never even heard the gospel so therefore they would say you know foul they would cry foul this is unfair so unfortunately some of those that that are opposed to reform theology have developed even more aberrant and erroneous and even heretical uh teachings that uh would involve men have a second men having a second choice after death uh or uh people being saved according to the knowledge they have been given which is a popular uh teaching amongst

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Roman Catholics today although historically uh I don't think that anybody at Trent believed that but since Vatican II you have

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Catholics believing that uh Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and atheists and agnostics uh and all kinds of idol worshippers uh are going to heaven because they're being saved according to the knowledge that they have been in according to the light that they have been given and how they act on that and these are all tragic and heretical and damnable ideas yeah that passage

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I read in Romans 2 talks about all men will be judged according to the gospel it says of the

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Lord Jesus you know there let me just read uh briefly from Romans 9 uh this is as it is written

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Jacob but Esau I hated what shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid for he says to Moses I'll have mercy on him

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I'll have mercy I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion so then it's not in him that wills nor him that runs but of God that shows mercy for the scripture says unto

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Pharaoh even for this purpose I raised you up that I might show my power in the and that my name might be declared through the earth therefore he has mercy on whom he has mercy and whom he will he will harden thou will say unto me why does he still find fault for who has resisted his will and here's the biblical answer nay but oh man who are you that replies against God shall the thing form say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus has not the potter uh the power over the clay the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another dishonor what is

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God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known he endured with much long -suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had prepared uh unto glory so right there

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God is under no obligation to say to fallen race the fact that he has shown grace and mercy is an act of his wonderful will which we should be thankful every day

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I tell people you gotta wake up go to bed thanking Jesus that he loved you that he drew you or drew me to himself because it says

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God has endured with much patience those vessels prepared for destruction God has passed over many but that's

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God's prerogative and the scripture leaves it right there who am I the creature the pot saying to the creator how he should run his universe all right we're going to go to our midway break and before I go to the break

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I'm going to read a question for you and you can answer it when we return from the break an anonymous listener asks do we change

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God's mind when we pray to him if he answers our prayer according to our wishes all right so we'll have you uh answer that when we come back this is the longer than normal break because grace life radio 90 .1

53:46

fm in lake city florida requires of us a longer break in the middle of our show because while we air our commercials that are heard globally they air their own commercials and public service announcements for the lake city florida area that is a requirement of the

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FCC that they have to localize their programming to that area and they have to localize iron sharpens iron as well to the lake city florida area so please be patient with us as we take this longer than normal break and please use this time wisely first of all write down all of the information provided by our advertisers so that you can more frequently patronize them and remember the more you patronize our advertisers the more likely they are going to remain our advertisers which means the more likely we are going to remain on the air for a longer period of time because we rely upon the advertising dollars that come in from our sponsors so please write down the information provided by advertisers and patronize them as often as possible also use this time to write down questions for john otis on the role of prayer in missions and our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com

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chrisarnson at gmail .com don't go away god willing we'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors i'm james white of alpha omega ministries the new american standard bible is perfect for daily reading or in -depth study used by pastors scholars and everyday readers the nasb is widely embraced and trusted as a literal and readable bible translation the nasb offers clarity and readability while maintaining high accuracy to the original languages which the nasb is known for the nasb is available in many editions like a topical reference bible researched and prepared by biblical scholars devoted to accuracy the new topical reference bible includes contemporary topics relevant to today's issues from compact giant print bibles find an nasb that fits your needs very affordably at nasbible .com

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that's solid rock remodeling .com solid rock remodeling bringing new life to your home hey this is pete orta former guitar player for the grammy award -winning christian rock band petra i'd like to invite you to my new podcast called christian conversations unfiltered this channel is much different than my sermon podcast the episodes are intimate conversations with people who i enjoy about topics that i can't really unbox from the pulpit each episode is unproduced unedited and unapologetic conversations that might not only help you answer some relevant questions you might be struggling with but also help create some questions in your head that you might not have even ever thought of the purpose of this podcast is to help people apply their theology while broadening their biblical worldview so go to peteorta .com

57:50

that's p -e -t -e -o -r -t -a .com and click subscribe to podcast and then choose what podcast you'd like to hear if not both and what platform works best for you can't wait for you to join us god bless iron sharpens iron radio is sponsored by harvey cedars a year -round bible conference and retreat center nestled on the jersey shore harvey cedars offers a wide range of accommodations to suit groups up to 400 for generations christians have enjoyed gathering and growing at harvey cedars each year thousands of high school and college students come and learn more about god's word an additional 9 000 come annually to harvey cedars as families couples singles men women pastors seniors and missionaries 90 miles from new york city 70 miles from philly and 95 miles from wilmington and easily accessible scores of notable christian groups frequently planned conferences at harvey cedars like the navigators intervarsity christian fellowship campus crusade and the alliance of confessing evangelicals find harvey cedars on facebook or at hc bible .org

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hc bible .org call 609 -494 -5689 609 -494 -5689 harvey cedars where christ finds people and changes lives i'm pastor bill shishko host of a visit to the pastor's study and i am so thankful to be part of the advertising family right here on iron sharpens iron if you live on long island or if you're visiting the metropolitan new york area i invite you to join us for worship at the haven on sundays at 4 30 p .m

59:57

we meet at the ascension lutheran church facility 33 bayshore road in deer park new york at the haven you'll find god's saturated singing gospel rich ministry and great commission opportunities learn more about us at the haven li .com

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and join us this sunday at 4 30 p .m 33 bayshore road near park new york chris arnzen host of iron sharpens iron radio announcing a new website with an exciting offer from world magazine my trusted source for news from a christian perspective try world now at no charge for 90 days by going to get world now dot com that's get world now dot com i rely on world because i trust the reporting i gain insight from the analysis and world provides clarity to the news stories that really matter i believe you'll also find world to be an invaluable resource to better understand critical topics with a depth that's simply not found in other media outlets armed with this coverage world can help you to be a voice of wisdom in your family and your community this trial includes bi -weekly issues of world magazine on -scene reporting from world radio and the fully shareable content of world digital there's no obligation and no credit card required visit get world now .com

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forward slash podcast did you know that all believers are priests in first peter chapter 2 verse 9 the apostle peter describes christ's church as comprising a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for god's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so if you're a christian you're also a priest now you can find the newest styles in reformed and protestant apparel at citizenpriest .com

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visit citizenpriest .com today hi i'm buzz taylor frequent co -host with chris arnson on iron sharpens iron radio i would like to introduce you to my good friends todd and patty jennings at cvbbs which stands for cumberland valley bible book service todd and patty specialize in supplying reformed and puritan books and bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone since 1987 the family -owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available christian books and bibles at the best possible prices unlike other book sites they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly much of what is being printed is not worth your time that means you can get to the good stuff faster it also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic heretical and otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors their website is cvbbs .com

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at their toll -free number remember you've got to call them monday through friday between 10 a .m

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and 4 30 p .m eastern time if you expect somebody to answer there's no outgoing message on this line unless they've changed things with the new ownership over there but the number is 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231 and they have two excellent offers for any amount of merchandise that you purchase you will get absolutely free of charge true love understanding the real meaning of christian love by dr james m renahan the president of irbs theological seminary one of our sponsors whose website is irbs seminary .org

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so that's a beautiful little hardback book by evangelical press true love understanding the real meaning of christian love you'll get that free as long as you put in the comment section that you want the book true love according to the free offer on iron sharpens iron radio and if you want another book that is a lot larger and more expensive for that is my favorite biography that i've been raving about a pastor in new york the life and times of spencer cohen by my friend john thornberry this is a much larger work also hardback from evangelical press that one if you also want that for free you have to purchase a minimum of fifty dollars worth of merchandise and so what you'll have to do is put in your cart the book a pastor in new york the life and times of spencer cohen by john thornberry you put that in your cart then you add fifty dollars worth of merchandise into the cart as well then enter the coupon code iron sharpens iron all capital letters all one word and that will deduct the price of the book a pastor in new york from your total so you will get both books for free not only the true love book understanding the real meaning of christian love but you'll also get the free copy of a pastor in new york life and times of spencer cohen if you purchase fifty dollars or more worth of merchandise so please always remember to tell our advertisers that you heard about them on iron sharpens iron radio and of course you could verbally tell them uh it will be a lot easier uh most likely if you verbally tell them by ordering on the phone uh that you want those two books for free and that number once again is 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231 and they man that phone line as i said monday through friday from 10 a .m

01:06:48

to 4 30 p .m eastern time and i just have a couple of special events that i have to remind or that i want to remind you about um before we return to our interview with john otis on the role of prayer in missions uh first of all this december i am going to be attending god willing the foundations conference in new york city a conference orchestrated and hosted by sermon audio .com

01:07:17

and this is going to be held thursday and friday december 19th and 20th in the heart of manhattan and they always have an extraordinary lineup of preachers uh sermon audio is a very fussy and rightfully so a very fussy ministry that does not let just anyone air their sermons on their website sermonaudio .com

01:07:41

so they have very strict requirements and they are very fussy and as far as their conference is concerned they're even fussier so these are really remarkable preachers dr stephen j lawson is on the lineup you've been hearing his voice advertise new covenant church nyc and manhattan every day on this program he is the founder of one passion ministries and one of the finest preachers alive today paul washer is another absolutely extraordinary and powerful preacher who's on the roster reverend jeff thomas who every uh reformed baptist knows who jeff thomas is i would imagine and many reformed folks outside of the reformed baptist circles uh would know who he is he is an author with banner of truth and a world -renowned evangelist he retired just recently after over a half a century of pastoring at alfred place baptist church in aberus with whales and he's also my guest this friday god willing uh that would be june the 7th 4 to 6 p .m

01:08:45

eastern time and we will be addressing the theme the ministry of encouragement that's this friday on our intrepid zion radio well he's on the roster a reverend armand tamasian i keep reminding you i think he's going to be a household name amongst reformed christians over the next decade he is extraordinary a young pastor but with gifts and abilities and wisdom and power far beyond his youth also richard coldwell jr and andrew quigley are on the roster i have not yet met these brethren or heard them preach but if sermon audio selected them i am sure that they are excellent if you want to join me there thursday and friday december 19th and 20th in manhattan at the foundations conference go to the foundations conference .com

01:09:27

the foundations conference .com and i urge you to do that quickly because they have a small venue that can only hold less than 200 people so the sooner that you register the more likely you will be guaranteed a seat then in january of 2020 from thursday january 16th through saturday january 18th i will once again be heading out to georgia to atlanta georgia or more specifically college park georgia which is a suburb of atlanta to the georgia international convention center i will be attending the g3 conference which stands for gospel grace and glory and i will also be manning an exhibitor's booth there i would urge anybody out there who has a business a power church organization or any other kind of ministry that you want to promote to the body of christ well this would be an ideal place to have a an exhibitor's booth just like i will be manning because there's going to be over 5 000 people there and every year they have over 5 000 people there at the georgia international convention center so i would register not only to attend but also to register for an exhibitor's booth if that would apply for you and a business or a power church organization or ministry that you run the speakers are always extraordinary and the the roster of speakers is always very long we have

01:10:53

Kosti Hinn who i am totally blown away by he is a remarkable young pastor who is the nephew of the notorious charlatan

01:11:04

Benny Hinn and he has renounced the word of faith movement of his youth he has renounced his uncle

01:11:10

Benny Hinn as a heretic he makes no bones about that publicly and he is on a mission to expose these evil charlatan faith healers for the the liars and frauds and greedy wicked individuals that they are and he is on the roster this is

01:11:31

Kosti Hinn is on the roster of this conference David Miller who is truly a remarkable preacher from from an old school fire and brimstone realm of preachers that is a dying breed he is a remarkable man of god and of course not only is he preaching hellfire and brimstone but he's also preaching the love and compassion and the grace of Jesus Christ Derek Thomas who most reformed people are very familiar with is on the roster my friend

01:12:01

Dr. James R. White who i've known and loved as a friend since 1995 he is on the roster

01:12:07

Dr. Joel Beeky who i've known for just about as long and Josh Bice the founder of the

01:12:15

G3 conference once again we have Stephen J. Lawson and Paul Washer who are on this conference roster as well as the previous one

01:12:23

Dr. Tom Askell who is the executive director of Founders Ministries the

01:12:29

Calvinistic ministry within the Southern Baptist Convention Dr. Askell has been my friend also for many years

01:12:35

Vodie Baucom is an extraordinary man of god and preacher as well who is on the roster if you'd like to register go to g3conference .com

01:12:44

g3conference .com this January's theme for the G3 conference is worship matters worship matters and obviously that is a very controversial and divisive issue in the 21st century actually it's been divisive for quite a long time where tragically our brothers and sisters in Christ are dividing over worship and sometimes for very trivial reasons and so on or just totally unbiblical reasons so this would be a valuable conference i think for everyone to attend worship matters that's the

01:13:19

G3 conference g3conference .com g3conference .com is the website and last but not least if you love iron sharpens iron radio you don't want us to disappear from the airwaves you love listening to the guests and topics that we feature on this program that sometimes are not heard anywhere else please help us remain on the air if you don't want us to go away help us remain on the air by going to ironsharpensironradio .com

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01:15:05

and i would love to help you launch an ad campaign because we really do urgently need your advertising dollars and i am speaking very sincerely with urgency that we really do need your donations and advertising dollars in a big way we thank god for those of you that have responded to my sos for help who have come to the rescue who have enabled me to get through the month of june so far july looks very scary uh i'm not even sure how i'm paying my month in july my rent in the month of july so please help us as much as you can and as frequently as you can and i once again i thank all of you from the bottom of my heart i i cannot adequately describe how grateful i am to god for you and how grateful i am to you for being such a blessing to me in my life and for caring enough and for loving this show enough that you would spend or should i say give money graciously and benevolently so that we can remain in existence uh also remember if you are not a member of a bible believing church and you're not prayerfully searching for one you're living in rebellion against god you need to rectify that it's clear in the scriptures that all of god's children christians are supposed to be under the authority of elders in a local church there is no such thing as a maverick christian in the bible that is living according to the pleasure of god uh this is always a a negative and wrong thing so if you need help i have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world i can help you find a church i've helped many people find churches in our audience i've also helped people find churches when they're going on vacation somewhere so please send me an email to chris arnzen at gmail .com

01:16:58

and put something like i need a church in the subject line or something similar and that's also the email address where you would send a question to john marshall otis on our theme today the role of prayer in missions that's chris arnzen at gmail .com

01:17:14

chris arnzen at gmail .com and um the uh the last question that we received before the break uh that i read to you john was to to synchronize it uh to make it the shorter i should say um uh was that do we change god's mind when we pray to him if he uh if he answers a prayer according to our wishes well that's a great question i'm glad your listener sent that in because in that question we plummet the depths of theology of our what we were talking about the relationship of god's sovereign decrees with the exercise of human means i do want to take some time to answer this question because it's an important one one of the most uh important texts in all of god's word that deals exactly with this question is exodus chapter 32 verses 7 through 14 the context is moses is on mount sinai and israel has started worshiping the golden calves and it god is really upset so much he's ready to destroy the nation so that's the context let me read what the text says then the lord spoke to moses go down at once for your people whom you brought from the land of egypt have corrupted themselves they have quickly turned aside from the way which i commanded them they have made for themselves a molten calf and worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said this is your god oh israel who brought you up from the land of egypt the lord said to moses i have seen this people behold they are an obstinate people now then let me alone that my anger may burn against them and that i may destroy them and i will make of you a great nation then moses entreated the lord his god and said oh lord why does your anger burn against your people whom you've brought out from the land of egypt with great power with a mighty hand why should the egyptians speak saying evil intent he brought them out to kill them in the mountains to destroy them from the face of the earth turn from your burning anger and change your mind about doing harm to your people remember abraham isaac and israel your servants to whom you swore by yourself and said to them i will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and this land which i have spoken i will give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever so the lord changed his mind or the king james would say repented about the harm which he said he would do to his people that's what the word of god says so i'm going to elaborate on that the answer to your question is does god change his mind yes and no we're going to see how that's the case now by the way there's a passage uh in psalm 106 verse 23 that speaks about this incident listen carefully to how the word of god says here what moses did in his intercessory prayer therefore he said that he would destroy them had not moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them so was god serious he absolutely was serious let me uh elaborate on that passage so how are we to understand this incident we learned that moses's intercessory prayer over a period of 40 days did persuade god to change his mind was god's immutable decree changed no did moses's prayer alter what would have been otherwise yes exodus 32 10 is the key verse it says now then let me alone that my anger may burn against them and i will destroy them the empath emphasized phrase of this verse implies that god would respond favorably to moses's intercessory request if moses were interceding on israel's behalf this passage should excite us about the nature of intercessory prayer if moses had not chosen to intercede for israel we must believe that god's intention to destroy israel would have been carried out however if moses had chosen to intercede which he did then god would be merciful to israel moses obviously interceded for israel having pled for god to remember his covenant promises one can rightly view this incident as god's encouragement to moses to pray this passage should stir us up in interceding for one another we might be amazed how much danger would be avoided because of intercessory prayers of a godless of a godly person now so in this idea the point here is god said leave me alone but moses didn't leave him alone and and someone said that god loves to be persuaded by godly prayers regarding his promises god promised that that he would be watching over abraham isaac and jacob down to their generations so moses and in the psalm passage confirms it says had not moses stood in the breach that means a mediator moses was a type of christ if he had not stood in the breach they would have not seen the wrath of god now i did find a quote chris from doug kelly and i got the actual title of that book i encourage everybody listening to get this book by doug kelly the title of the book is if god already knows why pray was written in 1989 uh hyatt publishers published it if god already knows why pray now let me just mention what kelly says i think it's really good i'm quoting from kelly now from his book the sovereign god on his throne who has planned all things from the beginning to the end has arranged his plan in such a way that the prayers of the saints are one of the major means he uses to accomplish his final goal one of the ways uh well he says whatever it is that prompts us to come to him the fact is that god himself has ordained that these prayers of his people begin to release predestined blessings which would not have slowed down at all had the prayers not occurred one of the ways he carries out his plan is to activate our personality so that we will pray and then take intelligent action preach witness serve and all of it his plan comes to more fruition his goal begins to be reached through both the prayers and the actions of his people it is because god planned it to be this way that these two truths god has a sovereign plan and a believer has genuine power in prayer to affect the supernatural are not in fact contradictory but come together in wonderful harmony people will catch the vision of this glorious sovereign god who is destined the prayers of his people to be a means of executing his unspeakable wonderful decrees have a way of transforming the world so um and i think that to reiterate uh some of the key things that you said there for two reasons not to give the non -reformed justification to believe in something that is unbiblical and not also to get the reformed listening in some kind of an uproar because they're misunderstanding you uh god uses means to bring about his providence which he has already decreed uh like for instance uh in luke chapter 13 where we are told uh to repent or we will perish uh when the christ is talking about the tower of solome falling and he says i tell you but unless you repent you will all likewise perish uh christ knew and god knows the father knows uh who is going to repent uh before the foundation of the world and he gives those whom he has chosen new hearts so that they will be willing to repent but that but he is still posing uh an if and unless and so on uh statement uh even when he he tells abraham to sacrifice isaac you know he god was not surprised uh when abraham took his son up to sacrifice him and he did not actually reverse a decision that he decreed before the foundation of the world to stop him uh but god works in ways that we cannot always understand the nothing what you said nullifies that he has decreed all that comes to pass before the foundation of the world but he uses his creatures his creation as means to accomplish these ends yeah that what's amazing about that chris is uh i think of a passage uh there is a certain mystery to that you uh j .i

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packer mentioned it best in his book evangelism the sovereignty of god where he says the the he called it an antinomy an antinomy is two biblical truths that appear contradictory meaning god's sovereignty and human accountability he says these travel as parallel lines in this world and then in the mind of god they cross and make make perfect sense and someone said well i just don't understand how it works and i say well i don't either that's why isaiah says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither your ways my way says the lord uh you're what my ways are higher than your ways are my thoughts and your thoughts so uh god has chosen to use means and prayer is one of those means and we're told uh like in james yeah not because yes not and and so we activate as it were the predestined plans of god so that's uh yeah he has predestined that we would pray that you know and there's always going to be a mystery involved on how exactly the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of god perfectly meet or in harmony uh but that is not our business to try to figure it out while we are on this earth we are just to obey god and trust him that that he knows what he's doing that's right and you know that ezekiel 18 says god says i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked they may actually repent and believe why should you die god says i have no pleasure in your death so he sees predestined he's elected but then if a person dies and goes to hell it's their fault they should have believed in jesus it's their fault but chris you know um one of the things i want to do before our program ends in 30 minutes i do want to mention some key passages yes you've mentioned everything that you want right now and i'll just let you know when we have to go to our break okay one of the passages that are that was really transformed when i finally looked at it closely is romans chapter 15 verse 30 of the relationship of prayer and emissions here's what it says paul says i beseech you brethren for the lord jesus christ's sake and for the love of the spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to god for me that i may be delivered from them that do not believe in judea and that my service which i have for jerusalem may be accepted by the saints that i may come to you with joy by the will of god and may be refreshed now right here for the longest time i didn't really get the the real significance of that passage that that translation in english strive together with me in the greek the word is soon agonizing my it's a combination of two words in greek soon a preposition and then agonize a verb so i've always said ask people is you did you know that english word is very similar to agonism i agonize you're right paul pulled that word out of the uh the games that he saw the wrestling the intensity that a person has to exert to win the contest so now putting it in prayer he says i want you to agonize with me soon agonize with me in your prayers to me now here's where it changed everything you know a lot of people especially the elderly who says you know i'd love to go out to mission field but i can't go and i want to say to them look we need prayer warriors and the bible says right here that when you pray for for this case paul you are in a real spiritual sense agonizing with him on that mission field for the cause of christ now that changed everything chris in my thinking about prayer missions and people who are uh homebound they have an incredible mission and to pray now paul said elsewhere uh let me let me read for example ephesians 6 17 here's what it says in ephesians 6 17 i'm going to repeat our email address while you're looking for that chrisarnson at gmail .com

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if you have a question chrisarnson at gmail .com give us your first name your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the usa and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter okay all right and that's uh ephesians 6 17 and following this is in the uh the teaching on this uh the the christian armor and at the end he says and take the helmet salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god praying always with all prayer in supplication in the spirit and watching there into with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that i may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which i am an ambassador in bonds that therein i may boldly speak as i ought to speak so this passage right here paul says you need to pray for me always always praying for me that i may speak boldly as a preacher as i ought to preach so right there missions is linked with the ministry of prayer and then we find in colossians 4 verses 2 and 4 paul says continuing prayer and watching the same with thanksgiving with all praying also for us that god would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of christ for which i am also in bonds that i may make it manifest as i ought to speak right there he says again i want you to pray for me that the doors will be open when you have that's why i have a vanguard for my good news bible series chris i need those prayer warriors so that when people around the world take these courses on the gospel that we're praying that it will have its effect and it has its effect when people are praying and so and so we see how vital that is now in this regard there is an encouragement to persevere in prayer and one of the great passages on persevering in prayer was what jesus taught in luke 18 it's that parable we have this woman going to an unjust judge and she wants justice and she keeps knocking at the door knocking at the door go away go away i'm paraphrasing now but he keeps knocking on the door and he says he finally gets up to give her less the text is less she wear me out by coming to me what do you want so she got what she wanted jesus says how much more will my heavenly father give to his elect who cry cry to him day and night so jesus says he got to persevere in prayer we don't just pray once from missions you keep praying you keep praying and you keep praying now in this perseverance on prayer one of the greatest passages is there in isaiah let me read what isaiah has to say about this in isaiah 62 verses 6 and 7 says he says i have set watchmen upon thy walls oh jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night yet that make mention of the lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he established until he makes jerusalem a praise in the earth now if there was ever in god's word an exhortation to persevere in prayer and that links prayer to missions here it is as well and i love that god says let's see if you can wear me out chris just see if you can wear me out by constantly praying and what are we praying for that god would make jerusalem which is a a term in the scriptures for god's people his holy his elect that his church we pray that his church would have victory and and so we we see that that is encouraged you know and so the prayer and admissions are so tied together you know there's that imagery that jesus uh we have in revelation 19 where we find jesus uh says in a white robe and he's coming he's riding on a white horse and he's coming forth to conquer and it says he has a sword coming out of his mouth by which he smites the nations and that's the same imagery that actually was lifted i believe out of isaiah in isaiah 11 where it mentions the the same thing where it says in isaiah 11 verses uh uh three and four it says make him a quick understanding in the fear of the lord either reprove him after the hearing of his ears but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and reprove him the equity for the meek of the earth he will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked you know how he slays his wicked according to psalm 110 he stretches forth his strong scepter rule in the midst of thy enemies it says the most quoted psalm in the new testament and it says thy people will volunteer freely in the day of thy power meaning his elect will volunteer freely so we see that it has a a direct link there um on that in fact let's uh go to our final break right now it'll be much more brief than the last one and if you have a question i would send it in now because we're running out of time our email address is chris arnzen at gmail .com

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c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n gmail .com and as always please give us your first name your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the usa only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away we'll be right back with john otis after these messages from our sponsors i'm pastor bill shishko host of a visit to the pastor's study and i am so thankful to be part of the advertising family right here on iron sharpens iron if you live on long island or if you're visiting the metropolitan new york area i invite you to join us for worship at the haven on sundays at 4 30 p .m

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we meet at the ascension lutheran church facility 33 bayshore road in dear park new york at the haven you'll find god's saturated singing gospel rich ministry and great commission opportunities learn more about us at the haven li .com

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and join us this sunday at 4 30 p .m 33 bayshore road dear park new york did you know that all believers are priests in first peter chapter 2 verse 9 the apostle peter describes christ's church as comprising a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for god's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so if you're a christian you're also a priest now you can find the newest styles in reformed and protestant apparel at citizenpriest .com

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visit citizenpriest .com today my name is steve lawson founder and president of one passion ministries as well as teaching fellow for ligonier ministries i serve as professor of preaching and oversee the doctor of ministry program at the master's seminary in los angeles i would like to recommend the church where one of my preaching students andy woodard serves as the pastor it's called new covenant church nyc they are a reformed baptist church that meets in midtown manhattan you can find their service times and location on their website which is www .ncc

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.nyc they believe in a sovereign god who commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel if you're looking for a church that believes in expository preaching which is simply biblical preaching in new york city i'd like to recommend that you visit new covenant church nyc again their information can be found at www .ncc

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.nyc have a great day i'd like to give a special announcement about a couple of new advertisers that will be joining our lineup very shortly i'd like to give them some in advance some additional publicity because they have been so eager to not only help iron radio remain on the air through their advertising dollars but they also love this show enough and believe it is worthy of their advertising and they are confident that their advertising will bring a positive and beneficial fruit to them so first of all i'd like to thank our new advertisers diadem jewelers diadem jewelers they are located in greensboro north carolina but they have clients globally and they can help you design the perfect gift for a loved one in regard to having a specialized customized one -of -a -kind piece of jewelry that they can create for you and also they have all other things in stock already made of course that you could purchase as well and their website is royaldiadem .com

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and we thank sterling vanderwerker the owner of diadem jewelers for being so eager to promote his business on iron sharpens iron radio then also a hope reform baptist church of quorum long island new york they are going to be a new advertiser my dear friend of many years going back to the late 1980s pastor richard jensen he is the pastor of hope reform baptist church i even sat in on his ordination exam when he was sitting before a panel of pastors who were grilling him intensely uh but i've known him as i said for many years going back to the 1980s he is such a fine man of god many of you have seen him as a moderator uh during one at least one of the debates that i have orchestrated on long island new york uh they are a confessional reform baptist church and i love these people dearly and if you would like to visit them if you happen to live on quorum long island or if you have friends or family that you want to recommend to attend this church who live near quorum long island uh well go to hope reformed li .net

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hope reformed li .net and you'll you'll find out everything that you need to know about hope reformed baptist church in quorum long island and now we are back to our guest today john marshall otis we are discussing the role of prayer in missions and if you'd like to join us please send in your email now because we're running out of time chris arnson at gmail .com

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chris arnson at gmail .com and we have uh susan margaret in dauphin county pennsylvania who asks the question i have heard that no one will be saved unless someone has prayed for them is this true well i never heard that i don't know about that in the bible well i can say one uh thing that is true about that is the intercessory prayer of christ as our mediator yeah and of course uh i don't believe that a human being has to specifically pray for a lost person by name for them to be saved but god's children have always been praying for the lost in general anyway in addition to those that they pray specifically by name for we also pray in general for the lord to save the lost so those people will be included in those prayers anyway right well if god has elected people which he has and he's using prayer as a means then there's um we ought to be praying for people uh loved ones that doesn't mean it's an absolute guarantee but then uh we got to remember that god has ordained that not that's right if we didn't that they couldn't be saved chris um i want to mention uh just real quickly before we go off the air two quick historical examples of of the value of prayer but before i do that i just want to remind everybody uh if you've been convicted about prayer admissions i'd like you to be a part of the vanguard of the good news bible series just go to goodnewsbibleseries .com

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click on the prayer support and and uh become a member of the vanguard and i'll send you that uh prayer booklet like we talked about earlier but let me just mention quickly uh two historical events uh we know about the the ministries of of whitfield and the wesleys in the 1730s and 40s uh there was a falling out of the wesleys and in wesley and uh whitfield over the doctrine of election however uh when the holy club did become genuinely holy uh listen to what whitfield said he says uh concerning their prayer meetings he said everything else was carried on with great love meekness and devotion we continued in fasting and prayer to three o 'clock in the morning and then parted with the full conviction that god was going to do great things among us oh that we would make our us vessels pure and holy and meet for our master's use now i want to emphasize there what we see in the next example is another example you you combine prayer and then you preach they prayed believing god was going to do something great according to his promises and we know about the ministry of whitfield the second example was i mentioned daniel baker um the great preacher uh who will become the great preacher of the 19th century he attended the college of new jersey in 1815 at the time the college of new jersey was once said by whitfield and samuel davies as the great hope of america and it was began as a christian college but over the years uh the spirituality began to wane by the time uh daniel baker came it says that the spiritual life was out of 145 students baker says there was only four of us that took religion seriously christianity seriously so they started a prayer meeting and it went on for a year they were praying for their student the student body and just as they were about to give up they weren't seeing anything for a year and baker says we were about to give up without knowing that the uh the blessing of god was nigh at the door and the event that that triggered everything was in the u .s

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was in the middle of 1812 president james madison had called for a national day of prayer and fasting so on that national day of prayer and fasting there were no classes so baker and his four cohorts he says why don't we go room to room talking to our fellow students about things of the lord and that's what they did and that is what god brought about a revival to an extent uh that over almost one third of the student body according to baker gave a very uh reasonable uh confession of faith out of that 45 25 will become ministers of the gospel and he says one of which according to the british press was the holiest i mean uh divine alive now he never was but i've done some research and i'm 99 .9

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sure of who that was that divine that we're talking about was none other than charles hodge wow because he attended at that exact same time so he was converted under that revival that began with a prayer meeting that they did not give up so keep on praying amen and of course there's the the story of uh monica the mother of augustine praying diligently for her son and he uh came to be uh someone who was once a very vile and wicked and promiscuous individual who became one of the greatest minds of christendom in our history even to this day so we we have example after example of godly mothers praying for their children and others praying for specific individuals who came to christ and we thank god for that god who has ordained the end who has decreed to save some from all eternity has ordained the preaching of the means and the prayer of the saints begging god to carry out his covenant promises amen well i want you now to have about three and a half minutes to just summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners i want my listeners to understand that prayer is one of the primary means of god carrying out his sovereign decrees in human history all those passages that i read should prove that to you therefore be given to prayer regularly one thing that i've practiced over the years since i was a college student i would go out just like jesus said find a solitary place people in our church here they said john where's your where's your private place i said i'm not telling you my wife doesn't even know where it is and i go out and i go out with the people whose property i found that well the old dropbox what are you doing that's about i've got an interesting conversation with the uh the edge of the property but anyway i find a place to go it's a special place where me and lord me and i pray just like jesus went to a solitary place oftentimes on a mountain to pray we got to be given to prayer prayer should not be the least attended service it ought to be one of the most frequently attended services so my exhortation to the to the audience is if you haven't regularly engaged in prayer and prayer meetings make a haste to do so make haste to do so amen it will be transforming and you as we see the gospel is spread as paul said agonize with me so when you go out in those solitary places agonize over the gospel in africa ukraine china you know these people in china these pastures being arrested over the place pray for them god uses all i need to mention is revelation five and revelation eight is great it says that god gathers the prayers of the saints and puts them into bowls and it's his incense and in revelation eight says it's incense it rises up as it were to the nostrils of god and he hurls those prayers back to earth now i want that image i'm going to leave you with that image audience that god doesn't forget any of your prayers he's gathering them up and they were they are a sweet smelling incense and he will cast those back to earth in answers to prayer in his timetable not your timetable but in his timetable prayer is powerful just do it amen well we have time for one last question we have an anonymous listener and the anonymous listener says in the epistle of james chapter 5 there appears to be an absolute promise for healing if the commands within james are acted upon as specified including the laying upon of hands of the elders and anointing with oil etc why is it that even when these things are followed that people still die in their illness well if we look at that passage closely and we have practiced it in our churches over a period of time is now i wouldn't say it's an absolute uh promise especially when it comes to uh healing we don't know uh in that regard what is the greater purpose of god sometimes it's the greater purpose of god that we die in that testimony in death so we can't say in terms of physical healing that is an absolute guarantee i will say this that we need to learn to align our desires up with the purposes of god that's what praying in jesus's name means it's not just praying using him as a mediator but it is aligning our purposes with jesus's purposes and when we do that we ought to expect god to do some amazing things with our prayer having said that i will say this there have been times that we have prayed for women uh for example years ago there are several wives and their husbands have come in she was barren and they all so wanted children and they wanted the elders to pray so we prayed i know two cases where they've been barren for several years so it wasn't long before but she was with child so but you can't say absolutely yes we who believe in the reformed faith and the sovereignty of god and who believe in praying according to god's will still believe that god heals when he chooses to heal we just don't believe in modern day healers am i right on that yeah that uh the modern day healing uh of the age of the miraculous healings i believe it's ceased with the apostles but there are still uh people who are healed through our prayers yeah we have no doctors even sometimes are baffled as to uh what has happened with the tumors that have disappeared and so on yes that is true that is god still does amazing things it's not quite the same as it was in the apostolic age my uh my niece's daughter my brother's granddaughter had a brain tumor uh which he had a 10 chance of uh surviving because my brother's a doctor and uh all of a sudden it disappeared it's been six years now and the doctors did not understand what happened at all wow praise god well sometime we have to have you back on in the future to perhaps discuss some of the perplexing texts of scripture that appear that appear on their surface to be making absolute promises that are definite and yet they are more proverbial uh rather than absolutely certain so perhaps we could explore that further at some point i want to thank you so much for being on our program again john i always love having you on you are always a fountain of biblical truth and i want to remind our listeners that you can find out more about john's publication ministry triumphant publications at triumphantpublications .com

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triumphantpublications .com and you could also find out more about the good news bible series at goodnewsbibleseries .com