Brethren, Pray for Us

Introduction: The Concluding Commands and Marks of a Healthy Church

0:02 And to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, I will ask you to follow as I read the last four verses of this epistle, chapter 5, verses 25 to 28.

0:29 Brethren, pray for us. Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

0:49 The apostle has concluded in the preceding section that portion of his letter in which he has given many details concerning the kind of life that pleases God, the sanctified life. And we saw in our study last, Lord's Day of verses 23 and 24, that he concludes that section of detailed instruction concerning Christian living with this sort of a half-prayer and half-ejaculation of desire and longing, with this great affirmation that what is now imperfectly realized through his exhortations to holiness and through their efforts to holiness will be gloriously and wonderfully realized. And what is now imperfectly realized through his exhortations to holiness and through their efforts to holiness and through their efforts to holiness will be gloriously and wonderfully perfected at the day of Jesus Christ. For he says, and that God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, that is entirely and completely, and may the totality of your being, body, soul, and spirit be preserved blameless at or in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then to assure these people and, as it were, to underscore his own confidence that this is no mere dream.

2:06 No mere wishful thinking, he says in verse 24, faithful is he who calleth you, who will also do it. This matter of your ultimate perfection rests not upon your present imperfect attainments, but upon the unchanging faithfulness of God who accomplishes that which he has purposed to accomplish in the calling of his people. We might say at that juncture that the epistle ends. As far as its formal instruction.

2:39 But the apostle's not done. Either he has a little more ink in his pen, or a few more desires in his heart, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he's going to jot down a few more things, and they come to us in the form of three commands, and they conclude with a benediction. Brethren, pray for us. Salute the brethren with a holy kiss.

3:02 I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all. Brethren, I confess unto you that prior to my study of this section, I just always looked upon it as a few haphazard remarks, inspired by the Spirit, directed by the breath of God, yes, but no real inherent connection, and really not too much to say to us. But close study oft times does away with that kind of surface and really impression rooted in ignorance, for in a very real sense, these three concluding commands, give to us a picture of what a healthy church is in the eyes and in the mind of the apostle. As he thinks of this letter coming to a close, and what he desires for the people of the Thessalonians, of the Thessalonian church, as he thinks of their own life in relationship one to another, and their own life in relationship to him as a missionary and a preacher and an apostle, in relationship to him as an inspired penman of truth, he gives to us what we might call are the three dominant marks of a Spirit-directed New Testament church. What are they? Brethren, pray for us, the mark of intercessory prayer, particularly for the extension of Christ's kingdom.

4:28 When Paul says pray for us, he's speaking of himself and his companions who are engaged to the hilt in the Word of God. The mark of extending the kingdom of Christ. So the mark of a Spirit-filled, Spirit-directed church is that of intercessory prayer, particularly for the extension of Christ's kingdom.

4:52 Then he says, greet the brethren with a holy kiss. What is that? He's saying, continue to maintain evidence of your love one for another, and that love must be worn out. Where others can see it, it must be there upon your sleeve.

5:12 So the second mark, then, of a church filled with the Spirit is that of abounding love. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Then he says, I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren. Well, what's that?

5:29 Well, he's saying that the third mark of a true church walking in the Spirit is constant submission to... True and respect for the Word of God written.

5:40 I adjure you that this epistle be read to all the brethren. They must all be exposed to its truth and submissive to its precepts. For what is apparent zeal and apparent love if it be not under the judgment and discipline of the Word written? What is apparent allegiance to the Word written without love and aggressive zeal to extend the kingdom?

6:05 And put them all together, and you have a beautiful picture of the three great marks of a true church walking and living in the Spirit. Well, how in the world is all that going to come to pass? Only one answer. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

6:24 Isn't that a beautiful summary? Not just something thrown together in a hodgepodge way, but a picture of the kind of church that every true child of God wants to be a part of, and every...

6:36 every true child of God wants to contribute to. And so we're going to study these three remaining commands and this benediction one at a time, keeping in mind that broad perspective. These should be the marks of this church if we make any claim to being a true church. And as we aspire to be all that God would have us to be, we must seek to excel and abound in these things.

7:03 Intercessory prayer, abounding love, and constant exposure to and submission to the written word of the living God. So much then for the broad overview of the remaining statements. Now let's focus our attention upon verse 25. Brethren, pray for us.

The Reasons Behind Paul's Request: Deep Selflessness and Dependence on God

7:29 Have you ever tried to dig behind the apostles' words and ask yourself, what made him say that? Here he has just a little ink left in his pen, or a little more, or a little more time to write. And of all the things he could request of these people, here was their spiritual father. Here was the man who could say as he did in chapter 2, that I was among you as a nurse, a wet nurse, caring not for somebody else's kids, but for my own children.

7:57 I had all that affection bound up in my relationship to you. I was willing to impart unto you not the gospel only, but my very soul, he said. A man who has fathered them in the gospel. A man who has inwardly rejoiced at every evidence of their life and their growth in grace.

8:15 A man to whom they are greatly indebted. What shall he ask of them? Well, his reflex action, the first thing he asks is, pray for us. Now, why did he do that?

8:27 Well, it's sort of like the little phrase, and some of my southern friends will appreciate this, that if you're a good southerner, and whenever anyone's been wherever you are, whether it's in the store, a corner store, for a loaf of bread, or in your home, the last thing you say as they go, is, y'all come, y'all come back.

8:43 Well, I didn't know the first time someone said that to me. I thought they meant exactly what those words mean, y'all come back. So I said to the grocery man, I will, sir, as soon as I'm out of the things I've bought, I'll be back again. I plan to trade here as long as I'm in the area.

8:56 Well, I wondered at the time why he looked at me sort of strange-like, but when someone says, y'all come, I expect I should answer, yes, I will be back. Not in three minutes, but...

9:06 Now, generally speaking, if someone would say, y'all come, and they've invited you to dinner this Sunday, and they say, y'all come back, and you just appear on their doorstep next Sunday, you might get into trouble. Because, with many, this is just an expression. The same way we would say, hi, or hello, or how do you do. Now, is this what Paul is doing with this phrase, brethren, pray for us.

9:31 I've heard Christians use it that way. The last thing they say, well, you pray for me. Well, they really don't mean it. The way they say it indicates they don't mean it.

9:38 If we could somehow feel what was in those words when they were penned by the Apostle, it wouldn't be, oh, brethren, pray for us. It'd be something like this, brethren, pray for us. There'd be that note of intensity, that note of earnestness, above all other things, I want you to pray for us. Now, why?

10:04 What does this reveal to us about the Apostle's inner life, about his thoughts of himself, and of God? For I suggest that until we share the Apostle's thoughts about himself and God as they relate to prayer, we'll never take seriously this injunction or really get very far with biblical prayer. And so, consider with me in the first place this morning as we look at this text, the reasons behind Paul's request.

10:34 I would suggest in the first place that this request is a revelation of Paul's deep selflessness, of dependence upon God. When this man says, above all else, I want your prayers, he is revealing his own deep inward sense of utter dependence upon God.

10:58 True prayer, more than any other exercise in the Christian life, brings us into the realm of first-hand dealings with God. I love the definition of prayer in the Shorter Catechism. Prayer is the, offering up of our desires unto God in the name of Jesus for things agreeable to his will. We're in the presence of the Creator.

11:25 The creature is dealing in a peculiar way in a first-hand manner with his God. Now, unless we relegate prayer to a mere formalism, vain repetitions as the heathen engage in, the only soil in which prayer can be made, maintained, is that deep sense of utter dependence upon that God that brings me again and again into his presence to deal with him in prayer. You see, pride and prayerfulness cannot exist in the same heart at the same time. Nor can humility and prayerlessness exist in the same heart at the same time.

12:07 Humility is not something that we should gauge in ourselves or in others in terms of personality, characteristics. When someone is very diffident and retired in a soft voice and very reluctant to speak out, we say, oh, wouldn't he be a humble man? He may be as proud as the devil.

12:26 What I want to know about a man, about myself is, do I bend my knees unto the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, constantly spreading before him the fact that I am nothing. I have nothing. I can do nothing but sin unless I'm upheld, upheld by his own hand of grace and omnipotence. That's the very soul of prayer.

12:51 That sense of utter dependence upon God. Now, where is Paul when he writes this? Well, as best we can discern, he's at the city of Corinth.

13:02 Great opportunities before him. But when you read Acts chapter 18, you realize great opposition to the gospel. So much so that the Lord even had to send an angel to encourage him. People opposing the truth.

13:16 And as Paul thinks of his task as a missionary, here I've gone out to preach a message with a view to seeing men turn from sin unto the living God through Jesus Christ and then be incorporated into his church and there be light in the midst of darkness. Press on to holiness in the midst of a world full of pagan wickedness in opposition to all that is pure and right. As he thinks of his task, men blind, men dead, men hostile. These Jews tracking him down, opposing him.

13:49 All of these hindrances. He thinks of his task. What does he say? Brethren, pray for us.

13:56 This is a revelation of what he says elsewhere of his deep conviction that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves. I am not able to do what God has commissioned me to do. Brethren, pray for us. I say that the reason behind Paul's quest is first of all this a revelation of his deep sense of dependence but secondly, it's an indication of his deep sense of confidence in God.

The Reasons Behind Paul's Request: Absolute Confidence in God

14:28 He's not only saying by these words I need him but he's saying he is willing and able to meet that need. He's finishing the verse. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves but our sufficiency is of God. He's not stopping with the negative.

14:48 He's moving on to the positive. Pray for us. I am not able but he is able and in prayer you engage him to bring to pass in this situation or to bring to bear his own arm of omnipotence. Jeremiah 17, 5 through 9 is a beautiful Old Testament commentary on this disposition of the apostle.

15:11 In this passage, the prophet says Jeremiah 17 in verse 5 Cursed be he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Then God goes on to say what he'll be like but then he says in verse 7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose trust the Lord is and then he describes what he should be like. Cursed upon the man who says I am sufficient and the loudest witness of that sense of self-sufficiency is prayerlessness. You don't need to be prayerless.

15:47 You don't need to come through those doors this morning with your buttons popping and your chest swelled with pride and saying everybody look at me I'm really adequate. No, no. The real proof of pride is knees that fail to bend in the secret place before God.

16:05 Saying from the heart Oh God I'm not sacred. Failure to cultivate that disposition that in every situation causes us to instinctively lift up our hearts unto our God over the saints. Sink or behind the wheel or on the job wherever it is acknowledging our utter dependence upon him. Cursed be he that trusteth in man.

16:28 The apostle could say pray for us because he was gripped with that sense of his utter dependence upon God but it didn't stop there. As Jeremiah says but blessed is the man whose trust is in the Lord. Here was this absolute confidence in his God. I think of my task here in Corinth and as I think of it oh brethren pray for us I'm not sufficient but God is.

The Reasons Behind Paul's Request: Belief in the Efficacy of True Prayer

16:53 He can open blind eyes he can quicken dead sinners he can stop the mouths of the adversaries he can restrain the wickedness of men brethren pray for us because my God is able. That's the second thing it reveals his deep sense of confidence in God but in the third place Paul's request reveals or is an affirmation of his belief in the efficacy of true prayer. Now don't you kids go to sleep on me and say oh the preacher's using big words I'm going to define them like I usually do and I haven't picked these out carelessly this is the fruit of serious thought I've stated it this way purposely follow it again when this man says brethren pray for us what's behind that request? Not only a revelation of his sense of dependence an indication of his utter confidence but it's an affirmation of his belief in the efficacy of true prayer. What do I mean by efficacy? Something which accomplishes a given end it has power to produce results. Paul believed that if those people hundreds of miles away in Thessalonica would pray things would happen there at Corinth that otherwise would not have happened.

18:08 I haven't checked my geography it may not have been hundreds of miles away but it was a geographical distance. He's not asking them to do something that is simply a little kind of religious exercise that will make them feel like they're doing something. that will make them feel like they're doing something. that will make them feel like they're doing something.

18:19 that will make them feel better because he's saying pray for us. Pray for us. Now why do I underscore this? Well for the simple reason that some in their reacting against this concept of God that makes him a celestial bellboy to whom we may snap our fingers at any moment and have him come and drop his little goodies prayer has been looked upon as primarily an exercise which has benefits in the one who prays.

18:50 In reality he's acting against the idea that you know the movie actress who prays that she'll get a job and she praises God because she gets her job and when you find out what it is it's playing the role of some immoral slut in some kind of a movie that will fill the minds of people with filth and rottenness. He reacts against that. Or the football player that says I was doing poorly in the fourth quarter till I prayed a little prayer to Jesus in the huddle and I tipped the ball and ran 90 yards for a touchdown. That's abominable.

19:21 The Lord's more fair. He's more fairer a sport than to help a halfback on one team and not help the one on the other. You bring God into your football game and you've stacked a card. That's not fair.

19:33 You hear this stuff. You read it in tracts. I heard something just the other day that the same thing. God really helped me and then I read in the paper the next day this guy was in a fight on the basketball court and it came out in the papers.

19:45 You know I'm a time. See we're acting against that. We can get to the place where we say no God isn't really doing anything to manipulate us. We can't manipulate things as we poor creatures pray.

19:56 The main thrust of prayer is getting myself rightly related to God. Second reason why I emphasize this is that some people who've come to appreciate the biblical doctrines of foreordination, election, divine sovereignty have felt that they had to preserve those doctrines by stripping away the efficacy of prayer. They felt well if you in any way indicate that God will actually do things in response to the prayers of his creatures that's impinging upon his sovereignty. That's impinging upon the fixed nature of his decrees.

20:31 And so they've been wiser than God and wiser than the apostle. Where do we learn election? Well we learn it from this apostle in this book. Knowing brethren beloved your election of God.

20:40 Chapter 2. He says God chose you from the beginning to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and yet he ends up praying for us. What's he telling us? He's telling us this.

20:52 If you people at Thessalonica will pray things will happen here in Corinth that otherwise would not have happened and when they happen they'll happen because you prayed. Prayer affects things. As one servant of God has said commenting on a similar passage in Romans prayer has a real and important efficacy not merely in its influence on the mind of the one who offers it but in securing the blessings for which we pray. Paul directed the Romans to pray.

Scriptural Evidence for the Efficacy of Prayer

21:24 For his protection and his blessing on the saints in Jerusalem he would not have done this if such petitions were of no avail. Will you just very quickly and we'll have to do it quickly in the interest of time will you look at three or four of the passages where he asked people to pray for him and notice the things he expects to be altered and granted in answer to prayer and they have nothing to do with what happens in the one praying. It has to do with things that will happen in Paul's life in the life of others in governments in governments in great areas of power and we'll see as we look at those things Paul affirms his belief in the efficacy of true prayer. Turn please first of all to Romans chapter 15.

22:10 Here's a man who's never been to Rome. He wants to go there that he might be brought on his way by these people to preach the gospel at Spain. He sends this letter to them and after great areas of instruction he says in chapter 15 verses 30 to 32 something of his parting longings toward that people. Now I beseech you brethren by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.

22:46 Why? That I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judea and too that my ministration which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. Three, that I may come to you in joy through the will of God and together with you find rest. What's he praying for?

23:07 Number one, he's praying for his own safety. May I be delivered from evil men. As you people there in Rome pray wherever I am these wicked opposers of the gospel these Judaizers coming out of Judea as you pray God will restrain their influence. Your prayers are not only doing something for you they're doing something to those wicked men.

23:28 In answer to prayer God will restrain their activity. Secondly, it'll do something in the hearts of saints down at Jerusalem that when I come with this gift from all these other churches they'll accept it in the spirit of love and graciousness in which it was brought. As you people pray God will not only restrain his enemies but he'll work in the hearts of his saints that they'll be gracious receivers. You say, oh, that doesn't mean a work of God.

23:56 He sure does. Some people are good gracious givers but they can't be gracious receivers because they've got little seeds of pride and they don't want to be indebted to anyone. It takes grace to be a gracious receiver. See?

24:09 And God in his providence had ordered things that there was that famine down there in the Jerusalem area and the saints were part of it. God didn't exempt them from the common lot of all men in that area and so the other saints have a chance as Paul says in their bounty to share in their need. He says pray that God will give them such a heart that they'll gladly receive. Now I know some of us are thinking you say well Jewish temperament must have changed between now then and now because most of us have as the common image of someone of Hebrew descent that it's not a problem for them to take but the problem's on the other way.

24:44 But Paul felt there would be a problem so he prays let's pray for that. Then the third thing he says is that I may come to you in joy. Well listen if a man's filled with the spirit won't he have all the joy he needs? Paul said if you people pray I'll have a little more.

24:55 He says pray that I may come unto you in joy through the will of God. So to show you then each of these things had nothing to do with what would happen in the hearts of the Romans but something that would happen in Paul's heart in the hearts of saints in Jerusalem and in the lives of unregenerate wicked opposers to the gospel. Turn please to Ephesians.

25:18 All we're trying to do now is show Paul's concept of the efficacy of prayer. Things will be effected in everything. Answer to prayer. Ephesians chapter 6 in verse 18 he exhorts the Christians with all prayer and supplication to pray at all seasons in the spirit and watch thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

25:43 Now he says this is what I want you to pray for me and on my behalf that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Well doesn't the Bible say the Bible teach that when a man is full of the spirit he'll speak with boldness? You read all the way through the book of the Acts and Peter filled with the Holy Ghost opened his mouth and said they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake. A direct connection between bold unfettered pronouncement of truth and a man full of the spirit.

26:18 And yet here the apostle says it's not enough for me to be in the place of prayer as your people pray God will do something that will open up my mouth that I may speak the gospel as I ought to speak. Then we turn to a passage like Philippians. Here's a man in the eyes of the world just rotting in a Roman prison and he's writing a letter he's not rotting there he's there by divine appointment to enrich us with these great epistles and God's using the Roman government to enrich the church throughout its entire history since the apostolic age. And we read in Philippians chapter 1 the apostle's statement in verse 18 What then? Only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed and therein I rejoice yea and will rejoice for I know that this shall turn out to my salvation that is my deliverance through your supplication and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Far from it. Far from saying that prayer only affects the one who prays in terms of the spiritual life of the one who prays he says your prayers will affect the supplies of the spirit in my own life.

27:41 As you pray for me here in this situation the spirit himself shall be granted in copious measures to meet me in my area of need. Then two other references quickly 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 1 Finally brethren pray for us and what should they pray? He tells them that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified even as also it is with you to that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men for all have not faith. He says will you people pray that as I preach the word will run and have free course.

28:23 What's that mean? What stands in the way of the word running? What stands in the way of the word having free course? Well not very big problem.

28:31 Simply men's blindness men's spiritual death the opposition of the devil all the machinations of the powers of darkness and the organized host of evil principalities and powers in the heavenly places that's all. Not very big issues.

28:50 If the word is to run and have free course all of those barriers of prejudice blindness spiritual death the opposition of the devil they all must be leveled by the bulldozer of God's power. And he says as you people pray God will level. You talk about a confidence that prayer affects something the apostle had it and then he says pray for my safety. God will deliver me from all the scheming and the planning of those that would oppose me and then in Philemon 22 this is the last one we'll look at Philemon 22 here Paul's writing again from a Roman imprisonment where in his imprisonment he's been the spiritual father of this runaway slave Onesimus he's sending him back to his master Philemon and now he says in verse 22 but with all prepare me also a lodging for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you. What will the prayers of these humble Christians do? They'll shake up the whole structure of the Roman government so that they give up their prisoner.

30:01 I hope through your prayers that you'll be better when I come know that I'll come that God will just open up the jaws the vice-like jaws of Roman rule and let me free. Now what does all this tell us? I hope it hasn't wearied you. It tells us that if we have any view of divine sovereignty any view of the decrees of God any view that we claim to be scriptural of God upon his throne that makes us embarrassed to believe that when we pray God will do things that other people don't.

30:35 Otherwise wouldn't have happened we don't have biblical views of divine sovereignty.

30:40 You say well how do you reconcile that? That's not my job.

30:47 That's not my job. They could have asked Paul that.

30:52 But they didn't. They had sense enough to know God was bigger than they were. On the one hand we must preserve jealously the scriptural truth that God is upon his throne he does according to his will in the armies of heaven and on earth. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning.

31:08 Yes. But at the same time we must cling tenaciously to the principle that if we ask not we receive not. And that if we ask we shall receive. And that our asking is not just kind of some kind of little subjective spiritual fantasy that gets us inwardly right with God.

31:26 Bless God prayer is that and it ought to be that. But true prayer is effectual prayer that secures the blessings which we desire. And as much as I long and have committed to a ministry which under God will preserve us as a people from these low bellboy concepts of God I would as jealously guard you from that stifling deadening kind of view of divine sovereignty that leaves a people barren and prayerless.

Lesson 1: Only True Children of God Can Biblically Pray

32:01 No may God help us to get into the very heart of the apostle as it were and think as he thought and feel as he did with regard to this matter. Well, I must hurry on now having looked at why the apostle prayed the way he did what does this say to us? The second area of our study is lessons in this text pray for us lessons to us. The first thing I want to say and make very clear is that only the true child of God can biblically pray.

32:33 You notice I left out one little word in my exposition so far. What was the word? Brethren pray for us. I didn't forget it.

32:42 I just want to put it here. As the apostle thinks of writing to these people to pray he's very conscious that the only ones who can truly pray who have this inwrought sense of utter dependence upon God this inwrought conviction of absolute confidence in God this freedom of access to come as sons to plead his promises and to lay hold of his blessings are those who are part of the family of God and so he specifically addresses them as brethren brethren brethren brethren pray for us reminding us that if you are not born into that family by that mysterious and powerful work of the spirit you cannot pray for the extension of God's kingdom you lie beneath the wrath of God and you need to pray for yourself you need to do as Isaiah says seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near for without a saving relationship to God through Jesus Christ you have neither the right nor the spiritual equipment to pray for others you have no right to come to him think of the impudence of a rebel against the sovereign daring to crash into his presence and ask for goodies from his hand that's the impudence of the person who lives in a state of impenitence daring to ask God for anything but mercy you have no right to come you don't have the spiritual equipment to come you strut around

Lesson 2: Maintaining the Soil of Prayer – Dependence, Confidence, Efficacy

34:11 in your creature confidence with no deed inward sense that depends upon him you have low unworthy views of God and so my call to you this morning is to repent and to believe the gospel bow to the Lord Jesus cry to God for mercy by his grace becoming a part of his family you may begin to pray for the extension of his kingdom second lesson in this text for us is this to be a praying people we must maintain those three principles that are the very soil of the apostles prayer life and his concept of prayer we must maintain that sensitivity of our utter utter dependence upon God in every one of us by nature is this hard core of self confidence creature confidence and in regeneration God in great measure deals with that thing but he doesn't completely tear it from us and as the child of God grows in grace one of the evidences is he grows in his ability to perceive those remaining shreds and threads of self confidence he comes increasingly to believe not just because it's in the Bible but because he sees it so that without me he can do nothing you let your grasp upon your own utter dependence upon God

35:40 for all things you let that grasp begin to lessen and you mark it your prayer life will begin to suffer we must maintain that second thing absolute confidence in God as the God with whom nothing is too difficult that God who can do exceeding abundantly above all we ask for things now I suggest that that view of theology the relationship of one truth to another is most biblical which most feeds those two attitudes utter dependence upon God for all things implicit confidence in the ability of God to do all things I don't know whatever you want to call yourself as that view of biblical truth increases and whatever anyone wants to call you let them call you any name they want but that view of the scriptures that take seriously that man is dependent upon God for everything in nature and in grace he not only owes his physical life utterly to God but his spiritual life that view of truth that openly affirms that we are utterly dependent upon him for everything as we minister to others God must open the eyes God must quicken God must impart faith that's the scriptural view for that alone will continue to feed the spirit of prayer

37:09 we must be careful to maintain that third thing the conviction of the efficacy of prayer whenever your logic begins to say if God's on his throne and God is sovereign in every things ordered the end from the beginning why pray the minute that voice rises up within you tell it to shut up stop your ears to it say I will not listen that's not the voice of God it's not the voice of God that's the voice of carnal inquisitiveness Luther said something to someone one time who came asking the question that had this kind of thing if God is sovereign how can man be responsible that kind of thing he says God's made a place for people who ask questions like that he says that's spiritual impudence

Lesson 3: Prayerlessness Reveals a Loss of Conviction

37:57 don't go asking questions and I like that spirit that's the spirit of the apostle that's the spirit that permeates the word feed your heart upon the great promises look at the examples of answers to prayer my second exhortation then is to be a praying people we must maintain these three things third thing that I want to say by way of observation from this text is that a prayerless state is a revelation of a loss of these convictions when a child of God loses the spirit of prayer it's because somewhere he's lost the conviction of these three things his utter dependence upon God his implicit confidence in God and his conviction of the efficacy of true prayer a diabetic who ceases to take his insulin does so either because he thinks he can get along without it or he's lost his confidence in the medicine or he just wants to kill himself the diabetic who's dependent upon the normal life for his regular intake of insulin who ceases to take his insulin is saying either I think I can get along without it two I don't have any confidence in it or three I'm willing to run the risk in physical ill health and the child of God who says oh yes prayer is the life of the

39:27 child of God he must maintain but who doesn't pray it's because he's really ceased to believe he needs this constant recourse to the throne of grace or he ceased to believe that God indeed is able and God is willing and God will work in answer to prayer frankly this is what deeply disturbs me with the pattern I see in almost all our evangelical churches Sunday morning service best attendance Sunday night a little less prayer meeting always the Cinderella now you take away those of the aged who can't come out I'm fully aware of that take away the families that have to split themselves up to come out I'm fully aware of that I'm fully aware of that put in all the exceptions put in all the regulations or all the what we would call the balancing factors but the fact still remains there are people who could be at the regularly stated prayer meeting the church who aren't there simply because there is no conviction of their utter dependence upon God and the dependence of the church upon God and of his willingness to hear our cry who dare to come expecting blessing on Sunday who haven't come on a Wednesday to plead for that blessing it's presumptuous to expect blessing for which we've not pled just as it's unbelief to plead

40:56 and not expect and this greatly disturbs me because I read of that early church that those that the Lord added it says these all continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine in the breaking of bread in fellowship and in prayers why because the apostles doctrine continually showed them how utterly dependent they were upon God and his great willingness to meet them in their need and the efficacy of prayer and so they were steadfast in prayer prayerlessness either on an individual basis or a church wide basis is a revelation that we've lost those convictions the fourth lesson I see in the text is this that the greatest service you can render to any ministering servant of Christ is to pray for him scripture says we're to meet the temporal needs of those who live of the gospel 1st Timothy 5 17 Galatians 6 Paul pleads for support in a few places but seven times in the letters if you consider Hebrews one of his letters he says to believers pray for us pray for me the greatest service you can render is pray because as you pray God is pleased to deal with me deal with those things that would oppose me work in the hearts of men he'll make the ministry effectual the story is told of a minister who preached with great blessing to his own

Lesson 4 & 5: Praying for Ministers and in Obedience to the Word

42:26 people and God was pleased to multiply the blessing and outsiders were coming to the church and there was a period of refreshing then the crowds began to dwindle and people were listening to their pastor with less blessing they found they came dry and went away dry and they were grumbling about it and saying something's happened to the preacher and one day the preacher stood and he said I'm very much aware of what all of you are saying and it's absolutely true you are coming dry and going away dry the crowds are dwindling and he said it's because I lost my prayer book and the people looked at him and said what's he talking about a little bit later on in his message he said when you were a praying people when our stated times of prayer were crowded with people earnestly crying to God the blessing descended and you thought the blessing was in me and you ceased to pray and God has withdrawn the blessing and the few took it to heart and they began to resurrect some of their stated prayer meetings and it wasn't long before the pews were filled again and the hearts of the saints were filled again because the people prayed now that doesn't excuse me from praying I've got to answer to God for the stewardship of my time doesn't excuse me from diligent study and preparing as earnestly and seriously for a hundred people as though I preaching to a thousand that's what I'll have to answer for but listen dear ones if you cease to be a praying people you'll cease to be a blessed people under my ministry oh shit that's never be I always get blessed if you get blessed it's only

43:55 because God the Holy Spirit blesses in grace in answer to prayer the greatest service you can render to me is to pray for me to pray for me that I may speak as I ought to speak some of you have an entirely romantic view of me you know you don't struggle with the things I struggle with who says I don't I got the same wicked heart you've got you I could fall into any sin that you could fall into the only tragic difference is I'd bring far more reproach to Christ than you ever would and I tell you the thought of it at times makes me tremble and makes me want to run from the ministry brethren pray for me I'm not just saying that because preachers are supposed to I hope I'm saying it like Paul did brethren pray for us as God serves the greatest service you can render to a ministering servant of Christ is to pray for him and then the last observation and I think this will be helpful to some of you we are to pray in obedience to the authority of the written word people say well how should I pray some would say well you just the spirit will guide you when to pray how to pray wait a minute now how does the spirit guide us he guides us by the written word Paul says we know not how to pray as we ought the spirit helps our infirmities but when the inspired apostle writes to

45:25 the saints and says pray for us suppose one of them Paul sees them a few months later says you've been praying for me they said no why not oh I didn't feel led he'd say you disobedient rebel I told you by apostolic authority to pray for us why didn't you pray oh I didn't feel led so he turns back to the epistle and says what about this part over here that says this is the will of God abstained from fornication oh I didn't feel led I felt led to spend the past two months with my girlfriend down the road oh you felt led you see it's just as wrong to say you're led contrary to the command not to commit fornication as it is to say the spirit of God hasn't led you to pray for Christ's servants and the extension of the kingdom of God this is commandment now how much time we shall spend in prayer which one shall we pray for what specific things the word of God will guide us there are elements and areas where the spirit subjectively will guide us but the basis of our praying must be as in any other duty obedience to the word of God written men ought always to pray and not to faith that's the command brethren pray for us that's the command so I come saying Lord I must pray for you commanded it as I get before him I say what shall I pray for and I look for the principles in the word then as I

46:54 come up to that place where I weighed the principles and the precepts and the promises and I still see to be in the dark I take comfort in the fact that when I know not how to pray as I ought the spirit helps that infirmity so maybe some of us have been quite prayerless but we've said well it's because the Lord hasn't led me no my friend it's because you're disobedient it's because you're dodging on an issue of submission to the word and so the fifth principle and lesson I see in the text is that we as God's people are to pray in obedience to the authority of the written word let me say in conclusion this morning the thing with which I began do you by God's grace and by the work of his spirit long to be part in an assembly that is a true biblically oriented assembly then it will be so only to the measure that you take seriously this command brethren pray for us intercessory prayer particularly for the extension of the kingdom of Christ is the mark of a truly spirit filled body of God's people if we're to have that we've got to have Paul's reasons for praying constantly brought to remembrance by the spirit and the word our utter dependence upon him prayer is simply spreading out our helplessness before God saying God you've said without me you can do

48:24 nothing I bend my knee to acknowledge it I lift up my heart right here in the middle of my job in the middle of this disciplinary problem with my child in the middle of this question that my kids ask me and I don't feel wise I don't know how to answer and my heart is lifted up oh God help Lord help Lord help that ejaculatory prayer formal prayer all those kinds of prayer that we studied in a previous lesson only as we maintain our sense of dependence upon God only as we maintain that utter confidence in God only as we maintain that absolute conviction

49:00 and if you do that on the one hand there will be some people who say you're God not my God you've got a God who's on his throne orders things I don't want a God like that so some will clobber you because you believe in divine sovereignty others will say oh you don't go far enough you've got a God who will bend his arm in answer to your feeble whimperings that God's got a big enough you say well he's the God revealed in the Bible I don't know who your God is I'll live with it he's revealed in the Bible see how vital it is we must maintain that and then by God's grace we must continually cry to him for the spirit of grace and of supplication so that we may continue to be a praying people brethren pray for us let us look to the Lord in prayer together