Priority of Attending Prayer Meeting

Introduction to the Adult Sunday School Class and Topic

0:03 This adult Sunday school class was held on June 17, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. We do extend a very cordial welcome to those who are visiting with us. I noticed two or three visitors on my way in, and there may be a considerable number more, and we do heartily welcome you in the name of Christ to the fellowship of the Lord's people here. Now, the normal format of this adult class is that Professor Bob Martin, an instructor in our ministerial academy, is the teacher of the class and has been leading us for some weeks and will be for some months to come in a study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. But he's away for the second week of a vacation and ministry to loved ones who have some special needs at this time down in Tennessee. And I consented to take the class, and the format that we generally follow when I take the class, unless I'm directed otherwise by my fellow elders, is to use this opportunity to discuss together questions of a practical nature relative to the Christian life, to our life together as the people of God, or perhaps to address questions with respect to the meaning of certain portions of the Word of God.

1:30 And last week we had an excellent... We had an excellent discussion, at least a number of you felt it was very helpful, on the subject of our priorities in the light of our responsibilities, which are not simple but manifold.

1:45 How do we prioritize them so as to keep a good conscience with reference to fulfilling all of our God-given responsibilities? Well, this Wednesday night one of the brothers came to me, or, sorry, Sunday night, and said that if I were to have the class this Lord's Day, that if I were to have the class this Lord's Day, that if I were to have the class this Lord's Day, he wondered about the propriety of asking a certain question. Then he expressed the question to me, and I said, well, I think it would be well for you to write that question down, and we'll take that up, at least as a starter. I have a sneaking suspicion it may take our entire time.

The Centrality of Corporate Prayer and the Membership Covenant

2:18 And this is the question that was submitted to me by this particular brother. In the light of the centrality of corporate prayer to the life of the Church and the progress of the Kingdom of God, what priority should the prayer meetings of the Church have in our lives as Christians in relationship to work and family responsibilities and other legitimate concerns? Now, the question assumes several things. It assumes, number one, the centrality of corporate prayer to the life of the Church, and number two, the centrality of corporate prayer to the life of the Church, and number two, the centrality of corporate prayer to the life of the Church, and number three, the centrality of corporate prayer to the progress of the Kingdom of God. Now, I hope there is no one here who has any controversy with those two assumptions. If you do, all you need do is quickly read through the New Testament, particularly the book of the Acts and the Epistles, and you will see how much place is given to the corporate prayer of the people of God. Though the Bible contains a doctrine of private prayer, there is much more explicit material in the New Testament on the subject of corporate prayer.

3:37 For remember, all of the directives, unless clearly indicated otherwise, found in the Epistles are written to churches, admonishing the people of God to continue steadfastly in prayer. And then even in the Gospels, some of the richest teaching of our Lord pertains to the subject not only of prayer in general, but corporate prayer. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst. And it's in that context that he says, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching what they ask, it shall be done of my Father.

4:13 So the assumption of the one who raises the question is that there is a doctrine of the centrality of corporate prayer to the life of the Church and the progress of the Kingdom of God. Based upon that two-fold assumption, the question is, what priority should the stated prayer meetings have in our lives as Christians in relationship to work and family responsibilities and other legitimate concerns? And then he asks a second question, and I'll raise that in just a moment. But let me answer in terms of those who are members of Trinity Church.

4:54 The priority of corporate prayer has already been established by every single member of this congregation. For if you're a member, somewhere before you became a member, you were given a membership packet and you read, among other things, our Church Constitution. And on page two of the requirements for membership, the statement is as follows. Any person who professes repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, who manifests a life transformed by the power of Christ, who has been baptized upon the profession of faith, who expresses substantial agreement with the doctrines and aims of the Church, and who is willing to submit to its government, shall be eligible for membership. There's the key statement. Who is willing to submit to its government shall be eligible for membership. Now, under the terms of the government of the Church, section five, conduct required of membership.

6:04 All regular and temporary members are required to attend all the stated meetings of the Church unless providentially hindered by illness, accident, unusual working conditions, and other such circumstances. End of parenthesis. The stated meetings of the Church are all the services of the Lord's Day, the Bible school, morning and evening worship, and Lord's Supper, the midweek prayer service, the business meetings of the congregation, and any special meetings which the elders shall occasionally deem it necessary to call. So, being a voluntary society, anyone who has entered into the fellowship and life of Trinity Baptist Church has consented to submit to its government, and one aspect of that government is clearly expressed in the statement under the conduct required of members, paragraph A, namely, faithful attendance at all of the stated meetings unless providentially hindered. That is, by such things as illness, real illness, not just a passing headache, accident, a real accident, the front end drops out of the car and you're not about to hitchhike,

7:30 unusual working conditions, that is, you're on a shift from 3 to 11, there's no way you can slip out for an hour and a half in the middle of that, and other such circumstances, that is, real, not imagined, not contrived, not sham, but real providential hindrances. And in that category, of course, would come such matters as the care of children, which results in the fact that many of our families who have little ones who simply could not be up until 10 o'clock by the time you get home from prayer meeting, alternate, and so the wife will come out one Wednesday while dad watches the kids, the next Wednesday dad comes out while mom watches the kids. These are some of the things that come under the heading of other such circumstances. So, for any member of Trinity Baptist Church, the place, the priority, which the stated seasons of prayer should have, which presently are our Wednesday night weekly meeting, and our once a month Saturday morning meeting, which is one of those special meetings which the elders shall occasionally deem it necessary to call, for any member of Trinity Baptist Church, the matter of attendance at these stated meetings for prayer ought to be as much a matter of conscience as loving one's wife as Christ loved the church,

8:57 being submissive to one's husband as the church is subject to Christ, obeying one's parents, all of these clear Biblical directives, it ought to be a matter of conscience before the living God. Now remember, this is a voluntary society. No one forced anyone who is a member of Trinity Church to become such at the point of a gun, or with the arm in a hammerlock, and each one of you has consented either explicitly or implicitly to understanding and voluntarily committing yourself to the government of the church, so that presence, your presence at the prayer meeting ought to be a matter of conscience before God. Now then, the person who raises the question asks this second question, or a dimension of concern that grows out of it. What are some of the rules, what are some of the rationalizations that we should beware of that the devil and our own flesh would use to keep us from fulfilling our Christian duty of attendance at the stated prayer meetings? You see, the questioner assumes that it is a matter of conscience and duty, but now the question is raised, what are some of the rationalizations by which the devil and our own flesh

Identifying Rationalizations Against Attending Prayer Meeting

10:22 will attempt to keep us? And rationalizations are fancy, flimsy, ephemeral semblances of quote, providential hindrances that aren't really providential hindrances. All right? Now, for those of you who by God's grace have manifested some degree of overcoming power with respect to these rationalizations so that the pattern of your life is one of general faithfulness to the stated meetings of prayer, let me ask you, we'll take them one at a time, what are some of the rationalizations that are presented to your mind by the devil and by your own flesh which you have had to wrestle with, if not continually, at least occasionally? We'll let you answer the question. All right? What are some of the rationalizations that we should beware of that the devil and our own flesh would use to keep us from fulfilling our Christian duty?

11:26 All right? Jonathan? Why go? If I can't pray verbally, why even go?

11:41 Right? So what would we call that? How can we state that? The rationalization that if I can't participate verbally, why should I be there at all?

11:55 I don't know how I can state that more simply. Someone help us out. All right. Why go if no verbal participation?

12:10 Then we'll come back and see how we deal with these things. We just want to list them now. All right? No verbal participation.

12:19 Okay? Another rationalization that presents itself to your mind. Yes, Louise? Too tired, probably fall asleep.

12:37 Okay? So if I'm going to fall asleep, I might as well fall asleep at the couch at home rather than in the chair at a prayer meeting. All right? Another rationalization.

12:58 I'm in a bad state spiritually. Thank you, Pastor Clark. I'm in a bad state spiritually. What are some other rationalizations?

13:22 Yes, John? All right. So could we call that conflict of interest? Huh?

13:35 Conflict of interest. I mean, here it is Wednesday, and for some reason I had a rough time with my own schedule on Monday, and I skipped my own devotions. And Tuesday, the water heater broke, and my devotional time was taken up with trying to track down the serviceman from Sears, and my devotions were shot both Monday and Tuesday. Surely the Lord would not have me go a third day, so I better take this time to feed my own soul.

14:05 Conflict of interest with what we might call other duties. Some other rationalizations that keep us, or tend to keep us, if they don't succeed in keeping us. Yes, Fred? Suppose...

14:28 And what do you mean by that, Fred? So hot and muggy, of course the building's air-conditioned, but I gotta go out of my own house and gotta get in the car, and my car's not air-conditioned, and, you know...

14:49 And of course the building's always nice and warm in wintertime, it's kept up at least to 70 degrees, but, you know, I gotta go out, and I gotta slip and slide down the driveway, etc. All right, suppose it's bad weather that is really not of a nature to make it a matter of tempting God to attempt to come. When that's so, then we usually call off the prayer meeting, because we have a responsibility not to tempt God, and so our prayer meeting has been called off twice in the past year. That's something that hasn't happened twice in a year in a long, long time, but a judgment had to be made that there was indeed a providential hindrance.

15:25 All right? Some other rationalizations. But we're thinking particularly of prayer meeting now. If we get into the matter of the large day, that'll open up another whole can of worms.

15:46 We're thinking particularly of the matter of gathering for the stated meetings for prayer. What you've said is true, Howard, but let's hold that off maybe for another time, if we may. All right? Okay?

16:13 It wouldn't honor God for me to come all dopey and half asleep to my devotions tomorrow morning and to my work, so we'll call that robbing God today to pay Him tomorrow. Okay? Rob God today under the guise of paying Him tomorrow. Isn't that what we're really doing?

16:33 Huh? Let's rob God of what He demands today under the guise that we can then come and give God His stolen money tomorrow. Okay. Rob God today for tomorrow.

16:44 Okay? See, when you start calling these things some of the, what they really are, they don't look so plausible. All right, it looks like we're gonna have to flip the board over now. All right?

16:55 Jeff? All right, so wouldn't that be conflict of apparent, apparent conflict of duties? It's a duty to provide for my family. It's a duty for me to do well in my studies.

17:33 Wouldn't that come in as a category, Jeff? Yeah, so I think that's a subdivision of that. Yes, David? We could call that disposition.

17:55 How big that headache becomes in your judgment when it's prayer meeting time. If you've been scheduled to go to a ball game at Shea Stadium, it wouldn't have kept you from going to a ball game Monday night. If you've been scheduled to go out and have a social time, to cook out in someone's backyard, the headache wasn't so bad that you'd have canceled your social time, was it? But, oh, it's such a terrible headache when it's Wednesday night or Saturday morning, isn't it?

18:25 Huh? I see a lot of sheepish grins. Slightest physical indisposition becomes the occasion of rationalizing, I'm just not up to going and praying, all right? It's not a pleasant exercise, is it?

18:39 Because what we're doing is we're opening up our foul hearts. And frankly, it smells. It's not pleasant. But we've got to be honest in these matters.

18:47 Yes. Okay, so that yielding to a major disability that at other times we overcome for other reasons, all right? All right? So we've been yielding to a major hindrance or disability that otherwise, at other times, we overcome for good and wise reasons.

19:25 Okay? Yes, Dean? Ah, there's one. But is that a rationalization?

19:32 Okay, so unresolved conflicts with brethren can become the occasion of our not going. I don't know if I put it in the area of rationalization, but it's so vital we ought to put it in there anyway. All right? Unresolved conflict with brethren, rather than getting it resolved, we stay away from the situation where it'll come into sharp focus with us and we'll feel the discomfort of that unresolved conflict.

20:12 Because the Scripture says that two of you shall agree on earth. And you can't agree if there's unresolved conflict. All right? When you stand praying, forgive, you have to be conscious of having right horizontal relationships.

20:24 All right? Some other rationalizations. My dad? There would be higher spiritual, higher spiritual, or greater spiritual gains.

20:48 Should we put it that way? Greater spiritual gains by staying home alone and spending that time. Let me ask you, Dan, if you've ever fallen prey to that, did you really spend the time that way most of those times if you've succumbed to it? Probably not.

21:05 Probably not is right. Because you see, you can't hold communion with God in the path of disobedience. You can't hold communion with God in the path of disobedience. You can't hold communion with God in the path of disobedience.

21:18 If you aren't where you belong when you belong there, to obey is better than to sacrifice and to hearken in the fat of rams for rebellion is as the sin of iniquity and stubbornness is as idolatry. 1 Samuel 15, 22. So, when someone says, I'm going to refuse to do my God-given duty in order to pray and become more spiritual, he's playing head games on himself. All right?

21:43 Yes. Chip? Okay. All right.

22:27 So, what's the real inconveniences of schedule, inconveniences of schedule as an occasion not to show up at all. But as I've often said, far better to come here late and hungry and shabby than not be here at all. And I'll never forget the time when I saw one of our men. Have I told you that incident?

22:48 Walking across the parking lot, I'll never forget it till the day I die. Saw one of our men and he had a little bag in his hand. I said, what's that? He said, my supper.

22:59 I said, in that bag was a knife and an apple. And he quickly cut up his apple and ate it. But he said, I belong here at prayer meeting though he was held late at the office and had to come straight from the office and didn't even get to stop at his home for a bite to eat or a change of clothing. I said, God, when there's that kind of commitment, something's still going to go on around here that's worth being around to be a part of.

23:30 All right? Some more rationalization. Yes, that's a good idea. Won't get anything out of it anyway.

23:36 All right? The defeatist mentality. Is that the way you spell it, defeatist? The problem with dictating all my letters, I find my spelling's going kaput.

23:54 I put all that onus on the secretary. All right, Bill? Perhaps along the same lines is that defeatist mentality is the mentality that says, there will be so many people there in the first place that my presence won't be missed. Ah, very good.

24:11 You know what? Oh, it sounds so humble. Do you know how subtle the human heart is? Covering your disobedience with a cloak of apparent excessive humility.

24:24 I'm so insignificant, what difference does my presence make anyway? So let's call it the rationalization of mock humility, because that's what it is. It's only mock humility. It's not true humility.

24:36 True humility is bound to do what God says and to do its duty. All right? Yes, so that's not so much a rationalization as it is downright scheming to try to get your conscience off the hook, isn't it? I mean, that's downright scheming, isn't it?

25:17 That's so you won't even have to rationalize come Wednesday night. You do your scheming on Tuesday or the Thursday before when you're making your appointments, all right? Well, I'm sure we could go on. See, this is not pleasant, isn't it?

25:38 This is 1013. There has no temptation taken you but such as is common. I'm sure for many of us what's happened is we've heard these 13 things. We've said, oh, someone else too.

25:55 Oh, others too. Why, I thought I was the only one who had to face these things, all right? Well, we don't want to go on. This is enough to let us know that we have made plausible excuses for not doing duty.

26:14 Yes, Charlie? Yes, and desperately wicked. Jeremiah 17, 9. Okay.

Counteracting Rationalizations: The Principle of Commitment to Duty

26:22 Now, question is, we don't want to stop on the negative. What do we do to counteract these rationalizations? Thank you. What do we do to counteract them?

26:41 Now, as you look at all of these things, you'll see that there is one fundamental weapon in our spiritual arsenal that will pretty well preserve us from all of these. I heard it articulated last night by one of my fellow elders when I was discussing with them what I planned to do with this question in our session this morning. Can you think of one weapon you might think of? Put them to death.

27:23 Mr. Davies? Deafness. Don't listen to yourself.

27:28 Excellent. Excellent. Good. That's getting us close to the one that was mentioned last night.

27:37 Yes, Gary? Self-denial. Self-denial. That will be essential if we're going to use this weapon.

27:48 So, we're getting around the question. Bishop? Perseverance? Well, perseverance is needed with respect to this.

28:01 Good. Charlie? Taking heed to your conscience. Certainly, you won't do it without taking heed to your conscience.

28:14 All of that's true. Doug? Ah, stand up and say that in about four more minutes. He said, now, he said, because it's just assumed that I'm going to be there.

28:42 And the door is shut. Rationalizations. You think, oh, Wednesday night has come, what shall I do? Any more than I stop and think, the Lord's day has come, what shall I do?

29:02 It is a matter of commitment and rationalizations. You don't even give them a chance to come in and sell their goods. Don't let the salesman in your front door and you never need to worry about buying something you shouldn't. That's my rule.

29:27 Because I'm such a softie for salesmen. I feel the poor guy needs to make a living or he needs to sell his goods. Don't let him in the door. Thank you, sir, but really I'm but you don't.

29:49 Thank you, sir, and just keep nodding and being sweet until he either gets the message or gets a little nasty and get him away from the door. You know, the greatest antidote to all of them is the commitment to duty no matter what you feel like. Now, if you've been so ill that you couldn't be going about your work that day, then obviously God does not want you to tempt him by getting out of a bed with a cup or time and there's going to be no water for the dishes and for the baths and everything else. Yes, you may have to stay home and fix the water heater. Yes, all those are obvious duties. Those are not matters of rationalization.

31:00 Those are concrete manifestations of providential hindrances. So, our duty on principle will never make any progress in overcoming this rationalization. That's why Mr. Davies was close to it when he said, become deaf.

31:23 That is, don't let the salesman sell his goods. Something better than death is don't even let him in. And yes, there needs to be a way to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives.

32:05 We have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. We have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we

33:34 think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives.

35:02 So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we

36:32 think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives.

37:16 So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about

38:22 our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives.

39:05 So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think

40:34 about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our

42:04 lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way

43:33 that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the

44:53 way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we

46:22 think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we think about our lives. So, we have to make a difference in the way that we

The Danger of Chronic Absenteeism and the Lord's Peculiar Nearness

47:48 think about our lives. How do we counteract the rationalization to make that an excuse to stay away from appointed seasons of meeting with God and His people? No one has to overcome this. George?

48:30 Whenever we start to rationalize this, we start to realize that we can do this thing realistically. Is it really a true physical indisposition that warrants my refusing to do my God-given duty? Facing it realistically, and there are a number of ways that we can do this. We can do it in a way that we can do it in a way that we can do it in a way that we think it's

49:59 effectual if we're exercising them when we ought to be exercising the public means. Now, I know that we don't have an explicit warrant from the Bible that says, remember Wednesday night to keep it for prayer. It's not like we have an 11th commandment. If there is not a stated time to gather to pray, if everyone just waits for some divine impulse, when would the Holy Ghost have us pray this week?

50:41 Someone shows up here Monday night, seven people show up Tuesday night. Why are you here? Well, the Holy Ghost told me to come and gather Tuesday night. The Holy Ghost told me to come and gather Tuesday night.

51:04 Now, I don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with this.

51:43 And the Holy Ghost He will come and gather Tuesday night. I don't know what to do with this. So now what do we do today? question of the vital place that corporate prayer holds in the life of the church. Perhaps many of us would have to confess that we have altogether too often not only allowed the door to be open to the salesman, we've listened to his pitch and we've bought his goods. Well, remember who the salesman is. The salesman is your own remaining sin and the enemy of your soul and the enemy of

52:57 Christ's kingdom and the enemy of God's work and God's blessing here in this assembly. And in a very special way, if I may interject something that I have found over many years, and remember now if we trace back to the four and a half years when we were with the denomination, I've been with this one congregation, though it's gone through a tremendous increase and turnover for over 22 years, and almost invariably, almost invariably, anyone who is eventually left disaffected and rejecting the gospel of God, will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the The life and fellowship and ministry of this place, that disaffection began with chronic absenteeism from the prayer meeting. Now that's a fact. Unless you're prepared to say, I'm making that up to prove my case and call me a liar, there may be some who are prepared to do that, I don't know. That's a fact of an observation that goes over 22 years.

53:59 Because you see there is something about the peculiar nearness of the Lord in those seasons of prayer, and the more informal nature of the prayer meeting where we share our own burdens and the peculiar and critical concerns of the needs of our own people and the interest of Christ's kingdom here and those who've gone from us and unto the ends of the earth that keep us in a spiritually healthy frame that keep those bonds of intimate, warm fellowship what they ought to be. And if the devil can isolate us and get us away from that dimension of our life together, now we're more vulnerable to his more vicious attacks upon some of the very root system of our relationship to Christ and our relationship to his people. So I urge you, dear people, now in this closing exhortation, lay to heart what you've heard this morning. If you've been chronically absent from our stated seasons of prayer, and some of you have been, and again, I'll just look this, so no one feels I'm intimidating them. If you have been chronically absent, I ask you and plead with you, go into the secret place with God and ask him if indeed you've been opening the door to the salesman and listening to his goods and buying them, whether indeed you can say with the honesty that would stand up in the day of judgment,

Avoiding Legalism While Upholding Duty

55:27 O Lord, thou knowest that my chronic absenteeism is due to your own providence and my own love for you. And I ask you, and my conscience is clear. Now, if you can do that, then fine. That's why we don't legislate in such a way and say if someone is absent for three prayer meetings, they get a warning.

55:46 Six prayer meetings, they're publicly censured. Twelve prayer meetings, they're excommunicated. We have no biblical grounds to do that. We have one of our elders who is continually absent from prayer meetings.

55:59 What a shame. No, it's not a shame because he is ministering with the consent of his fellow elders in another little, struggling congregation closer to his home.

56:09 And he's not only providentially hindered, he is, in that sense, hindered by the very direction of his fellow elders to give himself as long as he feels he can to that ministry. I'm referring, of course, to Pastor Clark. So, this is why we dare not set up rigid rules and say so many prayer meetings absent and you get this. No, we refuse to do that.

56:32 But at the same time, we refuse to let the devil think that he can get away with selling this kind of goods to our people and let them feel comfortable in it. So, I trust that if God has spoken this morning, you won't go out with your tail between your legs and angry and miffed and upset and grousing and grumbling, but say, Lord, thank you. Thank you for opening my eyes, showing me how I had fallen prey, how I had left myself vulnerable. Thank you for giving us shepherds to care for our soul, to warn us.

57:04 Dear people, what in the world do we have to gain by your presence or absence from the prayer? We don't take a collection. We don't publish denominational statistics. We plead for your good and for the good of this assembly and for God's glory.

Concluding Prayer and Exhortation

57:24 Well, let's pray.

57:31 Our Father, we thank you for moving the brother in our congregation to raise this question. We thank you for giving your people the grace of honesty, we know it's not been pleasant for us to acknowledge that we have both entertained and all too often succumbed to these rationalizations. Forgive us, O Lord, forgive us. Wash us afresh in the blood of your dear Son.

58:02 And we pray that you would help each one of us to lay to heart our responsibilities before you. We know that we do not answer ultimately to one another, to our elders, to our brothers, to our brothers, to our elders, to our elders, to our elders, to our elders, to our elders, to our elders, but we answer ultimately to you, our great Lord. And we pray that you would give us a renewed sense of commitment to do our duty, no matter what we feel like, that we may, as one has said today, be deaf to these rationalizations, that we may not even open the door to the salesman. O Lord, have mercy upon us and help us, we pray, and may much profit come from this time, the Holy Spirit, and theujb. Amen. When you walk in prayer together, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 2 10 8 11 12 12 13 18 17 19 20 21 22 25 26 26 24 25

59:10 36 34 26 37 38 33 39 y