Well, let's pray, and I truly mean it. I hope and pray that this is a blessing. I don't want this to be a distraction, but again, we're gonna be going through so many scriptures, I thought, here we go. And by the way, for what it's worth, if there's anybody that wants the notes after we're done, I'll be glad to print them out and give it to you, no problem. because again, it's been a blessing. It's been a blessing to me. So let's pray. I'm sorry, y'all are gonna have a little bit of a hard time from over here seeing it, but maybe I'll get this over like this a little bit. Actually, what we need is four of these. I'm just kidding. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, I pray that you would take your word and speak in a great way to all of us. I ask in Christ's name, amen. So, last Sunday, after preaching out of the book of Galatians, we handed out the prayer bulletin that we have handed out on Wednesday night. And on there, I tried to get everyone. I don't know, there were a couple of people I wound up missing, and we've got them, I've got them in my prayer list now, but it's important to me. I just feel a great need to help all of us pray for each other, especially now. And so everybody is listed and the prayer is Monday through Friday for you, for me it's Tuesday through Saturday when it comes to the people in the church. But somebody came up to me afterwards and asked what I thought was an excellent question. How do I pray for these people? And immediately the Lord said, there's your message next Sunday. So that has been my focus all week. To get that started, could we first take our Bibles and turn to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. Been going through the book of Colossians on Sunday night. Of course, tonight we don't have We don't have a service. It's the first Sunday of the month. And can I be a little honest with you? I'm not completely comfortable not having a service on the first Sunday of the month on Sunday night. I know there's times we need a break, et cetera, et cetera. But I think it's gotten us somewhat into a little bit of a bad habit. I think maybe we get the idea that the Sunday night service is not all that important. Let me tell you something. I spend as much time on a Sunday night message, and it's God's word, than I do on the Sunday morning. And we're going through the book of Colossians. But I'm not going to be addressing that right now. It's just that we're at the book of Colossians on Sunday night. And look, if you would please, at verse 9. And capping so much of what Paul has already said, he makes this statement. For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. You know, we need to catch this. that this book, Old and New Testament, but especially for us as Gentile believers seeing this, this Bible is replete with scripture upon scripture upon scripture of God's people praying for God's people. Because we see the necessity, we understand the times, we recognize what's coming, that one day we're all gonna be in glory if we trust in Christ as our Savior. But meanwhile, before we get to, as somebody has once said, the sweet by and by, we're in the nasty now and now. They're flying balloons over us. And it doesn't stop there. It's amazing to me how the war drums are beating. And some people are getting definitely concerned. Don't you praise God, he's totally in control. You know, I rejoice in that. But truth is, we are here in enemy territory as believers. The world does not love us because the Lord told us that's exactly the way it's going to be. You're going to have tribulation. He says, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. Now, go to the book of James, if you would, please. James chapter 5. Now there is the first part of this verse we can spend some time on, but we're not going to right now, but I want us to just see this verse, book of James chapter five, verse 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed. Now, let me just say this very briefly. One thing that I remember hearing people teach and preach so long ago, and I agree with it, that if we wind up getting sick, hey, one of the first things to do is to go to the Lord and say, Lord, are you trying to tell me something? Search me, oh God. Know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. That's one of the things we need to do. So when it comes to needing of healing, we come together with someone, we pray over them. But look at this. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. That phrase, availeth much, literally means has much force. Now let that sink in. It's not the righteousness that we gin up. It's the righteousness that we possess because of Jesus Christ. We're talking about submission. And when we are allowing Him to feel at home in us, like we've talked about before, and when we have given it and we are living His will by God's grace, That prayer is not just something that we mumbled. The God of the universe is listening. Keep that in mind. So, when it comes to prayer, what do we do? How do we pray for one another? Well, let's go to the book of Ephesians real quick and we're going to see One that I just preached on not too long ago. Ephesians 3, how Paul prayed for us. Look at verse 14. Especially for the church at Ephesus, the people at Ephesus. But listen how he prayed. Ephesians 3, verse 14. For this cause, I bow my knees under the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. that He would grant you, that's me and you, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know, oh yes, to know the love of Christ, that oh by the way, passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. It's amazing how God takes hungry hearts and begins to speak to them. drew a passage like this. This isn't the only way to pray for others. Paul prayed elsewhere in different ways, as we talked about before. But this is one thing, it's like, listen, this is what I want for you to have. In fact, he goes on, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power, and I love this, the power that worketh in us. We're gonna see that a little bit more in just a bit. The point is, the power is who he was praying to. Christ, who intercedes for us at the throne of grace, and that power is what gives us the knowledge of this love. It's amazing. It's like, wow, praise God. But again, we're looking at, how do we pray for one another? This is what I thought I would do. I have a way that I go in beginning to pray every morning. Now, over the years, it has expanded. There have been verses that have come and gone. There are things that have been added as far as detail, a section or whatever. But I'm giving you what I have and what has in the last five years, especially since 2018, has evolved in how I pray. And it's been a joy, like I've told you before, I used to use Evernote on my computer and on my iPad, but now I've got it hard copy, and that has been a joy. I'm glad that I wound up doing that. But the verses have been around for some time. I need God's word. By nature, I am a worrier. By nature, I get discouraged. In fact, those of you that have been around long enough, you know that 25 years ago, I went through deep depression. I've told people this, and I mean it. I have been as close to hell as I ever want to be, because I felt it. I felt it. It's amazing, though, what God's word does. So this is what I'm going to do. In order to begin to answer the question, how do you pray for these people? This is how I go every morning before I pray for anybody, including my wife. This is the direction that I go in my devotion. The first thing I do is I pray on purpose. The first thing I recognize is this, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. God called me to be a pastor. That is my responsibility to you. If I don't do that, God help me. My responsibility is to pray for you, and to give you the word like we're doing right now. So that's the first thing that I remember. Secondly, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. By the way, amen, the gospel of Christ is what's needed today, right? I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, but praise God, it is the power of God. Then, my mom's life passage. This was my mom's life verse. I've told you this before. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to thine own understanding, because I've done that before. How many of you have ever leaned to your own understanding and you do the proverbial wipeout? Yeah. Lean not to thine own understanding, not your own wisdom, in all thy ways. I love this. my master. I get up and I speak to my master. I give him the decision. Have I fought him before? But one of the things that I fear the most is stepping out of God's will. I don't want to be there. I would rather be in the worst place, in the middle of God's will, than be in, you know, whatever kind You know, people talk about leaving California. I'd rather be in California in the middle of God's will than be someplace else and think, OK, praise God, no more Gavin Newsom. My mom had this written. by her easel while she was working on her portraits, on her painting. I remember this from a long time ago. My times are in thy hand. Now that's one of those things where you can just kind of sit and just absorb. Think about it. There is no one that exists in this universe that knows all of your path, except the God of heaven. And if you stop and consider, you understand your path is being walked right there. My times are in my hand. While we're here, Brother Tequila, when you and your wife are on your way to the Philippines, you're in His hand. That's it. You know, wherever you go, whatever you do, the times are in thy hand. Think about this. And this is where my heart really starts to getting warm because understand, we're talking about purpose. I am praying right now considering my purpose. And I come to this. And as thy days, so shall thy strength be. Now there's about four verses that I intertwine. These things are basically all along the same line. But look at this, understand, as thy days, God will never send you into a day and tell you, oh, by the way, you're on your own. You ever had a day when you really feel weak, but then you realize God is reminding you, it's not your strength to begin with. It's me, as we shall see. And so we can rejoice like Paul did. We can rejoice in this. It's not up to me. My God is more than enough. Oh, but it gets better. And again, every morning, do I ever get tired of it? I never, I never, Dave, I never get tired of it. There's never a time when it's like, oh man, here we, no, check it out. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Now some of us are kind of laughing nowadays because the check engine light keeps coming on. Y'all know what I mean. As the body deteriorates, let me, listen, you, Don't you dare shut this out. You listen to this. When I get to this thing, I mean, God is stirring my heart. You listen to me. Even though the body is just kind of suffering along, Whether you recognize it or not, if you are a believer in Christ every morning, every waking hour, your God is working on you. You give him the tools, you give him the material, what is it? It's the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by And in fact, we'll be seeing that in just a little bit. But the point is this, you, every time you have a waking moment, you don't have to force it. He's doing it. Do we resist it? How many times have you resisted the Holy Spirit of God? And I have. You wanna hear a secret? He never quits. He loves you that much. The same God that I resisted when I was a teenager is still working on me. He's still working on you. Why? Because He is seeking His Son, the image of His Son in all of us. And oh, by the way, that's what this world needs. But please, don't discount this. I love that verse. The body might be weakening, but the inner man, stronger than ever. Not because of me, but because of Him. Give God the praise. You know this verse. I've preached on it more than once. Again, it's part and parcel of it. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Remember that outline? I love it. Every time I get a chance, if I go someplace else, I can preach it, I'll preach it. Be confident, be cognizant. In other words, be aware, this is what God is doing. Be cooperative. And praise God, be courageous. He's doing this, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it under the day of Jesus Christ. The very next chapter, he says the very same thing, for it is God which worketh in you. Watch this, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now, this is where some of the rub starts happening when we go, well, you know, I got my own will for my life. Have fun. because you ain't gonna have God's blessing. But if you can sing that song, I Surrender All, if you give your life to Him, He will take it and use it to His glory. And after all, isn't it Him that we're going to be with for all eternity? Now, there's a reason why. Well, wait a minute, I thought this was about how do we pray for others? Hang in there with me. There's a reason why we're going through all this. So, this is how I'm getting prepped. I'm looking at these things. I'm remembering I'm a child of God and I am here for His pleasure. There's also another verse that I find interesting along this line. Titus 2.14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people. There's a lot of us that fit that. It's not what we think it is today. A peculiar people, but here it is, zealous of good works. So I remind myself that my God wants to use me today for him in good works. In other words, there's a passion. Lord, what can I do for you today? Lord, by your grace, I wanna do your will. You understand? You see, we are to be zealous of good works. It's like, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. You know, I remember when I was in construction, you know, we'd get the form set up and we've got all that. When that concrete truck came, the adrenaline really started pumping. Because I mean, it's like, there's several tons of stuff in there we got to do something with, and there's a limited amount of time. But hey, this is what we're supposed to do. Dude, let's do it. We're on it. It's the same thing. with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the same thing with encouraging each other. Right now, my heart is pumping to help you recognize. Let's go. You know, whoever it is that the Lord's gonna bring in your path later on today, this week, hey, they need the gospel. They might need encouragement. Oh, mercy. Listen, you know, talk to Pat Taylor yesterday. She so wants to be here. And I praise God for how the Blomquists have been in touch with her. By the way, I have something I need to confess. I got to get right with God because I am really bitter at somebody. Here I am, I've got a bike, but it's cold. And so I'm just riding my indoor cycle. And then I look out my office window and whose bike is sitting there in the back while she's visiting with Sharon. Pace's bike. She just rode from the middle of California. She rides that thing everywhere. And I'm cold. I love you sister. But see, here's the thing, you know, we need to encourage each other and I praise God for when people do just that. Again, you know, Dan working with Pat Taylor, but you know, by the way, there might be, we might wind up having a situation where sometimes we need to get ladies especially to go over there and call on her and help her at her house. We can talk about that later on. It's always good to touch base with the Lord and say, Lord, hey, help us remember this. You're wanting laborers in the harvest. So the first place is purpose. The second place is worship. Remember, preached this on January 1st, Oh God, Thou art my God. I'm not kidding. I have still spent time, I have spent hours sitting on that phrase, that first phrase, Oh God, Thou art my God. And because of that, early will I seek Thee, my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. We need to have a hunger. When we go to the Lord in prayer, we need to go in worship. Worship. Next. Psalm 33, eight. You know, don't we just, we can't wait for this. When we look at the world and it's not people fighting God, let all the earth Fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. One day it's going to take place. You stop and consider this, that one day everybody, including those that despised Him, that turned on Him, that rejected Him, that refused to follow Him, they're going to recognize that He is Lord. They're going to do it. Oh, you're hurt for those that just say no. That just say no. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, who has set Thy glory above the heavens. I don't get tired of it. I just don't. After I've seen what God does for me in purpose, worship, comes easy. Psalm 9.1. I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all Thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in Thee. I will sing praise to Thy name. O Thou Most High. Why? Because He died for me. He died for you, too. You know that. Again, preacher, why are you bringing us here? Hang in with me. This is not bragging. This is not me telling you, this is how I pray. No, there's a reason why I'm taking you to this. But I encourage you, listen, whatever verses stir your heart in the morning, go to them, but make sure you go. Make sure you go. Psalm 95, oh come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. And we are the people of his pasture, don't you love that? And the sheep of his hand. I'm not some macho thing, I'm not a lion, I'm a lamb, I'm a sheep. And I need a shepherd. And all God's people said, you do too. There is the point. Psalm 66, four, all the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall sing to thy name. I love Psalm 18. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength, and whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies. Got people that hate us. Oh, the Lord might allow some things. in the future, but you know what? That's not our eternal destiny. We're gonna be with the one that loves us so. And then come to this, the promises. Now, some of these have already been, they've been in the line of promises, but I love the encouragement verses that come. These are great. Again, I am by nature, I am a worrier. I get concerned. When I was going through my difficulties, it was bad. It was really, really bad. It was such a struggle to get into that pulpit, and nobody knew I was going through it, but oh boy. And you know, maybe you're hiding something, but the fact of the matter is, you have watched the news, You have heard situations. You're wondering what in the world is going to happen. Those crazy people that just met at Davao in Sweden, I think it is. When they met in 2019, they're going, you know, it could be that we have some kind of, oh, it was an infection. What was it that they called it? Huh? Well, it was COVID, but they used another word. Huh? A pandemic. We could have a pandemic. And guess what happened? You know what they just announced two weeks ago? Folks, do you realize we could have a major cyber attack? This is what they're saying. Hey, everybody, get ready. We're gonna spring this on you. And when that happens, guess what? Everything shuts down. Just about everything. Is God still on the throne? They can't shut that down. No way. But the point is, it's just like, you know, wow, look at all this. No, no, I'm looking here. In the midst of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. In other words, I think about the verses that I was just looking at. The promises, I think of the verses that we're getting ready to go to. And it's like, wow, God is so good. This is my life verse. Have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. I love that a lot. I love that comfort. I mean, you know, you go, he goes with you wherever you go. There's some people here, you've heard this illustration before, and I apologize, but for those of you that haven't, we had a guy in our church by the name of Hiro Yoshida. He was Japanese. During World War II, When it all broke out, you know, so he was in the ninth grade. And people decided, guys in the high school that he was in, decided they were going to beat the stuffings out of him one day. And so they surrounded him and said, after school, you walk out, you're a dead man. They hated him because he was Japanese. Do you remember Hiro Ishida? By any chance? Okay, no problem. So there was also another group in this school. It was a Mexican gang. Sometimes we quake when we, you know, Mexican gang, but sometimes. So here came one of the guys from the gang. He's got his switchblade out, no joke, and he's cleaning his fingernails. And he says, I hear there's gonna be a fight after school. And Hiro says, oh yeah, man, I don't know. Oh, okay. School is out. Hiro walks out and there's all these guys waiting for him. And then suddenly, like the parting of the Red Sea, all those guys start backing off. And he's thinking, what in the world is going on? He looked behind him and here was this Mexican gang. They're all cleaning their fingernails with their switch blades. Hey, gotta be a fight? All right, let's go. Como se dice, let's have fun, you know? He never got touched. You know what? The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. He doesn't need a switchblade. He has his mighty power. That's my God. Second Corinthians 12.9. Oh, this is great. This is great. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient. Remember when Paul had the thorn in the flesh? I've preached on this before. Again, this is something I can't get over. I pray you never get over it. He says, my grace is sufficient. Like I said back then, is, it's in the present tense. For when you're present is tense. or discouraging, or whatever, at any given time, any given time, His grace is sufficient. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. So what did Paul say? No, he says, hey, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I don't know what it is that you deal with. I have things I deal with. There are a lot of people that deal with things here. But I can tell you this, based on God's Word, His grace is sufficient. It is, it's sufficient. Isaiah 41.10, many of you know this. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. The same hand that stretched forth and said, let there be light, is the same one that supports us. I don't think God is running out of power. Stop and consider that. Isaiah 43 too says, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. I remember reading through Gates of Splendor and Elizabeth Elliot talked about that when they, the ladies were there gathered around hearing about their husbands, and how they found them dead, these men that came in and were searching for them. She was praying within her heart, Isaiah 43, Lord, let not the waters overflow. She said He didn't. He didn't. Sometimes we can feel like it's getting that way, but it's not. We need to get back to what the Word says. Stop and consider. The Lord said, peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. That's the last thing that Christ said to the disciples. And it was one of incredible encouragement. That one point that was there, that's what he said. Paul, when he wrote the book of Romans, he stopped after writing chapters 6 and 7 and going through much of 8. He said this, what shall we then say to these things? If God before us then who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? In verse 37, he went on to say, nay, and all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. These are other verses that I look at, but I just didn't put them on here. There's too many, too many. Philippians 4. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which, oh, by the way, passes all understanding, shall keep, literally guard, hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. He says later on in verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches and glory. by Christ Jesus. Take your Bibles and turn to 2 Peter chapter 1, would you? 2 Peter chapter 1. This is another passage. I don't include it. Oh no, I do include it. I take that back. In 2 Peter chapter 1, look at verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God. Now catch this. I love going through these things every day because I want the knowledge of God to increase in this thick head. You know what comes because of that? Grace and peace. Now this has everything to do with every one of you. This is not a special gift for a preacher. This is not something that is, you know, consigned to the elite. This is for all of us. The purpose, the worship, and the promises. That's what it's there for. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Look at verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding, look at this, great and precious promises. In other words, why not go to them? Why not sit there and park on them? In worship, why not spend hours saying, oh God, thou art my God. Why not park on them and say, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. By the way, you think God likes to be reminded by us about his promises in God's word? Absolutely, absolutely. So, after all that, here's the question. Rogers, why did you look at all this? This is you. When the question was, how do we pray for others? I'll tell you how we pray. I got ahead of myself a little bit here. Just let that sit there. Remember Colossians 1.9, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. To me, it isn't the only way, but to me, a great way to pray for others is this, Lord, help them know their purpose. Number two, Lord, guide them in their worship. Number three, Lord, help them to know your promises. Think about it. Lord, help us to know. What about if we prayed for everybody like this? Tomorrow, when you take this and you use it in your devotions, and I am begging you to do that because we need to pray for each other, we're gonna be praying for Art and Nur Artikov, they're not here today. Jerry Babcock, she hasn't been able to make it, bless her heart, give a call on her. Dan and Pace Blomquist, Jen Brackett, she's a young lady married to a guy that I've given the gospel to for years. I'm trying to find them. Every once in a while she shows up. They live in Lincoln now, but I've still got her here. Lisa and Mason Brandenburg. Oh, man, that goes without saying. Mary Carlstrom. Pray for Mary. Frances Chitwood hasn't been able to come back. Still, I keep her there. I want her prayed for. Ivan and Stacey Coulter. Wayne Crowley. Alfred and Rhoda D'Aquila. Ed and Jerry Lynn Fogel. Lord, Help us all. Help us all. Help them. Help me, Lord, to know and embrace our purpose. Why are you here? Why are you here? Find where God is telling you. This is why you're here. The Bible is full of these things. Lord, guide us in our worship that we put you first in our lives. Lord, teach us. Look, it's going to show whether or not we truly believe the Word of God. The judgment seat of Christ is not going to be a place where we can stand before him and go, I blew it. What can I say? But I'm so glad that when I was in eighth grade, I prayed a prayer and I'm going into heaven. Well, pray it so. What better way to recognize, you know what? Our lives are about giving him his worth-ship. He is worthy to be praised, the Bible says. Lord, thank you for your promises and help us to rely on them as we obey you. There was something that showed up on here before. Adenarm Judson is one of my favorite stories. This man, an incredible missionary. When I read his life story as a teenager, I cried all the way through that book. It just so struck me. This was the last thing he said before he died. Here he was, his body was dying, and yet the inner man was strengthened. He knew his God. I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ. I love that. You know, we let the inner man grow. We pray, we go over these scriptures or whatever scriptures that the Lord leads you. And not only will we know how to pray for ourselves, we'll know how to pray for others. We will. This ought to be our prayer for all of us. Obviously, there's other things that we need to pray for. But this is just, you know, the purpose of life, the worship of our hearts, and the promises from our God. What better thing to remember? What better thing to remember?