It seems like every Sunday night I comment on how wonderful the music is, but I guess every Sunday night the music is wonderful. If it could be more wonderful, tonight was special, wasn't it? Wow, all the good things. Take your Bibles, please, and turn to the book of 1 Peter. This is gonna be more like a discernment exercise, more like a Wednesday night than a Sunday night. I think this subject lends itself to that. I mentioned this morning that I was going to talk about in what sense are we priests. In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 9 Peter writes, but we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. that we should show forth the praise of Him that hath called us, that hath called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light." We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. So in some sense, in some way, we are called to be priests. And so we want to talk tonight about what does that mean. Well, in language and in culture terms get their way into our vocabulary and into our consciousness sometimes in a incorrect way. For example, St. Ignatius. Who is St. Ignatius? What about St. Thomas? So that kind of word. And so for example, by the way, John Paul is going to be declared to be a, come on, you got to help me now. It's going to be a long night. He's declared to be a saint. So Ephesians chapter six, please. Either get your Bible or your tablet ready because we're going to do a little turning tonight. I think if you follow me through this, it'll help you to understand some things. Once a word gets into our thinking in a certain way, it can be confusing. For example, it says this, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching there into with perseverance and supplication for all saints. So the first thing is, who are we supposed to pray for? We're supposed to pray for the saints. St. Ignatius, St. Thomas, St. John Paul? No? All right, who are the saints? All the saved people are saints. We are saints because we're saved. So if you say, now I know you know that. I know that you're well taught, but I'm saying that those sort, when I, you know, you read that verse and you think, wow, am I supposed to pray for St. Ignatius? I don't even know who St. Ignatius is. And what am I supposed to pray for? So a word like that is the word priest. When I say, we are priests, you go, priest? Well, there are two models that I'd like to just, there are more, but there are two that we'll talk about. One is in the Old Testament. What was a priest? First of all, what tribe do they come from? Levi. They could not be from any other tribe. Had to be from Levi. We know that every priest was sanctified, that is set apart as a priest. They were consecrated to the service of the priesthood. So what did they do? They served the Lord. Huh? They served the Lord. Alright, how did they serve the Lord? That's right they served the Lord. Joel? Well some of them did music. Some of them worked with sacrifices. They had to handle all the instruments in the temple, the bread, incense. A lot of things, but they were servants of the Lord. But their service all focused around the sacrifices. They were either singing in the preparation for a sacrifice, or they were getting the sacrifices ready, or they were offering the sacrifices, all those kind of things. So in the Old Testament a priest was a representative of God chosen, set apart, sanctified, and consecrated to that work. And they were priests, they were to do the function of a priest to offer sacrifices. Now, Roman Catholic is the other model we are familiar with. What does a Roman Catholic priest do? Well, let's see. He takes confession. James chapter 5. James chapter 5 and verse 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Confess your faults one to another. Now does that say I'm to go confess my fault? By the way this is a discernment exercise. Am I to confess my faults to a priest? How do you know? Owen? It doesn't say so. I mean, you know, what is he saying? We confess our faults to one another. There's another one of those one another phrases. We're to be concerned. Now, let me ask you a question. Why would a believer ever do that? Well, we're instructed to. Okay. That's a good, that's a good reason, Bob. You're right on target. Accountability. What else? They need help. By the way, look at the next one. Go ahead, Owen. Prayer. The next verse says the effectual... See, this is all in context. Confess your faults. Why? For the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So we don't see the confessional in the job description of a priest. So don't come and confess your sin to me. because I can't do anything for you. Now by the way, and please understand, I'm not making fun, I'm just trying to help you understand what they believe. I cannot forgive sin. Now understand, it took me a long time to get this, and if you'll listen carefully, you'll learn something probably you didn't know because I didn't know it. One of the questions that has bothered me is how can people who have normal intelligence, believe that I can follow a church that is filled with pedophile priests. How can I go to them? How can I even believe in a church like that? How can I still call myself a Catholic if the whole system is designed to cover up sin? Are you with me? And you know, and I thought about that, I thought, you know, and these people, and you know some of them, some of them are very sweet people, very nice people, they're very sincere people. So please, I'm not making fun, I'm trying to help you see something. And here's the thing that finally dawned on me, as I was reading, I was actually reading a Catholic confession when I saw it, and here's what it is. They are representatives of the church. And although the representative may be faulty and wicked and sinful, the church is not. And therefore, the church is the one that has the power. And therefore, they are to be representatives of the church. Now, they exercise the responsibility or the authority to say whether or not you're forgiven. but it is the church that actually has the power. So, that's why people will still go to the church even though they don't like the pastor, the priest, they don't have confidence in the people. They do have confidence. They believe that salvation is in the church, the Catholic church. That's where salvation is. So, therefore, one of the most powerful tools the Catholic church has is called excommunication. Why would that be a powerful tool? Yeah. There's no hope outside the church. If you get kicked out of the church, no hope for you. So obviously we are not priests in that sense. Uh, we don't excommunicate people. Uh, we can't confess, we can't forgive sin. But what can we do? And there's some verses here we need to look at. And we're going to look at it to see. We will use some inductive study. That is we'll try to pick some pieces here and put together a picture of what we are as a priest. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And let's first look at this one example here. verse 18 2nd Corinthians 5 18 and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation to wit God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Now look, not imputing their trespasses unto them. What is that? Forgiveness of sin. So here's a picture. Jeff Carson. Come here. That's what you get, buddy. All right, so Carson, turn that way. All right, so in this illustration, I'm taking the place of God. And I want to reach Carson, because as you can tell, Carson's a terrible sinner. And I love Carson, I want him to be saved. So I send Jesus, my son, to come to earth to reconcile Carson to me. You with me? Now just as we saw this morning there came a time when Jesus' sacrifice was done. He died on the cross. The sin was paid. He overcame death. He came out of the grave. So, sit down over here. You're done now. Shawn, so here is the Lord Jesus has gone. So over here. So here is a Joe, humble Christian. You can tell by his face. Humble Christian. Now God wants Carson to be saved. But Jesus is not here anymore. He has gone back to heaven. So who does God use? He uses a believer. So here's a Christian who will go to Carson and give the message of salvation. Now let me ask you a question. Does that have any power? you better be careful what you just said. Does the message of the gospel given by a Christian to a non-Christian have any power? I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God into salvation for everyone to believe. So in this age Christian is witnessing to non-Christian and the authority, the power of the Word of God can change his heart and make him a Christian. Amen? You with me? Okay, thank you guys. So what he's saying here is in some sense we stand in the place of Christ. Let's go on a couple verses here. Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ now look at the phrasing as though God bid did beseech you by us Who is the us? Huh? Okay, Paul are all believers we're our job as though be ye we pray you how in Christ's head what does that mean? I the place of Christ be ye reconciled to God for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him so in a real sense I represent God here God has sent me as a in you as a representative we are his ambassadors what do you think that means What does it mean to be an ambassador? We are ambassadors for Christ. How do we represent Him? Speak on His behalf. What else? Show what He's like. Great statement. Our actions. Speak for Him. Our attitudes. The way we are around others? What I preached on this morning. Would it make a difference to you? Let me ask you a question. If you came into this room, had never been in a Baptist church in your life before, you were lost. You had no idea about salvation at all. You just had walked in here because you seemed to need to be here. Would it matter how people treat you? Would it? Would it, you know, do you think that your, your openness to the gospel would be affected by how you were treated by the people? What if nobody talked to you at all? No, you know, they kind of, you sat over here and they all just kind of, would that make a difference to you? We are ambassadors for Christ. And I suppose, I suppose I've been there in my mind because And I don't want to make too much out of this. Please understand, I'm just trying to help you see a lesson here. Because in a few days, we're going to be that, aren't we? In a strange land with people that don't know us very well, and we're there to represent our Lord. And to some degree, we are going to represent Christ there. And we want to do it right. We want to give people the right opinion of God. The verse in 1 Corinthians says, Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God, Ken Collier has paraphrased that verse, I think rightly. He says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, give people a good opinion of God. That is the way you act, the way you live, what you say. Give people a good opinion of God. We are ambassadors for Christ and we can offer people salvation. Can we not? We pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God, we can offer salvation. Now here's the part that gets a little sticky. And when I asked the other question, some of you kind of jumped in without thinking very much. Can I give salvation to someone? No, I can't save anybody, can I? What am I doing? I'm delivering a message. I'm giving people the truth. If they put their faith in me, then it doesn't do anything, right? If they put their, if I say to them, hey, if you'll just come and join Berean Baptist Church, you'll be a Christian and you'll never have to worry again. I'm having them put their faith in the church. Is there any, as much as I love this church, is there any salvation in the church? No. So as an ambassador, as one in Christ's stead who is beseeching people be ye reconciled to God. Now if you would go to John chapter 20. This one has caused people great angst. That's a good word. I think I can even know how to spell it. Here's what Jesus said. Now, I want us to walk through this together. I want you to follow it with your mind. Verse 21, John 20, 21. By the way, this is after the resurrection, after the crucifixion. Christ is now out of the grave and he's giving him final instruction. Here's what he said. Then said Jesus unto them again, verse 21, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. Okay. What do you get from that? As the Father has sent me, so send I you." Is there any way we can be like Christ? That's a trick question. Can we achieve perfection like Christ? Can we have His power? Well, again, that's almost a trick question, isn't it? He's not saying, be Christ. We can't be that. So He is sending us to do what? Huh? be ambassadors, to be His spokesman, to do His work. Now remember this morning we talked about Jesus is going to heaven and He says, I'm going and you can't follow me. And they're thinking, oh my goodness, what are we going to do? Well, what you're going to do is you're going to go forward and do what God has told you to do. You're going to go and do His work. Well, how am I going to do that? By His power. By the message that He gives you. By His direction. That's what you're going to do. So here's the part that gives people pause. who so well verse twenty-two and he said and when he said said this he breathed on them and said unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost they said whosoever sins you remit they are remitted and whosoever sins you retain they are retained now that one causes people pause does he mean that I as an ambassador for Christ can forgive sin. Now what does it mean? Whosoever sins you remit, they're remitted. Whosoever sins you retain, they're retained. Trent? We can deliver the message that Christ has given us. We don't have the power. We're just telling people the power that God has. Okay. Alright. That's true. Somebody else. Take a shot at this. Yes, John. and be vibrant. And the Holy Spirit can use the Word that we present to change that person. And they can be saved through the power of the Word, not by any power of one. Okay, that's true. You're right. It's the power of the Word that changes. You're exactly right. Now, here's the thing. Go ahead. It's also the Word that judges people. Okay, that's true. We're not a judge, but the Word, when we present that to them, they feel convicted by the Holy Spirit, but it's because of the Word. All right, so if they reject the Word and reject the Gospel, then they are refusing to accept Christ and have their sins forgiven. Then could we say with authority, if you reject the Gospel and reject the Gospel that God has given, your sins will not be forgiven. Can we say that with authority? Now, here's the question. How can we say that? Because we're repeating what God says. So whether we use the term, Thus saith the Lord, or whether we just understand this is what God says, this is God's Word, then when we speak that we can speak it with authority. I've had young men say to me, Pastor, I understand how you can preach on the home. I mean, you've had children and grandchildren and I can understand. But how do I preach on the home? Here's the answer. Is it in the Bible? Then whether or not you've ever had to do it, or had to have children, the fact is if it's in the Bible you can speak with authority. Do you see? Now let's go back to the ambassador part. Let's suppose I'm an ambassador to France and President Obama selects me because of my intellect and my ability to talk and all that stuff. And he says, okay, I want you to go to France and tell them if they'll send me five bagels, no, five French eclairs, I will give them $5. That's my big job. I'm an ambassador for the United States. And I go there and tell them, if you send five eclairs, my government will pay you $5. So they bring me the five eclairs. Have I got the authority to do that? Why? I've been commissioned. They told me to do it. And I go, I represent the government. Is it my money that's going to pay for the eclairs? No, it's the government's money. So understand, we are a representative of Christ. So when we say, God can forgive your sin, if you trust Christ, we have authority to say that because the Bible says that. But I cannot say, I can forgive your sin. Tell me all your sins, I'll forgive you. No, I can forgive them on a personal level if they sin against me. But I can't forgive their sin, neither can I condemn them. And Jeff is right. It is the Word that condemns. Now let's talk about something else that priests do. Turn if you would back to the book of 1 Peter chapter 2. You're doing well tonight. You are helping me. Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm pretty pitiful. I need help. Verse 2, 1 Peter 2, 1. Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and all hypocrisies, and envyings, and evil speakings, and newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now look at this, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. So we who are saved have come to, who is the living stone? Christ. Rejected of the builders now, he's a chief caught chief of the cornerstone the cornerstone of what? Oh You're boy, you're so educated. You're so smart. Look at the next verse ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house a Holy there's the word Priesthood to offer up, what's the next two words? Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So Christ is the cornerstone of the church. So what or who makes up the church? We do, all believers. We are living stones. Just as He is a living stone, we are also, same word, we are living stones. Now, because we are part of this superstructure, this body, what are we allowed to do? It says right here. We're able to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Well let's see. What family are we a member of? That's not a trick question. We're a member of God's family. Right? Are we set apart for God's service? All of God's family? Are we consecrated for God's service? So we're allowed as priests, it says it here, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Now I'm going to ask you a question. What can we, as part of this body of believers, what kind of sacrifices can we offer up? Ourselves. Number one, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. There's an interesting verse that Jim Drake pointed out to me one time. I think it's in the book of Exodus. When the Lord is giving all the instructions, or maybe it's in Leviticus, anyway, where the Lord is giving all the instructions about the tabernacle. He makes an interesting statement. There's a small little statement. He says, and whatsoever touches the altar is holy. And whatsoever touches the altar is holy. So let's suppose that we get saved and our life has not been everything it should have been. And there were stains on our character and failures in our life, but we put ourselves on the altar. What happens to us? Because of our being on the altar, we become holy. A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. And that's a reasonable thing to do. So, we as a body can offer ourselves. What else can we do? What other kind of sacrifices can we do? Prayer, how is that a sacrifice? Praise, yes. Hebrews 13, please. Peter go back to the front of the Bible just a little bit the book of Hebrews chapter 13 notice what it says Verse 15 by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually That is the fruit of our lips Giving thanks to his name Does God love the praise of his people and Is God pleased when people praise Him with their lips? It is a sacrifice of praise. Interesting, isn't it? The word sacrifice. You've listened tonight to beautiful music. Did you know these people never, ever practice? They just come together on Sunday and get up and sing. That clarinet group, I mean, you know, they don't ever practice. None of them ever played the clarinet before tonight. They just picked it up and started playing. It's amazing what happens, isn't it? Now you know I made that up. But David said when he started to buy the threshing floor to build an altar and Arun said, I want to give it to you. He said, no, no, I'm not going to take it. He said, I will not offer anything to God that doesn't cost me something. Wow. Isn't that good? so in the hebrews he says that singing or praising verbally that we singing is a sacrifice it also said the lord is well pleased we uh... the the staff and i and i think i'm sure many of you uh... when i leave this place in a while i really love to think i often as i ride home I hope the Lord was pleased today with what he heard here. Do you think he listens to what we do here? Do you think he hears the music? Do you think he pays attention to the sermon? Yeah, I think he does. And it is my desire, honestly, that God would be pleased that when I finish the sermon, I want to walk out of here thinking, Lord, I did the very best I could. I tried to say what you wanted me to say. I did it without fear. I did it the way it should have been done. I mean, the best I can do it. You know what I'm saying? And the music that, everything that we hear, that is why I really believe we have to be so careful about our music. It is so popular today and so acceptable to bring in profane things. Call them holy and to offer them to God and I just don't believe God is pleased He never has been pleased. I mean throughout the Bible. God is not pleased He said when you build an altar to me Now listen carefully what I'm gonna say when you build an altar to me. I Want you to take rough stones and stack them on top of each other and make the altar And you say why? You're a great and glorious God. Let's carve stones and make it beautiful. Let's carve it like, you know." He said, uh-uh, uh-uh. That's what the heathen do. I don't want that altar. I don't want an altar like the heathen have. Can you hear me? In Ezekiel, when the Lord was condemning Israel, they'd become heathen. They lived in Babylon, and they'd become Babylonians. And God said, He indicted the priest, the priest. And He said, you know, you've not taught the people the difference between the clean and the unclean, between the holy and the profane. So there the fault lies with the preachers and with the moms and dads. Is there such a thing as something that's clean? Come on, I'm not trying to trick you. Is there? Someplace in the world there's something called clean. Is there also someplace in the world something called unclean? Can you tell the difference? Is there something, are there things that are holy? Are there things that are profane? Can you tell the difference? Can you teach your children the difference? And really, you know, just an observation, it is becoming fashionable to take that which by any definition is profane. And bring it into the church and call it holy. And offer it to God, because we called it holy. And God said, that doesn't matter what you call it. If it's profane, I don't want to hear it. There's so many verses about that. But the point I'm saying is that God is, there are certain things that please God, and the sacrifice of our lips pleases God. The congregational singing, the music that's played on the instruments. if it's if it's given to god if you know it is it's one thing to do it for our own glory so people will think well of us to show off what we can do is another thing to say lord this is the best i've got and that doesn't preclude artistry doesn't preclude uh... talents and skill but it should preclude pride to offer to god the best we have with you Dare we offer anything else than the best we have. When I stand up here before you, do I dare do anything less than the best I can do? Because one day, God says he's going to hold me accountable for every word. And I believe that, don't you? So, we can offer spiritual sacrifices. We could think of other things we could do. Some people this next week are giving up vacation to go on a mission trip. Is that a spiritual sacrifice, you think? Paying their own way? Giving to help people, as you often do. Reaching out to lost people. All those things are pleasing to God. They are spiritual sacrifices that we make. And it's interesting that usually in a collective sense, we... This living body of believers can offer up living sacrifices to God. What an amazing thing. As I said this morning, God never intended for believers to be lone wolves. Now, we together offer up spiritual sacrifices. The reason that mission boards came into existence in the cooperative program on the Southern Baptist Convention was that people had a burden to reach the lost. and they figured out that a church by itself could not do a great deal to reach the world but if I can get other churches who are like us to join together we can pull our resources and we can send out missionaries so now we're offering by the church spiritual sacrifices the third thing is Can believers intercede on behalf of others? Do we need to pray to a saint? We were in Brazil at a big cathedral and there was a little alcove there that had a little Madonna about that tall. And underneath was a story in Portuguese and English that this little Madonna had mysteriously and miraculously come up from the river. And these two humble fishermen had found this Madonna. And so they took her home and set her up on a shelf and they began to pray to her and good things started happening to them. They became wealthy and things happened the way they wanted them to. And there in that cathedral, there was a little alcove, and she was back in this little thing, and underneath her was a box. And I was looking, rather big box, and I was looking at this box, and there was a little toy car in there. And there was a little doll, like a child would have a little doll in there. And all kinds of little things in there, and I said, what's, what does this mean? And they said, well, we believe that if you pray to the Madonna, And you put a doll in there, you'll get a baby. I told Ellen, please don't put anything in there. Don't want that. You'll get that later. But isn't that sad? Do we pray to a Madonna? Do we pray to St. James or whoever people pray to? Do we do that? But do we pray for each other? Is that a good thing to do? I mean, to intercede. Now, let me ask you, let's go to... Well, let's just cover the bases. Go to 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. This is familiar, but let's just touch base here anyway. 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. In order to reach God, do I need to pray to Saint John Paul? Do I need to pray to Saint Christopher? Do I need to pray to any saint at all? No. Our Father which is in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We can pray directly to God. There is no one Mediator one person between us and God That's the Lord Jesus and he has opened for us Hebrews 10 a new and living way by which we can come in the very presence of God But look if you would Ephesians chapter 6 One of the things you will find in the scriptures When he talks about praying for each other, it's always very specific. And I really urge you, and I've tried to communicate this to you, pray specifically. Don't pray for all the missionaries on the foreign fields. Pray for Graham Thorn, or pray for Andy Bonikowski, or pray for somebody else. And pray for specific needs. Don't just pray in a general way. But look at what it says in Ephesians chapter six. Praying always with all prayer, very open, supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me, that utterance be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. We're commanded to pray for saints, to everybody, always, But then he says, now when you're praying for me, here's what I want you to pray. Pray that I'll be able to speak the gospel. Pray that I'll have boldness. Now he's not saying in the first verse, just pray generally. He's saying, when I pray for you, I need to pray specifically. When I pray for you, you're part of the saints. You're part of the people I pray for. So I need to pray specifically for you and things that you need. But when you pray for me, I just told you a minute ago, as we're going, here's what I ask you to pray for me. Here's where we are as a group. Pray for us. This is what I think we'll have to face. Go back to Romans. You're in Philippians. Go toward the front of the Bible to the book of Romans chapter 1 verse 9. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers, making request, if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come to you." So he's praying for the Roman church. What's he praying? Yeah. He's praying a specific thing. He's not just, oh, Lord, bless the Roman church. He's saying, Lord, help me to be able to go there. I want to go and minister to them to impart to them a spiritual gift, he says later. Specific prayer. Chapter 15, Romans 15, and verse 30. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the love of Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem, which I have for... my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted to the saints. So again, he says, strive together. What does that indicate to you? Huh? Trouble? Struggle work continually pray for me why he named specific things So we can pray for each other we can pray fervently for each other We can be in the place To pray for others and then of course we know last of all and I'm finished with this Let's go to Romans 8 How can we pray for others How can we stand in the place of God and reach out to God for others? How can we beseech the Lord for each other, for one another? And all of us would admit this, that there are times we pray for people we don't know what to pray for. Would that be accurate? More and more I encourage people when I have a chance to talk about it that we ask the Holy Spirit what we should pray for when you're praying for people or situations, Lord. And there's sometimes, again, the situation is so confusing, you're not real sure, but, Lord, teach me how to pray. Now, look at this verse. This is Romans 8, verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. That's weaknesses. The word infirmity means weakness. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh the intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Tell me the picture you see in those two verses. What's happening here? All right, I'm praying for Joel, but I don't know what to pray. I just, I feel burdened to pray for Joel. So, Lord, help Joel. I don't know what to pray for. Now, what's the next step in this picture? What's it say here? All right, so the Holy Spirit knows what Joel needs. Joel, I'm picking on you. Holy Spirit knows what Joel needs. So the Holy Spirit is interceding for Joel on my behalf because I'm praying for him. I'm sincerely praying for him. We don't know what the Holy Spirit does, and he that searcheth the heart knoweth the will of God. So we know that what the Holy Spirit is praying is exactly God's will for him. So even when we don't know what to pray specifically, we can pray when God... And the thing that I think maybe I'm learning at this point in my life is to be a bit more flexible, to pray two things, I think, in my life. To pray when God urges me to pray, even though I don't know what to pray for. When God puts one of you in my heart, some situation I may not totally grasp, but God burdens me for it, to just stop and pray. Don't worry about what's going on, just put down what you're doing and pray. And the second thing I think I'm learning is when God lays on my heart to speak to someone, to do it. To just not give the excuses, not to try to make up some reason I can't, just say something, do something. It's amazing how that opens doors, isn't it? Because God is working and bringing people across our pathways. And if we can just learn how, Lord, would the Lord just, have you ever been prompted to speak to somebody? You know that term, if I said that, would that make sense to you? Where God is saying, say something. And that is what we, the Holy Spirit then is urging us. He is praying for us according to the will of God. So yes, We're a priest in the New Testament sense. We can offer up spiritual sacrifices. We can pray, intercede. We can do the things that God calls us to do. And in heaven, the song of heaven, thou has redeemed us by thy blood from every tongue and nation and hath made us kings and priests of our God. Wow, what an amazing statement that is, isn't it? Father, thank you for the priesthood that we have, not because we're good, not because we deserve it, but because you've appointed us to this exalted position of being part of the right family, being consecrated, being set apart to be that intercessor, to be that one who offers spiritual sacrifices, that one that you're pleased to use to speak through. Lord, make us all that you want us to be. Teach us to not spare anything of ourselves, but to be willing to give ourselves to you to do anything, any place, anywhere, anytime. Use us for your glory in Jesus' name.