Turn in your Bibles, please, to Colossians, Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four, verse two through four. Colossians chapter four, verses two through four. Please pray for one of our fellows that are, I didn't really mention him, you just saw him at the end, he was teaching in the school there. Very in his name is Abraham or Abraham. He in our first church that we started in the suburbs, he came as a bus kid and now he's grown up and then he learned accounting. And while he's at the other church, he was looking. He didn't want to stay in accounting. He didn't want to do that the rest of his life. You want to serve God. So I said, why don't you come and teach in our Christian school, teach math and science? And he's been doing that for several years now. But then he was also attending the Bible Institute in our old church. is graduating this year and now he's going to be a pastor. And we praise God for that. Only I'm missing, I'm going to be losing my science and math teacher. So pray to God that gives us a new teacher for the high school because I really don't want to be doing that. I've got a few other things I could be doing besides that. So pray that God provides somebody. If you know anyone who knows math, science, and Spanish, we'd love to talk to them. So just pray for that as well. Colossians chapter four, and we're going to look at verses two through four. It says here, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would use this message, God, to stir us up in this area of praying for missions. God, there's so much that we could pray for, and I'd like to just mention some things that are needful on the mission field to pray for. God, I pray that you would just stir us up, Lord. Many times, people may think that just because they're giving, they've done all that they should do. But God, there's so much more that needs to be done, and it's done through prayer. And Lord, I pray that just We would be challenged about that today, and Lord, challenged about some things to be praying for on the mission, for the mission field. And Lord, I pray that you just use this message. God, give me words to say. Lord, quiet our hearts. Help us to be able to pay attention to what you have for us, God, and that you stir our hearts. Lord, I pray that you speak through me. Give me power. I pray these things in your name. Amen. There was a man named A.J. Gordon. Dr. A.J. Gordon was a pastor of a church in Boston, Massachusetts in the 19th century. He was a well-known preacher. D.L. Moody would have him come and preach in his North Hill Conference a lot. And he also started a Bible college. It's still there in Gordon College, there in Massachusetts. He started it to train missionaries to go to the Congo. So he had a missionary heart. He was a prolific writer, but above all, he was a man of prayer. And he wrote these words one day, prayerless giving will never evangelize the world. Just think about what that's saying. Prayerless giving will never evangelize the world. It's good to give for missions, and give to missions, but we need not only to give, but we also need to pray. You could put us on the field, but if we don't have prayer behind us, empowering us, then all that we will do will be in vain. Paul, the missionary, was writing the church in Colossus, and he was urging them to pray that God would open a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. Now, what I like here is what it says Three, there are two words here that get me excited because it says, with all praying also for us. That word us. that God would open unto us a door of utterance. Paul wasn't just asking for prayers for himself, he was asking for prayers for his entire team of missionaries that worked with him. And by extension, I believe he was telling churches to pray for all the missionaries of all time, everywhere, throughout the centuries, even today. God wants us to be praying for missions and praying for missionaries. Today, I want us to look at tonight three doors in respect to missions for which we should be praying. You know, God is the one that we're praying to. God can open doors, amen? And God can shut doors. And we need to remember to whom we are praying. Before I look at these doors, I want us to remember to whom we're praying. So let's go to Revelation 3, verse 7, and be reminded to whom we're praying. It says here in Revelation 3, verse 7, And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These sayings saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. I praise God that God can open doors. You know, sometimes it seems like that the gates of hell are shut tight, amen? And God wants us to reach the captives that are behind those gates. God wants us to establish beach, as I call churches, beachheads in the territory of Satan. And God has set up this beachhead here, amen? A Cazadel Baptist Temple to reach this area, Goshen area, for the Lord. I'm thankful for that. But that's basically what we're doing. But it seems time seems like sometimes In the ministry, it seems like Satan has those Gates shut tight, doesn't he? Now remember, you know, we hear that verse that Jesus established a church. He built the church. He said he would build this church and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Many times people think that's speaking of how we're like a refuge, we're like a fortress and the gates of hell can't come in. But that is not what he was saying. What he was saying is the church is on the offense and the church should be able to, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church as the church advances into the, and charges into hell to reach people, not hell literally, but I think you know what I'm talking about, but people are living lives, they're living hell on this earth, literally. And we know, we can see, well we know all about that. But God, and Satan has them captive, but God wants us to reach to those souls that are behind those gates and reach them, and pull them into liberty in Christ, who have been captive at Satan's will. But it seems, like I said, those doors are shut tight, but God can open up any door. He can bust those doors wide open. In fact, that's one of the doors I want us to look at that God did bust open. That's the effectual door. The first door I want us to look at is the effectual door. We see that in 2 Corinthians 16. The first door for which we need to pray for is what I call the door of opportunity, the effectual door. Second Corinthians chapter 16, and we'll look at verse eight. It says here in Second Corinthians, whoa, First Corinthians, First Corinthians, sorry about that. First Corinthians chapter 16 verse eight says, but I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. Now he's right in the church of Corinth, And he's in Ephesus, and he's saying, I'd like to go to you, but, he says, there's a great door and effectual open unto me, and there are many adversaries. So I want us to look at what that great and effectual door is that he was speaking about here. Now the word great comes from the word mega. The word effectual comes from the word erneges, which means energy or great power, but also has the ideal of producing a desired effect, like effectual prayer. It's producing a desired effect like a machine. When it's efficient, it produces a desired effect. You can measure the efficiency of a machine by how much it's accomplishing the desire or the reason for which it was built. And that's what it means by effectual, accomplishing a desire that has been set forth and completing that desire. Now let's look at this door that was opened. You'll have to go to Acts 19 to see it. So let's go to Acts 19 and we'll describe what door was opened up for Paul here that he mentioned in 1 Corinthians. We see it in Acts chapter 19, if you want to look at verse 8. See Paul coming to Ephesus, and like he usually did, he went to the synagogue. The Bible says he went into the synagogue in verse 8, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. And when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil the way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus." Now I want us to look what happened when Paul came to Ephesus. And it's something that happens many times when churches are started, whether they're in the States or in Mexico City. There's opposition. Satan doesn't want us entering into his territory. And so he has a way of hardening the people. He has a way of making sure that people don't believe. People spoke evil away here when Paul came to Ephesus. And it seems like that happens when we start churches. Amen. We know about that. Anyone in the ministry knows that people's hearts can get hardened. It seems like they're harder now than ever before. I remember back in the 80s, maybe Pastor Burke remembers when we were younger men. We'd go out so winning it seemed like wow when we go out I remember teens so winning we'd see people we'd be able to come back sit talking about this person We got to talk to this other person we got to talk to and maybe people in fact We will many times talk about people that we saw saved not so in the 21st century. It's not so easy Is it people hearts are hard and they don't even want to open up the door? we're happy if someone we can get a check into someone sometimes amen, but uh why because Satan has people hardened today and And he did. And that was how it was in the day of Ephesus. People were hardened. People then weren't believing. People were even speaking evil away. You know, that's something for us to hard to understand, Pastor Burke, right, that people would speak evil of Cozido Baptist Temple. We're just trying to love people. We're just trying to help people. I don't know about you, but I'm sure everyone in Goshen appreciates Cozido Baptist Church. No, that's not that way. I know that's not that way in Mexico City. When we started the church there, when we bought our property, we had some friendly neighbors. I remember the first time, not too long after we were there, our neighbors were saying that we weren't zoned to be there. I remember having to go into government and battle with the government and prove that we were zoned to be there, and we were zoned to be there. And then, I mean, the zoning was for a church, a church could meet there. And then they tried to get us on a city ordinance saying that we were too loud. They complained that we were too loud. Oh, that was easy to prove that we weren't too loud. We weren't anything like that. Pentecostal churches around the corner with all their scandal and everything. So that was pretty easy to prove But what I'm saying is there's opposition they spoke evil the way I mean, that's what happened here It's common Satan isn't happy when someone comes to try to see people say But I want us to look at what was going on here divers were hardened people were not believing People spoke evil the way but in spite of that the Bible says in verse 10 this continues by the space of two years It wasn't easy at the beginning But the Bible says that all they which dwelt in Asia in this time heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And what I want us to look at, and it doesn't say here that all were saved, does it? It said that all heard the gospel. In spite of the opposition, in spite of people speaking evil away, Paul made sure that everyone heard the gospel, not just in Ephesus, but the whole province around Ephesus heard the gospel. And that's our job to do. You know, it's going to be hard. People aren't going to all want to get saved, but that shouldn't keep us from making sure that everyone hears the gospel. That's why we have this tract ministry here. That's why we have the knocking of the doors. That's why they're trying to start a new church there in Mason, is it over there? Trying to reach the Russians anyhow. Our job is to make sure that everyone hears. I remember when we came to Mexico City, one of the first messages I preached is that we're going to make sure that everyone in this delegation hears the gospel. We don't want the blood of anyone on our hands. I said, we're going to try to cover this delegation like butter on toast. We're going to make sure that everyone hears the gospel. Remember where it says in Acts that the whole Jerusalem heard the gospel. It was filled with the doctrine of Christ. And I said, we're going to make sure that happens. We've already done that one time. All the streets of those 400,000 people have had someone come to their door and knock their door, unless it's an apartment building that we couldn't get into. We made sure that everyone heard the gospel. Now we've done it a second time. We're almost done for the second time. It took us 13 years the first time, and it's only taken us about five years the second time. You know, when we have more soul winners, it's a lot easier. But what I'm saying is we need to make sure that everyone hears the gospel in spite of the opposition. And you know what? God sees that. And we may think we're not getting much accomplished, but God sees it. And sooner or later, He's going to bless. And that's what happened here, verse 17. And this was known to all the Jews. Something happened. In the middle of all this opposition, they kept on at it for two years. And then suddenly, the Bible says, there was something that happened. Some unsaved people tried to exorcise the devil out of somebody. And the Bible says in verse 16 that it didn't go well for them. They fled out of the house naked and wounded. Then verse 17 it says and this was known to all the Jews and Greeks Also dwelling in Ephesus and then in the midst of all this with the opposition that was taking place Suddenly God did something fear fell on them All the name of the Lord was magnified and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds There was a revival took place the Word of God was magnified People were believing, people confessed their sins, people that were hardened before, suddenly they were believing, they were trusting Christ as their Savior, they were repenting of their sins. Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together, burned them before all men. I just remember back in the 80s as well, we had in those youth conferences, I remember we had the record burnings. Some of you kids don't know what I'm talking about. They used to have things called vinyl records. And they would burn these vinyl records, you know, all the rock music and things. I don't know what they'd be today, MP3 burnings or MP4 burnings or what they'd have today. But that's what happened here. Revival took place. People repented their sin. They burned their books on white magic and things like that, black magic. And verse 20 says, So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. We just talked about that, didn't we? That the gates of hell shall not prevail. against the church, and that's what happened here. But I want us to ask, why did that happen? What was behind that, that suddenly these doors were open and people got saved? Well, it was a door of opportunity. It was an effectual door that God opened. God has to do it. I remember when we started our church in Mexico, we came to that area. I was in the Marines for six years, and I have a heart for the military. And so I was looking at where God would have me go next after the church there in the suburbs. And God just showed me this area of Mexico City is right across the highway from the largest military base in Mexico. It's a Mexican military base. And then right next to it is what's called like the Pentagon of Mexico. In fact, when we started our church, we started a school right next to a major highway that goes all the way up to the States. In fact, we're right, we're still right next, we're right behind a Walmart that runs, and the Walmart's right in front of the, It goes right along the major highway that goes up to the states. But we were meeting in a school building, and in the back of the school building was a classroom. That's where we met. And the window that was in back of my pulpit was the lawn of the Air Force headquarters. And so we were right there. And so we passed out 20,000 flyers, and a lot of them came into the hands of officers of the military. But none of them went into the hands of the enlisted men, because they all lived on a base, and we couldn't get on the base. The off-base housing, there's like a little city for officers. They have their own school and their own facilities and things like that. They have their own little mall and things. And so we could get on there. And so we had officers come to our church when we first started. We had majors and colonels and captains, but we didn't have any enlisted men. And then we started having a general attend our church. And I said to the general, he started bringing chauffeur to our church sergeant. And I said, what if we what if you the chauffeur drove us on the base? Could we do that? And so he I was in his office and he had another general come into his office and say this general was in charge of the whole base housing. He said, what do you think? Could that be possible? He said, yeah, we could do that. We'll let him do that. And so we were able to get on base. We went by the administration building. They said, yeah, we know you're here. That's OK. You can go and pass pass out the tracks. and the flyers, and so we started doing that. And suddenly, a convoy of military trucks came up, and the soldiers got out and rounded us all up and said, you're gonna have to get off the property. It looked like the door was shut. We had the permission of the general, but we didn't have the, but the commandant of the whole base didn't know about it, and he got all upset. And in fact, the general almost went to jail over it, and that's what he told me anyhow. But it looked like the door was shut. But praise God, like you saw in the video presentation, One of the enlisted men received that track. He had he in fact, he was a he was a pastor's son from Chiapas, but he had gotten away from the Lord, married an unsafe wife and joined the army and things. And he got that track. He started coming to our church. And then his wife got saved. And then his kids got saved. And Gabriella, I remember when she was only 10 years old, had teeth missing and everything like back in those days. But she started inviting her friends for VBS. And that's how the military ministry started. The family started coming. Now we have a military Around we've had it for years now We've had for eight years and now they can knock on all the doors that they want there The door was shut, but now the door is wide open. Amen. God can open up doors I believe God's gonna open a door to the Russian community. We pray God will open up that door as well He's already doing it. But you know churches are like beachheads like I said, but then we go out on patrol and we start patrol and we start ministries like the ministry, different ministries here that, you know, starting new churches here and the Russian ministry and the track ministry. All those are ways of probing at the seeing of there's a chink in the armor of Satan, where there's a opening, a weakness in his lines. And that's what we need to be doing and praying. And then God can open up those doors. Amen. That's what Paul was doing here. Although there is opposition, he's going to do we're going to do what we need to do. And that's what we need to do. And God will open up the doors. But we need to be praying for that. That's why I want us to go and see. You know that word, effectual? That word, effectual, we see in another part in the Scriptures. Look in James chapter 5. Why was it that God suddenly opened up that door? What happened? Well, I believe it's because people were praying, and we'll get to that in a second. Look what it says here in 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. Remember what I said, fervent prayer, but also effectual prayer. That comes from the word energes, that means accomplishing a desire, a desire effect. being accomplished. What was the effect? What was the desire? The desire, I believe, was the desire to see souls saved. That was expressed through prayer. People were praying, and that's why that door, effectual door, was open. The effectual has the ideal as well as something specific. Someone has a specific desire, and then there's an effect. The effect is accomplished. A desired effect is accomplished. That's what effectual means. Just like when someone builds a little machine, whatever it is, they have a desire, they want certain things to happen with that machine that the machine does. And we need to be praying that certain things happen. That's effectual prayer. And so we need to pray, not just general prayer, be with Pastor Burke, be with Cazadel Baptist Temple, be with Brother Clint down in Mexico. Well, God's gonna be with Brother Burke, Pastor Burke, and he's gonna be with our church, and he's gonna be with Brother Rairdon, but we need to pray for specific things and God will do specific things But where was it? How what happened here? Why did this suddenly happen? Well turn with me to 2nd Thessalonians, and we'll see why that door was open. I believe it was because people were praying Look what it says here in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 1 Now before Paul penned these words that we're going to read in a moment Paul was in Corinth. After he wrote this letter to the Thessalonians, he went on a survey trip. He went to Ephesus. He's on his way to Jerusalem. He stopped by Ephesus and preached there a little bit, and some people wanted him to return. He said, no, I gotta go to Jerusalem. He goes to Jerusalem, and then from Jerusalem, he works his way through Asia Minor, through Antioch and Asia Minor, and comes back to Ephesus. That was a few months after this was penned. Look what he penned here in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 1. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. Remember how in Acts it was magnified, the word of God was magnified and prevailed? Free course and be glorified even as it is with you." So just within months or months before he came to Ephesus, he had some people praying for him, amen? He had the Church of Thessalonica praying for him. He had other churches that he had written letters to praying for them. And that's why the doors were open, because people were praying for them. I believe with all my heart, the effectual prayer was prayed and the effectual door was opened. Oh, we need to be praying that doors be opened. the doors of opportunity. Then we see another door here on the mission field, the door of utterance that's in our text. Let's go back to our text, Colossians chapter four. Remember what he said in verse three. with all praying also for us, that God would open to us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ. And you may say, well, what is the door of utterance? What does utterance mean? That's a strange word. Well, if you look at the rest, you'll sort of get an idea of what it's talking about. It says, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. And so it's not just to speak in conversational tones, it's to speak with power. It's to speak with boldness, and we'll see that in a moment in another verse. But that word, utterance, is used several times in the New Testament. One of the first times it's used, in fact, the very first time it's used in Acts 2-4, it comes from the Greek word apophos. which means to speak with an elevated and dignified discourse. It's not just regular speaking. It's speaking with an elevated and dignified discourse. It's speaking forth. It's speaking with power. And isn't that what they did when they came out in Acts 2.4? came out of the upper room, what were they doing? The Bible said they were given utterance, they spoke as they were given utterance, they spoke with power, they spoke with boldness. It's the same word apathagamai that's used in verse 14 when Peter got up and he spoke and 3,000 people were saved. The same apathagamai, that same Greek word is used when Paul is speaking before Agrippa. Remember what happens when Agrippa, he heard the gospel, he was convicted, he said, almost thou hast persuaded me to become a Christian. It's speaking with boldness and with power. It's with the words of grace and authority. Like when Jesus came to Nazareth, what happened? The Bible says that they were marveled that he spoke with gracious words. He spoke with power and authority. Now, remember what he was doing. What was he doing right before he came to Nazareth? He was praying. Remember, he was fasting for 40 days. I imagine he was praying for 40 days. With that fasting, you usually don't fast unless you're praying. But God answered his prayer. He comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, and he speaks with gracious words, powerful words. We see that in the book of Acts. We see the utterance as a result of prayer in Acts chapter 4. Go with me to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. In Acts chapter 4, John and Peter have been preaching, and they're threatened by the authorities They go back to the congregation. They don't have a pity party. They have a prayer party. It's a better way to react to opposition. They start praying in verse 29. And now, Lord, behold, there are threatenings. And grant unto thy servants protection from threats. Is that what it says? Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. Isn't that what we saw before? By stretching forth thine hands to heal. And then it says in verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they all speak the word of God with boldness. Why? Because they prayed and God answered their prayer. And they went out believing that God had answered their prayer. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and they went out with boldness. And it says in verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace upon them all. Now power great power it says was given to the Apostles but then it says great grace was given upon all of them all of them that had Congregated there and that's that had left out of that room speaking with boldness That means and not just Apostle that means the members of the church. Amen. That means I think the men I mean, I believe that means the women I believe the people that were in that prayer meeting they came out and they were preaching with boldness And God wants us to do the same thing He wants to give us utterance. He wants to give the youngest person here utterance. He wants to give the oldest person here utterance. He wants to give it to young men. He wants to give it to young women. He wants to give us power. I believe with all my heart. We need to be praying not just for missionaries and evangelists. We need to be praying for the people in our churches. We need to be praying for the people in the missionary churches. You know, I can't reach 400,000 people. I've already found that out. I can't reach 22 million people. I can't even reach 400,000 people. My wife can't do it. My kids, we couldn't do it. We need to have people that do it. And that's why we have a church. Amen. That's why we establish churches. That's why we train people. That's why we see them grow in the Lord so that they can do what I can't do. I can only do my part. But that's why we have an army of people that are going out. And that's what we need in every church. Amen. And that's why you need to be praying for boldness and utterance on the mission field, that not just us, but all of our people in our churches have that utterance. Turn with me please to Ephesians chapter six. Paul again is asking for prayer. Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. Another prayer request of his. Ephesians chapter six. It says in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. We're not only supposed to pray for preachers, we're supposed to pray for all saints, amen? The ones that you heard about today, those people that attend that church in England, pray that they may have power to reach their fellow Englishmen, amen? Those that are in India, and God's doing a work in India. God's going to work among people in India. People are literally dying for the gospel in India. They have those Hindu radicals. And there's men that are taking a stand in India, Indians. We need to be praying for them, praying that God will give them power to preach the gospel to their own people. Verse 19, and for me, he said, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth Boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. So that's how we know that this word the word here is in a pathogamy It's I have to be honest with me It's log us but it's still saying the same thing preaching the word with power with boldness verse 20 and for which I am an ambassador in bonds and there and I may Speak boldly as they ought to speak That's what he meant in Colossians when he said to speak as we ought to speak. I need to pray for that I thankful I'm thankful that in our church We have people that preach with boldness. They're in Mexico. And that's what we need to be praying for. It's not just the missionary, it's for the people. And next time when you think about Liberty Baptist Church in Mexico, don't just think of Pastor Clint. Think of the men and women there and pray that they would be given boldness. Might be able to reach her neighbors and her friends and their and people that they work with and they're doing that, but they're doing it, I believe with all my heart, the reason why we have had so much success, people say, Pastor, Brother Reardon, Senior Prayer Leader, you always got something going on, you always got something to be talking about, but it's because of you and your prayers, I believe with all my heart, because you're praying for us. Last of all, the third door I want us to look at, we're gonna look at it real quick, it's called, what I call the quaking door, the quaking door. A door of Christ is thrown with me in Matthew 9. We see Jesus prays here, has a prayer request as well for the mission field. He prays for laborers. In verse 35, we see Him going from city to village, from one city to the next, village to another village, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. I can imagine Him with weary feet. Throat weary as well. He's doing it all himself. And at that time, he was. John the Baptist was in jail. The disciples were just that. They were only disciples. They weren't apostles yet. He was doing it all. And he, verse 6, saw the multitude, was moved with compassion, because they were fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. And then he lifts up his voice and says to the disciples, a harvest truly is plenteous. But the labors are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labors in the harvest. He saw there were so few, at that time he was the only one. A lot of times we felt like that on the mission field as well. So few of us. Mexico City, 22 million people. Nacalpan, right across the highway, the suburb of 814,000 people. You saw at the end of my presentation, I'm standing on a hillside in the background. You couldn't see it that well. I wish you could see it because it's a ridge of tens of thousands of homes that go for miles and miles and miles. Then there's a dip, and then there's another ridge of tens of thousands of homes that go for miles and miles. Those homes, they haven't even, most of them are gray still. They've never even bothered to paint them yet. They're just, you know, ramshackle homes they just put up with, you know, brick and mortar, and they just put them up. You know, their own homes and, you know, they put cardboard over the top or they put, you know, lamina, which is not even a roof. It's not a cement roof or anything over it just to keep the rain out. But then there's another dip and there's tens of, three, four ridges of miles and miles long of homes on the hillside. Tens of thousands of people, that's where we have our bus routes. And I go through those bus routes, and I visit the people on those routes, and we knock doors, and we see the people on the street, and we see the young kids there, and the teenagers there, completely lost. And not just lost going to hell, but their lives completely lost, standing in front of their schools. And we see multitudes fainted. Fainting under the problems in their lives that they have many of their own creation because of sin. Fainting under the guilt of sin. Scattered abroad, which has the ideal of looking for answers and not finding them anywhere. Because the only way you can find them is in Christ. Lost. Lost because they don't have a shepherd, the Bible says. Lost because there's no one to tell them and guide them. Like the Bible says, my people are destroyed. And that's how I see as many of these families there in Acapulco, destroyed! Because of lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge that we as Christians have. We enjoy good homes. Why? Because we know how to have a good home. They have nothing! No way to show them how they can have peace! And have eternal life and forgiveness! And escape from that awful hell. We have it right here. So few. So few for so many. Back in 1950, there were eight, there were four, I'm sorry, there were four billion people on this earth. You know how many were leaving the shores of the states? 100,000 missionaries. Many of them Catholics. That's just all, everyone all put together. 100,000. Now 70 years later, we have eight billion people, twice as many. You know how many missionaries there are altogether, and that's counting the Catholics and everyone leaving the shores of the United States? Only 29,000. One third of what we had, 70 years ago, with twice as many people to reach. The laborers are few. Oh, but we say, the Lord of the harvest, is He not sending out? Yes, He wants to send out. But we need to pray. You know what that word there, pray, means? Beg! When's the last time you begged God that God would send out laborers? Sometimes we're afraid because maybe God will send us. We need to be praying, and who are the ones that, God, do you think, now God can call 60-year-old men, and God has done that, 50-year-old men. I know a couple that are from my friends that are going out. Brother Zdarsky, Pastor Armacost, amen. Praise God for them, but I think God wants to send some young people that have their whole life ahead of us. But why isn't God sending out more? Is God not sending them? No, because there needs to be what I call a quaking door experience. And let's look at that real quick, and I want to finish. Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1. Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1. The Bible says here in verse 1, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw, I'm sorry, that's in verse 1. Let's go to 6, 1. They almost begin the same, don't they? In the year that the king Uzziah, I'm sorry, 6, 1, are you there? In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Isaiah saw the Lord. I want you to remember that. Isaiah saw the Lord. And he saw Him high and lifted up. He saw a train filling the temple. He saw a seraphim. If we were there and saw a seraphim, if a seraphim appeared right now, we'd run out the doors in fear. Well, these same seraphim Before which, if we saw them, we'd be running out the door, we'd be in fear and cowering. They cower as they see the glory of God. They have their faces hidden with two hands, two wings. They cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Then it says in verse 4, the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried. And this is the voice of them crying one to another. This is another voice, I believe. And the house is filled with smoke with the Shekinah glory of God. The posts of the doors move. Quaking door experience here. And we see the response of Isaiah seeing the Lord. He says, Woe is me! For I am an undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He had a quaking door experience. He saw the Lord as He really was. And He really is. And He was undone. He saw His sin. The first response that we see here is awe and reverence. And then we see a humility. I'm a sinner. Just like Peter, remember? He saw it. He saw the power of God as those fish were gathered together there on the shore of Galilee. And when he saw it, he was astonished and fell before his Lord and said, depart from me. I am unclean. I am a sinner. Depart from me. He saw the holiness of God. That is what's missing among our young people. And that's something we need to pray for. A quaking door experience. Young people see God as He really is. I believe many aren't. Maybe they're distracted from smartphones or who knows what. You know what? Pastor Burke can be preaching, he can preach, and he can preach about surrendering. That's the third thing that he did. This man surrendered, just like Peter surrendered and followed God and became a fisherman, just like Moses when he saw the burning bush. He saw the burning bush, and when he saw it, that's when he took off his shoes in awe and reverence, that's when he hid his face in humility, and that's when he later went and did what God wanted him to do. because he saw the Lord. But remember, he saw the Lord from a distance. He saw a burning bush. A lot of young people see God from afar, but they're not willing to get close to God. That's when God could deal with them. Oh, we need to pray that our young people have a quaking door experience. And this is what I'm saying. Pastor can preach and preach and preach. I can come up here. Missionaries can come up here. But it's God that has to do it! It's God that has to do it among our young people. Oh, we need to be begging God that he send for our young people, that he gives them a quaking door experience where they react with awe and reverence before a holy God, an almighty God, that they have some humility and say, here am I, Lord, send this wicked sinner to do your will. We need to be praying for an open door. And I want to finish just by saying that we need to just pray. He said continue in prayer. Not just make it a light thing and just say, okay, we'll pray. You know what? Pastor Aaron's right. We're going to pray. And then forget about it. It says, continue in prayer. Continue in prayer. Make it something. Pray definitely. Pray daily. Pray for specific things. I want to finish with a story and a statement. Some years ago, the record of a wonderful work of grace in connection with one of the stations of the China Inland Mission attracted a good deal of attention. Now this China Inland Mission is a mission of several missionaries in China back in the 19th century. Hudson Taylor headed it up. But they said there was a record of a wonderful work of grace in one of those stations. Both the number and spiritual character of the converts had been far greater than at other stations or at other preaching points where the consecration of the missionaries had been just as great at the more fruitful place. And so he was saying, There were many missionaries that were just as consecrated as these missionaries where God was doing a great work, people were getting saved. The spiritual character was even far greater among these converts than these other places. When I think about that, I think about our church there in Mexico. Why has God blessed our church? I know missionaries that are in Mexico that are just, you know, they're just as consecrated as I am. Why God is blessing our church more than others? Well, I think you'll see the reason in a minute if I just read the rest of this narration here. This rich harvest of souls remained a mystery until Hudson Taylor, on a visit to England, discovered the secret. At the close of one of his addresses, a gentleman came forward to make his acquaintance. In the conversation which followed, Mr. Taylor was surprised at the accurate knowledge the man possessed concerning this inland China station. How is it, Mr. Taylor asked, that you are so conversant? Or how is it that you know so much about the conditions of that work? Oh, he replied, the missionary there and I are old college mates. Praise God for old college mates. For years, we have regularly, regularly corresponded. He has sent me names of inquirers and converts, and these I have taken daily to God in prayer. At last, the secret was found. A praying man at home, praying definitely, praying daily for specific, remember, effectual prayer, specific cases among the heathen. This is the real intercessory missionary. And that is what we need on the mission field. Intercessory missionaries that will pray with fervor, we'll pray with definition and specifically. That's why we have these, you know, the prayer letters are there for a reason. Usually there's a list of things we're praying for. Take that list, pray for them. Maybe you'll pick a missionary and say, this is going to be my missionary that I'm going to pray for. Pray specifically for him. I want to finish with a quote of James Gilmore, a missionary to Mongolia. He said, my creed leads me to think that prayer is efficacious. There's that word, effectual, again, efficacious. And surely a day's asking God to overrule all events for good is not lost. Surely a day in prayer is not lost, amen? But many times we're tempted to think that would be a day lost. When I got so much to do, I got work I gotta get accomplished. Still, and that's what he says here, still there is a great feeling that when a man is praying, he's doing nothing. And don't we feel that way sometimes? The devil gets us to feel that way. You know, I'm not really, you know, OK, God, I'm going to give you five minutes, OK? You know, that's all the time I've got. I got things to do. And this feeling makes us give undue importance to work, not saying that work isn't important, but we give undue importance to work. Like, you know, I've got to get I got to get something. I got to go and do something. I can't just be sitting here praying sometimes even to their hurrying over, even to the neglect of prayer. Isn't that our problem? We don't pray like we ought to pray because we're convinced that we're not getting anything accomplished. And it's just the opposite. We're getting great things accomplished when we're praying. Do not we rest in our day too much in the arm of flesh? Cannot the same wonders be done now as of old? Oh, yes, they can. We just need to change our ideal about prayer and pray like they did of old. Do not the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth still to show himself strong on behalf of those who put their trust in him? Oh, he sure does. Oh, that God would give us more practical faith in him. Where is now the Lord God of Elijah? He is waiting for Elijah to call on him. Remember that story? Where is the Lord God Elijah? Elijah takes that mantle and he strikes the river of Jordan, it opens up and he says, where is the Lord God Elijah? The thing is the Lord God Elijah is right here. What we need are the Elijah's that will pray for Elijah. Pray like Elijah, fervently, earnestly. We do that, I believe it could change the dynamic of several ministries on the mission field. Several that you support right here.