in my life. As I said, when I went to the worship service that Sunday morning, I knew there would be an invitation. Our minister had been there over 20 years and had never had this type of service. And I can remember my emotional reactions at that time. And I believe I'm just now really understanding what had happened on that day when I accepted Christ into my life. I've seen changes in my life. It's not a, I have to attend church thing now. I know what it is I want when I attend church. I want to learn more of the Christ that lives within my life, who came in on that day. And this is the thing I'd like to share with you, the fact that there is a miracle that can happen now. God does reside within our bodies and will just allow him to come into our hearts. Thank you, Jeff, very much. And we're coming to know each other in Christ here, too, at this time. So this is good news for all the way around. The other person that I wanted particularly to share with you this morning is a person who's on staff here with us. She was born and reared in Greeley, Colorado. She went to college back east at Geneva College. She's a teacher in elementary education. I first met her at a conference out in the Rocky Mountains. The second time I can remember seeing her, and probably there were some other times when we met in between, but I can't remember them, was in our camper over in Scotland when she had been touring in Europe and we were living over there at the time. She came in and we were eating together in those small quarters on one of the hillsides over there. Last summer she was involved in the training program of the Navigators out in Maranatha, Nebraska. She's been teaching She's in the Air Force Academy, not with the cadets, but she goes with the people there. It's a professional education. She's been living in one of the navigator girls' apartments in Colorado Springs. to Indianapolis. So let me commend to you particularly this lady, because we will be seeing more of her throughout the year. And this I introduce to you, Gwen Elliott. Gwen, if you can ride on up here, please, and share. We're interested in knowing what Christ has done in your life. Thank you, and it's a real pleasure to be able to share with you what Christ did next. Because several years ago, I'm sure this wouldn't have been possible because I just wouldn't have known exactly what Christ really did. was, I just really couldn't put it into words. So let me go back just a little bit and share. And I think I had the same with Paul as he was before Agrippa, that my manner of life for my youth was among the church group. And those who knew me way back in the beginning, they would testify that after the most straightest act of the Reformed Presbyterian Assignment, one of them, really, did a very particular that we would keep all the rules and regulations. And I was very particular not to do the do not. which we had quite a few. And yet, I can remember such an empty feeling. It was just as hard as this. Every week, just going to church, in the morning, at night, and then on Wednesday nights, just going, just this sort of activity. And as I look back, I just marvel at how, in a sense, I realized this was the way, and yet there was no satisfaction. And so with some of the other trainees, I wanted to say that it was at summer conferences that I really began to face what this was all about. No one had ever mentioned anything about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I thought it was always wrapped up in membership of the church. Because I'd done this along with everybody else my age, when I was 12, you know, that was sort of the time to do all this. It was at the conferences that I began to think there was something more to this than what I had seen. Yet I wasn't willing to give in nor to do what I heard. And so I, shall we say, put it off for a while. And then when you get back home, then pretty soon, everything else goes on as it has. And that's what happened to me. But God had a better plan in mind, and so I did plan to go to Geneva College. And it was here that I really encountered Jesus Christ, that I saw him living in life. This is where I really began to take note of things that were different from what I had seen. Jesus Christ was only someone we talked about at church at home. But here I saw an everyday kind of thing. And I was really drawn to it. And as I look back now, it has been pointed out, it seems so clear to me now that in John 1, 12, that as many as received him, to them gave power to become children of God. And I didn't realize that Jesus Christ was a gift. And just putting it in a little illustration, a gift is not really yours. They can wrap it up and make it beautiful, and they can sit it over here on the shelf and talk about it, but that gift still is just a gift. until you actually take it into your hands and receive it, and it becomes a part. And that's the little link that evidently was missing, was that I never really realized that this was a step. And so it was during these years that I really began to grow and love him, and to really desire to do something with my life. But this all came to a close, and after college, I went back to my home to teach. And it was there that I got wrapped up in Shogunate Church activities, the program. And there again, I was willing and wanted to go forth and to do, but I realized something else just wasn't quite there. And I was hungry to know more of something that evidently I didn't know. And when in the 10th chapter of John Christ said that I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly, this is what I was missing. I really didn't have any abundant life. And so a few years later, My sister and I moved to Colorado Springs where we had gotten in touch with caribou and navigated down there. And just in becoming friends with caribou, we realized there was something in those lives of practically every single one of them we knew had a vital touch. And this is what I really kind of wanted. But again, didn't know how to really get it. Now, we were involved in Bible studies for several years, and I can look back now and see that each of these steps are all important and are little parts of the growing process, slow as it was. But then it was a couple of years ago when I got into one that the Word of God really began to take hold and fruit. And I began to see the relationship that this was the food. that I was lacking, that I was so involved in programs and activities that it was the word that I just really didn't have enough of. And so it was through these various people and their loving way of sharing the word But I became interested in really wanting to get into the word because this is where I saw fruit being born in their lives. Think of an illustration that Lin-Roy Iams has used fairly often, because this is kind of what probably happened to me. He said, in real life, when a baby is born into the family, we don't take the baby and put it in a basket and stack up several bottles with it and say, you know, we hope you grow up. But that food is given in love, and a spiritual baby And so I'm looking forward very much to, and really am thankful for the opportunity to share what I do have in being here and growing some more this coming year. So in closing, I just would like to share what Christ really means now, which is the complete opposite of what I would have said a few years ago. The fact that I am crucified with Christ But nevertheless I live, and yet it's not I, but Christ is living in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh is lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave his life for me. Thank you very much, Gwen. And Gwen is working on staff with the Bureau of Care. I want to introduce the trainees to you, and I want you actually to see them, because these are the men and the women for whom you have been praying for some time, and for whom we especially wanted to ask that you would be praying. In the four weeks immediately ahead, they're all living here in the house. And I think this is a good group of men and women, a group of men and women that God will be working through. Ray Joseph is another man who's on staff with me here. He's out in Lafayette. I owe him a word to the friends up in Lafayette this morning, and so therefore could not be here. Ron, hold on. Ron, could you come on up, please? And those of you who are sitting on the ends, you may have to translate. I don't know if that's a good one or actually a good one. Carolyn, could you come up to your husband, please? Ron is living with me here. Ron and Carolyn, Ron finished his graduate work at Indiana University a few years back, or a year and a half or so, so he's a student now, and they're now living in Pittsburgh. Next is Barney Ford. Barney, Barney's from the University of Evansville. He was here with us last year, and he's helping us on the staff today. Larry and Paul. Larry is from out in the area of Kansas University. He came from Iowa or else Kansas. Larry was also here with us last year and is helping us this year. The only person that we had working with the girls last year, and Dottie is particularly keen on taking the Bible studies with the girls. Dottie came to us indirectly from Hong Kong Harbor. At least she was on the China boat mission that was over there, and then God has blessed her with this blessing and using her ministry down in Bloomington. And she left three people in the house that I left down there the other day. And the two of them were orientals. And if you want to check out Dali, as far as her Chinese memorization of scriptures concerned, well, you can do that at any time, because she stays confident in that field. Let's see who else do we have here. Gwen, would you come back up and stand for Dali over here, please? Alice Jones is also helping the girls on the staff, and Alice is not here just now. She's also up with Ray. Lee Bittner, Lee from Pittsburgh, and his family lives on the north side of Pittsburgh. I believe that's right, isn't it? North Hills, that's north side, yes. And John Foreman. John comes in directly from Kansas, and Tom Foreman. And these two are brothers, that's why they have the same last name, John. And I'm embarrassed to have to say this, which one of you is right now from Kansas City? This is John, all right? I'm still learning here. John is from Kansas City, he's in medical school there. And Tom is back at Geneva College in the near district. And he's a Beaver Falls. And next is Bruce Fulton. from Indianapolis. Next is Jeff Hollers. Jeff, you heard from him just a minute ago from the University of Indiana. I was not going to tell. Corby Heimberger, he's out in Colorado Springs right now, and he will be back a little later. Brett Lamberty. Brett is from Purdue University, and he's been very active at the university, which he's probably been through a couple of years in this past year, jogging, busking, and music, and he's been excellent there. from Purdue University, from active in the University of Physical Policy work up there. Steve Simmons. Steve, too, from Purdue. We have our fair few people this year, and we're glad for them. These are people, particularly, that you'll be wanting to pray for next year, because you'll be hearing from them as we hear about what Jesus Christ is doing on that campus up there. And we expect Christ to be using these people in the saving of souls next year. Dean Smith, Dean from Pittsburgh. And Dean and Nancy. Nancy, right there with Dean, please. Dean is living with the men and Nancy is living with the girls. And they are also in the act of moving to Indianapolis. They'll be here for next year. Carl Stalker. Carl from Indianapolis, and will be in Purdue next year. He's had two years at Purdue, and now is sort of will be looking forward to going on to campus up in Lafayette. Bob Tebbe. Bob, I don't know where to say you're from, West Pakistan. I don't know where. Part of it is moving out of here anyway. And Bob is from Purdue. He's been up there this past year. His folks have been here in West Pakistan. George Schott is not here. George is just being discharged from the Army. He's had his two years in Korea. He's down to Fort Frag. And he'll be discharged and be up here in a short while. Henninger is also up. Lafayette this morning with the Josephus. Mary Badger. We cannot forget Mary Badger. Mary Badger is a lady who's doing her church. And without Mary, there would have been difficulties before we even began. And Mary Madison is her assistant. Mary Badger also is moving into the Indianapolis area. She's a dietitian, and she provides the food that we need from day to day out here. Martha McIntyre. Martha's from Illinois, and is moving into Lafayette. She'll be in graduate school up there next year, a teacher. And Connie Alexander. Connie's from the University of Alabama. I'm very active in the intervarsity. This is all good work down there. God's blessing. I don't know if he'd actually want to, but he wants to find God, do this, and prepare him for the ministry. Is that evolved? is from Zaneva College back in Weaver Falls, Pennsylvania. And Betty has a particular opportunity in the dormitory next year back there. She's one of the officers in her presence. Is that right? All right. The further you go, the more opportunity you have for the Lord. So we'll be looking forward to preparing for that. Jerry Long is also out in Colorado Springs. And she'll be back next week. She's from Lafayette. She lives in Lafayette. She's going to college, starting college next year. Joyce Lynn. Joyce is our songwriter. She's from Pittsburgh. Vera McKinney, just graduated from Purdue University, and will be teaching school next year. Joni Hutchin. She just graduated from Lincoln Chiropractic, and we're looking forward to going into practice before very long. Trish Brahm. Trish is also very much involved in this program. She was here last year. She's working to be in and out of England, and if she can, if I'm not taking one out, I was not leading down to here according to the order, but I think that everyone is here right now. These are the people for whom we have been praying, and for whom I now charge you to pray, in the four weeks that lie immediately ahead, that God would accomplish His purposes in their lives. These men and women are in the decision-making years of life, and they are particularly sensitive and open to what God has for them, whatever He has for them they want. And if you could have seen the letter that we sent out, we told them that it was the closest thing we could find or recognize or lean for. And I think after yesterday's work, some of them begin to believe that. And this is what they're going to find in the four weeks that I had. But they want whatever God wants for their lives. You might ask Don Paul. If you'll ask God's blessing upon them and God will have His way with us. First Thessalonians 3, beginning in verse 10. Paul is speaking about his relationship with the Thessalonians. Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end He may establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. In other words, in verse 10, He tells them that He's praying for them, and in verses 11, 12, and 13, He tells them what He's praying for them. And this is the gist of the passage. And it falls on the heels of everything else that we've had in this book up to this point. It's right in context. In the first three chapters, Christ is describing to us in vivid detail the personal relationships which he had established between a Christian, namely Paul, and the Christians, namely those at Thessalonica. And if you remember, Paul had been with them for three weeks. Perhaps longer, but as far as the record in Acts is concerned, he was there three weeks explaining to them the Word. And then he had to go on to Berea, and from Berea on down to Athens, and from Athens he'd been pursued on, literally, over to Corinth. And so the big question was, what would happen to these new Christians? He'd been there three weeks. Would the Christian faith take root and grow under those circumstances? Within that short of a period of time, or would the people afterwards begin to resent it? and to wish that he'd never been around there. Paul himself, you know, was stoned, literally driven out. He'd been put in prison and then driven out, not stoned, but driven out of Thessalonica. And so it was quite possible that the Christians of Thessalonica, those who had just become Christians, would resent what had happened to them rather than being thankful for it. There was a relationship which Jesus Christ had established between the Apostle Paul and those people who lived in Thessalonica. It wasn't just Paul, it was Paul and Silas and Timothy. A relationship which Christ had established between Paul and Silas and Timothy and those Christians in Thessalonica. Some of the same relationships which we desire to see established between the trainees as you saw them here and ourselves as a congregation. In chapters one and two, Christ has been explaining, almost in amazement, about what all had happened during the three weeks when he'd been there. He said, you know, brethren, what entrance in we had unto you. You recognize the fact that it was not just men who were talking to you, but that it had been God who was speaking through these three men to you. And the changes in your lives prove the point. It couldn't possibly have been men who caused that kind of a change in your lives. Only God could cause that kind of a change. If it had just been the influence of these three men in the lives of the Thessalonians, if it had been a man-to-man influence, it would never have lasted. But here's Paul some long time later writing this letter, and incidentally this is probably one of the first writings of the New Testament, one of the first epistles. And he's exclaiming in amazement and saying, look what keeps on happening in your lives. Amazing. Only God could have caused that. You know what manner of entrance in we had unto you. What happened there? In chapter one, verse three, he said, your work was inspired by faith, your labor was prompted by love, and your endurance was comforted or founded upon hope. And those six words were chosen very carefully, if you remember when we studied into them together. A work that was inspired by faith, A labor that was prompted by love and an endurance that was prompted or that was founded upon hope. Now, these are three things that the trainees are sort of looking forward to this week. First it begins as work, but before very long it becomes labor. And then it gets to the point even of endurance. And unless these other three words are tacked to these first three, there's really not much hope. that is inspired by faith, a labor that is prompted by love, and an endurance that is really founded upon hope. In verses 7 and 8 of that first chapter, the people all over Macedonia were hearing about the new Christian faith of those in Thessalonica. The word is a very tame one there in verse 8, as the translation in King James anyway is a very tame one. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord. As far as the Greek is concerned, it says it thundered forth all over that part of the world. People can see your changed lives as well as hear what you're saying. And this is the gospel message that's being thundered forth through you. It's not really you who's doing it, but it's God who's causing the change and it's God who's producing the words. And the whole area knows about it. The gospel is being thundered forth through your lives. As Gwen and Chet were speaking, and over and over again we've heard it, but they said, well, you know, we saw a difference in the lives of people, the lives of people around us. Gwen was saying this particularly, I guess. We saw a difference in the lives of these navigator people. We knew there was something they had, we didn't. And so we want to find out what that is. What Paul is saying here, only God can cause that kind of a result. That's not just the influence of one person on another. It's God using one person in the life of another person. It's God's influence really. He's just choosing to exercise it through someone else. In verse 9 he goes on to say that all this shows us what manner of entering in we had unto you. Only God could have caused that. This Christian A man by the name of Paul and a man by the name of Silas and a man by the name of Timothy came away knowing that God had been working through them with those in Thessalonica. And he wanted to get back to see what was still going on in Thessalonica. And of course this is what we pray will be happening insofar as the lives of the trainees are concerned here. We pray that God will be using us in working in your lives and using you in working in our lives. that we can keep on seeing it, but it must be God who's doing the work. However, we know that God does work through one person in the life of another person to accomplish his results. And from beginning to end, we want to keep a careful eye on the fact that it is only God who does it. He allows us to be around where he's working in this way, but it's God who does that. The second thing that Christ is showing us here in this that was among these Christians, the three who went to Thessalonica and then those who became Christians there. And this is what we were thinking about last week in the study, particularly, if you remember. The kind of love that Jesus Christ was talking about when he said, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. By this shall all men know that you, my disciples, you have this kind of love one towards another. A new commandment I give unto you that you agape one another. That was the different word that Christ used for love. It was a different kind of love. They'd had all these others before. But now they had this kind of love. And Jesus said, I want you to love others the same way I've loved you. With that same kind of love, that is. And this kind of love is the very thing that Jesus Christ is illustrating for us. He said, you must have it, and when you have it, then the world will know, it'll thunder forth to them that you're my disciples. And now down here in the book of Thessalonians, some years later, he had said this to them, a new commandment I give unto you. Now in the book of Thessalonians, a number of years later, he's giving us a vivid illustration, word for word, of what this love looks like in the early church. The relationship between Paul, Silas, and Timothy and those of Thessalonians. And we're reading about it and discovering it here again. What Christ had said would happen, did happen. These people were loving each other with a new kind of love. And we see that love in the way in which the Apostle Paul and Silas and Timothy keep looking back to those people that they've just barely met. They'd only been there three weeks, we had four. They'd only been there three weeks. And yet there was that love which had developed there among them. A kind of love and gentleness which he describes in verse 7 of chapter 2 as a nursing mother In the English, of course, we don't really get at it. But it's not just a nurse with an RN. He takes care of many people's babies. But this is as a mother who's nursing her own baby from her breast. And the calcium from her bones literally drains into that of a baby. And then in verse 11 again, it's the kind of a concern that a father has for his children. One by one, he works with them one by one. And then in verse 17, lest they be orphaned, the English, it says, lest we be separated. But it's a parent-child relationship that's described all through chapter two down through there. He says, this is the way we've learned to love you, as a mother loves her children, as a father deals with his one by one, lest we be orphaned or separated before you're ready for it. This is the kind of way we've been built together. In verse 18, He tells them about how they had longed with an intense desire to see them again. This was the kind of love that had been developed there. In chapter 3, verse 5, finally he just couldn't stand it any longer, and so he sends Timothy back to find out what's going on back there with the Thessalonians. And in verse 6 of chapter 3, Timothy comes back to him down there in Corinth, and he reports back the good news, the good tidings. A very unusual use of this word. This word's almost always reserved for the good news which has to do with the gospel. But here Paul says, when I heard about what Christ continued to do in your lives up in Thessalonica, this was gospel news. It was good tidings. This was the word that's ordinarily used in Greek for good news, for the gospel. The Thessalonians still loved them greatly. Didn't resent the fact that they'd been there and then gone, but loved them. Desired to see them as much as they desired to see the others. Been with them only three weeks and yet they found this kind of love develop. And again, Paul says this is amazing. Only God can cause that kind of a situation. No man can cause that kind of a situation. There's a tremendous relief that you find through the remainder of the book here. as Paul finds out about the fact that these... Second, in the three verses in the prayer, and we'll see this as we go along. Let's look at the text for a little bit, beginning in verse 10. They're praying night and day, the three of them, that they might come to Thessalonica and see the Christians again to perfect, that was the word for mend, the word that the physicians used to mend two broken bones, or to gather together the pieces, the loose ends of the face, and to help them to grow up. It was the word that Christ used having to do with the mending of nets. And He says, I'll make you menders of men's souls. I'll bring you together here. I'll use you in this way. The first petition after this is in verse 11. Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. He seems in the first part of that to be piling up one word after another to describe God. God our Father, God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, He's still standing there in amazement and He's saying, no one but God can do the thing that I'm asking here. And He will do it, He can do it. It's not that we can draw together with you in faith. But it's only God that can do that. Not that we can direct our own plans in such a way that they'll come out even with your life where you are. Only God can bring us into this kind of an understanding. Have you seen two people start on one side of the mountain and then the other side of the mountain and the tunnel meets at the right place? Sometimes we always hear about it when it doesn't. But it does meet at the right place. What an impossible thing. for two lives to meet at the right place. I think this happens on a level in terms of God's finding us, too. I've heard John Davis talk about how in flying, and when he was flying the tanker and then he had to meet for air-to-air refueling, he had to meet another plane out in the blackness over the North Atlantic or someplace else in the world. And a very little bit of difference in altitude or longitude or latitude. And how in the world would those two planes meet? But God finds the place in such a way as to pour his gospel in. Well, some of the same impossibilities as far as two Christians meeting and being able to be of any use to each other. And yet this is what he's praying for here, that God would smooth out our paths and bring us together in such a way that we would be meeting each other in a spiritual relationship. and would grow as the result of it. It's not that we can grow together and perfect anything in anyone else's life, but God can draw us together in such a way that other things will be perfected in the lives of others. Not that we can direct our own plans in such a way as to meet the need in anyone else's life, but God can draw two people together in such a way that one will be useful in the life of the other. Only God can do that. Only He can smooth out our paths as far as the literal meaning there is concerned. Only the Lord can direct our path to you, can make a straight path from us to you and you to us. Leveling certain parts and removing other obstacles and bringing together so there's a heart-to-heart relationship here. Of course, this has happened. This has happened with so many people here this morning that we could refer to. This has happened in the life of Brett Lamberty. in Christ drawing him to himself and then bringing him around to the point of being here. This has happened in the life of Paul Kimball, in claiming Paul Kimball and then bringing his life back around to a certain point. And this has happened in the life of Dean Smith, and Fred Preters, and Ron Homa, and Don Mullenix, and Larry Falk, and Ken Thompson, and Bruce Falk, and Bob Heimer, And we could go right on around where God has taken away obstacles and drawn hearts to himself. And now these hearts are able to focus by looking eye to eye. Only the Lord can do this kind of thing, can have this kind of control in the lives of men and women. And this is the first petition in this Christian prayer, that God would direct our paths to you. That God would bring our paths together eye to eye as it were. The Lord bring us together in this. The second quotation is there in the twelfth verse. And the Lord increase you and make you to abound. Literally, increase you to overflowing. And again, it's to be increased in this agape kind of love. This is the word that he uses. One towards another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. that you would have this kind of love as you mix together there. Jesus said, love one to another, even as I have loved you. Now Paul and Silas and Timothy are saying, love one another, even as we have loved you. Jesus said, you love others the way that I have loved you, and now years later, Paul and Silas and Timothy are saying to the others, now you love others as we have loved you. And this is the way it passes on, generation to generation to generation. God didn't need to do it this way. He could have worked directly in lives. But he chose to relate us together in this salvation work down here on earth. I'm not sure I know why all that is. He could have worked directly. But he chose to show love, not just to tell us about him through his book. But to show love through personal relationships down here on earth. This kind of love he chose to show, to illustrate. And this is what they're praying for the Thessalonians here. As a matter of fact, you can't really teach a person to love, can you? You can tell them to do certain things about love, but a person has to learn love, as it were. It's, someone said, more taught than taught. I suppose this is why some children have a problem really understanding the love of God. Because they haven't really found love within their own family relationships. They have so much to unlearn before they can really begin to learn about God's love. This kind that we're talking about here now. And this is the kind of love that he's praying for here. Here Christ has shown Paul and Silas and Timothy. What Christ has shown to the others, now they're showing to the Thessalonians. And they're praying for this kind of love. The third petition is there in verse 13. To the end that he may establish your hearts, that the Lord may establish your hearts, so that they may be blameless in holiness in the sight of God at the coming of Christ. He may establish your hearts that they may be blameless. This is one of the interesting places in scripture where we have, as it were, a prayer addressed to Jesus Christ, the Son, the second person of the Godhead. As far as I know, this is the only place in scripture where a prayer is addressed to the second person of the Godhead. The inference all the way through here, though, in terms of the address, is that the Father will work through the Son to establish your hearts, to give you a stability and a growth in Christian life and love that will, in turn, then, do certain things in the lives of others. and that this work that will be accomplished in the lives of the Thessalonians and the Macedonians and those of Achaia and those who keep hearing the Gospel through them, that this work will keep on going on in their lives and in the lives of others until they attend the Lord and His saints at His coming. The Holy Ones are referred to there in that 13th verse, along towards the end of it, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints, with all His Holy Ones. There are those who suggest that this refers to the angels, perhaps. But it doesn't necessarily mean angels only, with the Lord and His saints, those who belong to Him. We don't know whether the they refers to the hearts of the Thessalonians or to the lives of the men and the others referred to in verse 12, the ones the Thessalonians in turn will be loving. But regardless of which are being referred to here, of whom, who it is that's being referred to here, in either way, the third petition is that Christian friends would keep on growing in the Christian life until the day of, when Christ finishes the world. And these then are the three petitions that Christ likes to hear us pray for each other as trainees and as a congregation. The prayer which leads us day by day in verse 11 in the little decisions of life as well as in the major crises and emergencies. There's a point here that I want to elaborate on for a minute. Everyone hears the weather report. Day after day. And it's usually the point at which we either turn off the radio or the television or whatever it is, or else turn off our mind and let it go on. But if you're flying that day, and especially if you're flying your own plane, or with someone else that way, you'll probably listen carefully to that weather report. Very carefully. You may even try to get a report on some of these other areas around here. sometimes irritates me the way they go all over the state and then all over this part of the United States in giving the temperature reports. All I'm interested in is the temperature right here, and the weather right here. But if you're flying, you'll probably listen for something beyond your own area, into the area into which you're flying. This is the way it seems to me that some people listen to God. Only when there's an emergency. Only when they're going someplace. And they live God-rescued lives instead of living God-directed lives. But there are other people who have their ears tuned all the time. And their lives are changed day by day by day by day. And their paths, somehow or other, seem to be straightened out and smoothed out in such a way that they are brought into contact with those souls with which Christ wants them brought into contact. And he's able to use them in the lives of other people. The Lord direct our way unto you. The Lord only can do that. And second, we pray that we will fulfill the law of love. This agape kind of love in our daily lives, in our personal relationships. I think it was John Buchanan who said, an atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. And yet, I submit to you that many, many Christians live that way, as though they had no invisible means of support. And a major reason for the fact that we have so little of this kind of love for each other is to be found in the fact that we don't pray for love for each other. as it's being done here and as Christ is teaching us to do here. As he shows us this man Paul inside us and then they pray for this and the lives of these Thessalonians over there. We live as practical atheists and in fact we say to God, well God I'll take this love a bit in my own hands. And I'll teach myself to love or I'll cause myself to love. We don't really ask God to cause us to be loving the souls of those around us. with this self-sacrificing kind of love which gives itself even though there's no opportunity for return. Which is what Jesus did when he died on the cross. And this is worth praying for. The third thing that we pray for is ultimate safety. We've talked a lot about praying for immediate safety insofar as the trainees are concerned and the work around here. We don't want anyone getting hurt with power equipment or anywhere else. But the ultimate safety is the thing that really they're teaching us to pray for here. That Christ will preserve us as his witnesses and that he will make us keep on growing in righteousness and rectitude for that day when we shall stand in his presence for eternity. There are some people who live their entire lives apparently thinking about how this will appear from the standpoint of eternity. And each decision they seem to see as it will appear in eternity. I'm not saying that they're so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. I'm talking about the fact that they have a mind to the eternal significance of the daily decisions. And it contributes to the solidity, to the valuableness of those daily decisions. They're understanding personal relationships in terms of spiritual values, eternal values, and not just the temporal and time. John Calvin, I believe, was a man who did this. It shows up more in his commentaries than in some of the other writings. But over and over again, as you read the prayers that this man made before he began opening the Word, and then the prayers that he made after he had opened the Word, You find him sort of thinking about, well now, have I understood this in the way that I will understand it when I stand in God's presence in heaven? And this is the heart of the man in his relationship to God, really. The fifth thing that we have being taught here is the way we're to pray and to learn. in John the 13th and 14th and 15th and 16th chapters. We're talking about the Gospel of John now. Jesus Christ is teaching. It's the longest passage that I know of where Christ is teaching in the Gospels. And the things that he's teaching in the Gospels, if you'll turn around and analyze John 17 where he's praying, you'll find that he's praying. After he taught them, he turned right around and prayed them. We have the same thing happening here in this explanation or illustration. The same things that have been taught in chapters 1, 2 and 3 are being prayed for in verses 11, 12 and 13. It's the same things. Faith and love and a growth of grace that goes right on into eternity. And in connection with all of our teachings, and all of our training, and all of our work here, that we would not be talking so much with men about God, that at any point we would neglect to talk with God about the men. And so we come back to this in terms not only of the trainees but also the congregation. That these next four weeks would be really bought up in prayer, every day, every family, every person here, those of you who are not living in families, those of you who are living as individuals, that you would be praying for the things as you understand them that we're working on here. If Jesus Christ worked in this way, first teaching and then praying the very same things that he just taught, how much more important is it for us? And every time you speak or share a witness, whatever it is or wherever it is, Do you then go back to your home or room or whatever it is and kneel and pray through the very things that you've taught or shared? In order to commit this into his hands, rather than depending upon our own to accomplish his purposes, These are five, four of the things that Christ is teaching us here. There are many others. Let me commend these to you and ask that you would go on to pray. Now, I may have been talking to someone here this morning to whom this seems blank. You talk about this kind of love, this kind of love that Jesus Christ had towards us. I don't know that kind of love in my own heart. And if you don't know that kind of love in your own heart this morning, Then let me ask you to ask Christ to prove himself to you. And he can do that. He can reach down into your heart, just as Chet was talking about it, and just as Gwen was talking about it, and just as we've heard of others talking about it at other times. And he can cause these changes in your life. Only he can do that. But let me encourage you to ask Him, to prove Himself to you. This is why He left heaven. This is why He died on the cross. This is His prerogative. This is a thing He loves to do. Let's bow our hearts in prayer. Lord, any soul here this morning who knows Thee not, if they have seen Thee, if Thou hast been speaking to their hearts and let's Thou thus speak, Lord, cause them to see Thee. Cause them to see Thee as Thou didst hang on yonder cross, loving with that kind of love unto the uttermost, in order that men might be right with Thyself. Cause them to see that, Lord, to know of Thy love for them. Bless them and hear that prayer, as they would say unto Thee, Lord Jesus, I don't know very much about you, but I want to know that kind of love. And I know of a broken relationship between myself and yourself, and I ask you to come into my life. I trust you, and although I don't know very much about it, I trust what you did on yonder cross to make things right between yourself and myself. I love you for that. I desire that You would be my Savior, that You would do with my life whatever You want. Then Lord, as You heard that prayer when I prayed it a few years back and I knew so little of what it meant, so I would pray that You would hear that prayer for anyone who's making it here for the first time this morning. And then Lord, bless the rest of us as we would go on to begin to grow in our relationship with yourself. Teach us more about that faith which you put within our hearts, about what our conversion really meant. Teach us more about that love, this same kind of love which you've had towards us, that we might have that towards one another. And teach us, Lord, about how we can keep on growing right to the end of time. nor smooth out our paths as a congregation and as trainees, in order that we might see eye to eye and find that Thou hast been using us in each other's lives. Grant to us this same kind of love, and grant that when finally we stand in Thy presence in heaven for eternity, each one of us would be thankful because of that time which we have spent together here on Thine own earth. Lord, these are the desires, the petitions, and the prayers of our hearts. And we make them unto Thee now in the name of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. And for His sake we pray. Amen.