Well, the new year is here. I don't know if you made any resolutions or not. In the first service, Kirby asked how many, and not many had. Either they don't need to make resolutions, and they're all perfect. I don't know if that's you, or you're beyond hope. You've just given up. Why even bother? But comedian Joey Adams said, may all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions. That's about right. We do resolve to improve, and maybe spiritually, you say, you know, this year I'm gonna do this or that or the other better. The last two weeks, we have heard from God's word, and the focus has been on prayer. Pastor Matt, two weeks ago, we looked at the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus reminds us and teaches us that we can ask and seek and knock, And that He's a good Father. He's not out to get us. He's not trying to withhold things from us that we need. He doesn't always give us what we want, just like good parents here on earth, but He gives us what we need and we can ask Him as a good Father. Last week we had a special prayer service. We actually pulled aside and we spent the service in prayer. Prayer guided the service and we prayed for one another. So maybe you say, yeah, you know, this is a new year and I want to pray more, more effectively. I'm going to pray for all the missionaries and all the lost people and everyone at Grace. But then you start praying and you told Brother Fred you'd be praying for him, but you start praying and all you end up with is, please bless Brother Fred. You know, that's all that comes to your mind and it's about as specific as you get. Well, there are times when I do the same, I'm not sure what to pray for, or I get prayer's block, writer's block, you get this mental block of what to pray for. So we're going to look at the prayers of Paul this morning to glean some specific things that we can pray for as we are praying for fellow Christians, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul the Apostle wrote 13 letters in the New Testament. Let's turn to Romans chapter one. We're going to look at some examples this morning of his letters and how he told the recipients he would pray for them and also asked them to pray for him in some cases. So when Paul started a letter, he started a letter like anybody else would start a letter in that day. We start a letter with maybe the date, and then the address of the person we're writing to, and a salutation, and so on, and we put our names at the bottom, right? Well, in that day, you put your name at the top. You identified yourself first. So Romans chapter one, verse one, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, he identifies himself. Then the next thing you would do is you would write the names of the recipients of the letter. Verse seven, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Then you would greet them as if you were greeting someone in person. You would greet them, you know, we say, dear so-and-so, and we might say, hope things are going well, something like that. Well, the standard greeting was grace, grace to you. Paul took that standard greeting and he used it, but he also added to it grace to you and peace. He would always add, and peace from not the gods, you know, but the God. our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Then next in the letter, often people would offer some kind of a prayer or blessing, a desire for blessing for the recipients. They would praise the gods and they would ask the gods for health and well-being and prosperity for the recipients of the letter. So Paul did this, but of course he didn't do that to the gods. He did that with the one true God. So rather than looking at one specific passage of Scripture, this morning I'm going to give you a survey of Paul's letters. Now we're not going to cover every single example, you'll be glad to know. On the back of your notes is a list of most all of the prayers of Paul, the passages there. We're not going to look at all of those, but you can use that as a reference and study these yourself at some point. But my point this morning here, my main theme this morning is Paul's prayers show us how to pray for our fellow believers. So you can jot that down. Paul's prayers show us how to pray for our fellow believers. And we'll see three things. that we learn from Paul's prayers. First, as we pray for fellow believers, we should pray regularly for them. I want you to see that right here in Romans 1. And so he had greeted them. He'd wished grace upon them. And then verse 8, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. We'll come back to that point. But look at verse 9. Without ceasing, always. The word without ceasing means regular, continuous. All right, here's another example from 2 Timothy 1, verse 3. Paul tells Timothy, without ceasing, I remember you in my prayers, night and day. This does not mean something that has no break, At all. Like, he's not saying every second of every hour of every day, 24, 7, 365, I don't stop praying. It means regularly. It happens, and it happens again, and it happens again. It was used of a battering ram, pounding against the walls of a city. It was used of somebody who has a cough, you know, they cough, and you know, you've had it, you cough again, and you cough. Or, you'll love this one, it was used of paying taxes, right? You pay taxes, and it seems like you pay taxes again, and you're never gonna stop paying taxes, it's just gonna keep happening. So, that's what Paul means by without ceasing, and he also uses the word always. Again, he doesn't mean around the clock, but every time he thought of them, he prayed for them. Every time they came into his mind, he would pray for them. Here's an example from Philemon, verse four, I thank my God making mention of you always, same word, in my prayers. And now 1 Thessalonians 1, again on the screen, you don't have to turn there, but he uses both words, once again, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing, and then he goes on to say what he was praying for. You know, we struggle with this, praying for other people. You tell someone you'll pray for them and it's hard to follow through. I don't know if you're familiar with something online called the Babylon Bee. It's a satire website. And so if anybody ever shares an article, online from the Babylon Bee, it is satire. That means it's not really true, okay? Satire is when you pretend to be serious, but you're so ridiculous that you're trying to prove a point. So here's an article in the Babylon Bee. There's a 15, maybe 20 percent chance I'll remember to pray for you, brother. And so this is a man who's talking to somebody at church, and he says, I'm so sorry to hear that terrible news. Remember, God is in control, and I hope you'll receive some semblance of comfort knowing there's a 15, maybe 20% chance I'll remember to pray for you. And he goes on to say, I know this miserable gut-wrenching season in your life right now is a time where you really need prayers from brothers and sisters like me, and so I'm pegging the odds at about one in four that I'll remember to be on my knees The point is, sometimes he's being more honest than most of us are. You know, we have these good intentions, but sometimes we don't always follow through, and certainly not consistently. So Paul here doesn't just say, well, yeah, that one time I'll pray for you. He says regularly, consistently. You say, well, yeah, Paul's in prison. I mean, what else has he got to do? Well, he did a lot in prison. He wrote letters, he read, he talked, he witnessed, and he prayed, but he wasn't always in prison. Keep that in mind. He did a lot of things. He traveled all over the place. He was a very busy man, but he took the time. He made the time. See, we don't just find the time to pray. We make time. We make time for things that are important to us, really, is what it comes down to. And we do have, so we have to be intentional. and plan, but then there are times when we have the time, the spare time, maybe it's because we wake up in the middle of the night and we can't get to sleep, or we're in the shower, or we're driving in the car, or we're shoveling snow, and we could take some time to pray for one another, for fellow Christians. So when you think of someone in the church, lift them up in prayer. When you think about them, lift them up in prayer. Do that regularly. If you need improvement, what will you do this year to be more intentional about that? Let's follow Paul's example. Let's go on to number two. As we pray for fellow believers, we should thank God for them. You might think, man, this sermon's gonna get over pretty quick. The bad news is each of my points gets longer as they go, so just keep that in mind. But we should thank God for our fellow believers. Still here in Romans chapter one, now verse eight, which I read quickly a moment ago, but let's look at it here more closely. First, the first thing I wanna tell you, Roman Christians, as I write to you, is I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Here's another example on the screen from Philippians. He says to the Philippian believers, So, Paul told these churches that he prayed for them, and as he prayed for them, he thanked God for them. Not just the good churches, mind you, even the Corinthian church, which had a lot of problems. So, okay, Paul thanked God for these Christians. What did he thank God for? And what can we thank God for as we pray for our fellow believers? As I'm giving you these points, Maybe some people will come to your mind that kind of fit into these categories, and you could even write their name down, and you could be thinking about how you can thank God for them, and even thank them personally. But the first one I'll use is from Romans 1, 8, right here, and that is, we can thank God for their witness and testimony. For their witness and testimony. Paul says to the Roman Christians, your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world, the whole Roman Empire, it's being publicly shared and talked about. Well, why is that? Because... Christians were being persecuted in Rome at various times to varying degrees. And so when Christians were persecuted, they were thrown in jail, the property was taken, they were even executed. They would stand firm in their faith and that would be seen, it would be heard, it would be reported, it would be spread. Did you hear about this Christian? Have you heard how they stood in spite of all that they went through? And the word was spreading. So isn't it wonderful when others have a chance to be a witness for Christ? When we hear these things, we can turn around and thank God for that. We can praise God that they had those opportunities, that Brother Fred had the opportunity to pray, to share Christ with someone. If your name's Fred here this morning, you're getting a lot of prayer today. In order to pray this way, though, we need to be attentive to reports of the gospel being shared. So you may not be able to pray and keep up with all 60 missionaries that we support, or however the exact number is, but do you have a harvest team, or you're in a harvest team, and you're You're receiving reports, and you're thanking God that they had the opportunity to share. Do you hear how people have the opportunity at work, or in the jail ministry, or out in their neighborhood, and wow, that's great, and you thank God for that. Let's go on, and we're gonna jump ahead to 1 Thessalonians, so turn to the right in your Bibles, or on your phone, however you do it, but 1 Thessalonians chapter one, there's several books you'll have to pass, several letters to get to 1 Thessalonians chapter one. And actually, I put three, but I meant two, starting with verse two. Let me read a few verses, and then I'll tell you what we're gonna learn from this section here. Paul says in verse two of 1 Thessalonians chapter one, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Okay, so that sounds familiar. And then look at verse five. I'm just not gonna take the time to read this entire passage. Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, Verse six, and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. Verse nine, for people. So, the point here is that we can thank God for their salvation and continued faith. The Thessalonians had turned to God. When Paul came to Thessalonica and preached the gospel, he and his companions, these people turned away from their idols and they turned to God. They believed the message that Paul was telling them and they received it. They believed in Jesus Christ. Here's another example from 2 Timothy 1. Paul tells Timothy in verse, again, he thanks God for him. Verse five, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you that was passed down from his mother and his grandmother who led him to the Lord and then Paul was his spiritual father who mentored him in the faith. So Paul thinks of these things and he praises God for them. Do you know Jesus? Do you know Him this morning? Have you turned from idols to serve the living God? Do you have genuine faith in Jesus Christ? We've heard that testified too from the waters of baptism. How about you? Have you turned to the Lord? Do you know Him as your Savior? You need to if you don't. And when that happens, we can praise God for that. I mean, we just have a perfect example of this point, as we've already heard this morning in the waters of baptism. So as we think of Josh Anderson, we say, thank you, Lord, for his salvation, his faith, how he testified of his faith before us all, and how he's growing, and these kinds of things. These are the kinds of things that flow out of us the more we let scripture guide our prayers. It seems so simple and basic, but when other people come to know the Lord, we should thank God for that. And when we see them continuing in their faith, we should thank God for that as well. That's what he's saying. Then, turning to 2 Thessalonians, we're just hitting these boom, boom, boom here this morning. 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 3 and 4, this is a survey of these passages. Overview we're not digging deep down into them, but second Thessalonians 1 we are bound. This is verse 3 We are bound to thank God always for your brother for you brethren as is fitting because your faith grows Exceedingly and the love of every one of you abounds all abounds toward each other so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God For your patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure some holy boasting going on there as Paul boasted about these Thessalonians Because he was thankful for them. In his first letter, he was thankful for their salvation. In his second letter, he's praising God that they continued to grow spiritually. They didn't just stay at the same level, baby Christians, but they were growing. Their faith was growing, their love was growing, their patience was growing exceedingly. It was abounding. And this was in spite of the persecutions and the tribulations that they were enduring. You know, right now I can think of multiple people in this church and in my grace group that are making spiritual decisions, steps of faith and growth. Sometimes baby steps, sometimes we take two steps forward and one step back, but steps and there's growth. And I could start mentioning them, but I won't do that this morning. But when we see that around us, we should be thankful to God for that and thank God for that. So spiritual growth is something. And then let's look at the small letter of Philemon. You have to turn a few more letters to the right before the book of Hebrews and look at Philemon. It's a letter Paul wrote to a man named Philemon. Because what had happened was Philemon had a slave named Onesimus that had run away from him, robbed him, ran away from him, ran to Rome. probably got thrown in jail and ended up next to Paul in God's sovereignty. Out of all the hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in Rome, they connected. And Paul led them to the Lord. Onesimus realized he needed to make things right. Paul's writing this letter to Philemon. Onesimus carried it and gave it to Philemon, and Paul's asking Philemon to take him back to be merciful, even to, he hints at kind of setting him free. But verse 4 of Philemon, Paul says, And verse 7 says, So Paul says, man, I just thank God for you Philemon because I find great joy and consolation, comfort, encouragement in your love. And not just the love for Paul, but Philemon had this love for all the saints, all the brothers and sisters in Christ. Their hearts were refreshed by him. Do you know somebody who's just refreshing to be around? You know, there are people who are draining to be around. There are people who are refreshing to be around. Philemon was one of those people. When their hearts were down, Philemon lifted them up. When their hearts were heavy, Philemon gave them strength. When their hearts were weak, Philemon encouraged them. And we don't know how he did that exactly, but he was just one of those people. This church has some really encouraging people in it, and I'm thankful for that. I see you encouraging one another. You encourage me, whether it's a note or an email or just a word of encouragement. And that is a wonderful thing. We take it for granted again. So many of these things, we just assume them, and we go on, and we don't stop and thank God for them. That's what Paul did when he thought of these people. He would, in his mind, think of things to be thankful for, and he would thank God for those things. So the next time you think of your fellow believers, will you thank God for them? Think of them, thank God for them, for their salvation, their spiritual growth, their love for others, their witness and testimony. D.A. Carson wrote a book called A Call to Spiritual Reformation. It's on the prayers of Paul. In fact, I'd forgotten all about it till this morning, and I was getting my sermon. I was like, I think I have a book on this, you know, so I'm barely scratching the surface, and he's got a much more in-depth treatment. But he says, and I've heard this phrase before, look for signs of grace in people. Some of us have a tendency, maybe, to look for negative things, but we should look for signs of God's grace. How is God working in that person? What are some things that I can thank God for that he's doing in their lives? This is what Paul would do, and he would be thankful. And then number three. As we pray for fellow believers, we should pray for their spiritual as well as their physical needs. I have a question for you, I want you to think about this, don't answer out loud. As we pray for people, generally speaking, what kinds of things characterize our prayer requests when we pray for other people? Think about that. Would it be health? Finances? Relationships? Safety and travel, these kinds of things. Now, are these things important? Yes. Does God care about them? Yes, no question he does. Does he want us to pray for them? Absolutely. Anything that is on our heart, God wants us to bring to Him as our Heavenly Father, right? Just like your child brings their request to you. But let's notice what kinds of requests characterize Paul's prayers for his fellow believers. and the nature of them. And again, you may not pray every single one of these points in every prayer. That's not what I'm getting at, okay? I want these to inform your prayer life, that they will sprinkle in amongst your prayers for other Christians as you pray for them, and you'll glean things that you'll use, and it'll just flow out of you, especially as you are in the Scriptures. So, back to Romans. We're going to backtrack here to Romans 1. Turn back to Romans, if you would. and you're getting some good exercise either flipping pages or tapping on your screen. So back in Romans chapter 1 verse 9, After he said, I thank God for your faith, that's spoken of throughout the whole world. Verse nine, God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. We already looked at that verse. Here's my prayer, making a request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. So, the point here is that we should pray for opportunities to see and serve them. to see and serve them. Paul pleaded with the Lord that it would be his will for him to come to visit the Roman church. He longed to see them. Paul had a passion for God's people. Well, why? Because they were fun to hang out with? Maybe he wanted to sightsee in Rome and thought they could take him on a tour? No, because, verse 11, I long to see you that, whenever Paul uses the word that, it tells us the intention, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift. that you may be established, that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." So he wanted to teach them, he wanted to disciple them, he wanted to preach to them, he wanted to encourage them and build them up in their faith so that they would grow. He wanted to serve them. Here's another example from 1 Thessalonians on the screen. He tells them, Now, we may or may not be separated from brothers and sisters like Paul, and you know, Paul couldn't just FaceTime them, all right? He couldn't FaceTime the Romans, but He wanted to be present with them. He longed for them. And our hearts should long to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ. If nothing else, to gather regularly on a weekly basis. We're in a grace group. If we're separated from them for some reason, we can ask God to be able to see them. In the first service, Gary and Lily Jensen were here, and they haven't been in church for three months because of a car accident that they were in. And God has brought them to the point where they can be, and they were just so glad to be here. To be with us, and I was glad to see them And so that's the kind of thing that Paul was praying for not again just to hang out which a that's good to have fellowship But to to minister to them serve them and encourage them next let's turn to 2nd Corinthians 1 2nd Corinthians 1 and We'll look at verses 8 through 11. This is a different situation because this is actually Paul and telling the Corinthians and reminding them of how they had prayed for him. So this is not Paul praying for them, in this case, it's him saying, thank you for how you prayed for me. Well, what was the issue? Verse eight, 2 Corinthians one, we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia. Asia was a Roman province, capital was Ephesus, so this may refer to some of the things that happened in Ephesus that are recorded in the book of Acts, or it may be something else, but that, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, we despaired even of life. Paul was so weighed down. He was under tremendous pressure. He couldn't endure it. He couldn't take it anymore. They despaired even of life. They thought, this is the end. We're at the end. We're not going to make it through this one. But, God delivered them. And God had a purpose in this severe trial, verse 9. That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Because we're as good as dead men, is what they thought. But then God showed that, you know, he can raise the dead, or he can keep people from death. So, we often have trials, and we want God to take them away. Sometimes God is saying, no, I want you to turn to me. I want you to rely on me and my strength. Yes, you're at the end of your strength. I have strength that you can have. And Paul says that was God's purpose. But then God did deliver them, verse 10. But verse 11 is the key here. The Corinthians were part of that because they prayed for Paul. They didn't come and rescue him, but they were praying for him. And God, in His sovereignty, and how all this works, I don't always understand, but the prayers were part of the deliverance that God made for Paul. And so, he thanks them and he says, now we were all able to rejoice. You the Corinthians, because you prayed, me because I was delivered, and it was just something we all rejoiced in. Here's another example from 2 Thessalonians 3, for not all have faith. So I don't know if I mentioned the point here, but this second point is deliverance from danger. That's what we should be praying for, for other people, deliverance from danger. It is appropriate to pray for people to be delivered from danger. One Sunday in a Midwestern city, a young child was acting up during the morning worship hour. This never happened with my kids, but the parents did their best to maintain some sense of order in the pew, but they were losing the battle. Finally, the father picked the little guy up and walked sternly up the aisle on his way out. Just before reaching the safety of the foyer, the little one called loudly to the congregation, pray for me, pray for me. That's not quite exactly what was going on here, but Paul was asking, and he had asked for prayers, and he had received them, and he was thankful for them. Prayers for safety. Now, folks, we should always pray for safety, but Paul was not praying for safety because he was going on a vacation to the beach, all right? In the context, he was on the front lines of spiritual battle. He was evangelism missions, just like our pastor is doing right now in Peru, and that's what he was, asking for prayer for in that context. It's wonderful to know that others are praying for me when I'm facing physical or spiritual danger and opposition, and I should be praying for them in turn. Now let's turn to Ephesians chapter 3. as we note our next point here, Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 16. This is a prayer of Paul in the middle of his letter, not the beginning, but in the middle, for the Ephesian Christians, chapter 3, verse 14, he says, of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family on heaven and earth is named, that, here's his prayer, the content of his prayer, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. So he's praying here for spiritual strength, for spiritual strength for the Ephesian believers. He prayed that they would be strengthened with power, through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, in your inner being. So he prayed that they would have spiritual power, power to fight spiritual battles, power that comes from the Holy Spirit. I found a quote that I thought was helpful from a 16th century Reformed theologian, has a great name, Wolfgang Musculus. That's a good name. J.D., you have another son, you can name your son Wolfgang Musculus, all right? And he says, we are truly strengthened when our inner being is confirmed or truly, firmly established, okay? Solid ground. That means our spirit, heart, and mind. When that is confirmed, the whole person is strengthened. But if that is weak, everything else is weak too. Only the Spirit of God, who is the source of all true power, can strengthen the inner being and make him firm and invincible in the face of the attacks of Satan, of sin, and of the world. So we need that strength. I need that strength. Well, what kind of power is available to us? Look at verse 20. We'll come back to 17 through 19 in a moment, but skip ahead to verse 20. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. God is able, he has the ability to do, to accomplish far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Paul kind of piles up superlatives here. He invents new words just to say, you know, it's abundant. Well, it's more than abundant. Well, it's super more abundant beyond anything we could possibly even imagine. So we should never measure God's unlimited power by our limited expectations. This is the same power that is at work within us and Also, back in chapter one, he told us it's the same power that raised Christ from the dead. So, you know what, friends? I need spiritual strength. I need spiritual power. I need that to overcome sin, to endure hardship, to serve the Lord, to serve others, and so on. And I'm going to guess that you need it as well. And if you and I need it, then we should be praying that for other people. We should be praying it for other brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's then notice verses 17 through 19 that we skipped over as we see the next point. I'm going to read these verses here. Verse 17, that Christ, so that, another content of his prayer, here's another point in his prayer that you would pray for. I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, I'm going to say it this way, if you're wanting to take notes here. That's what he was praying for. A deeper knowledge of Christ's love. He prayed that Christ would dwell in their hearts. through faith. This is not talking about asking Jesus into your heart at the moment of salvation. He's not praying that they'll become Christians. They already were believers. He's praying that Christ would be more at home in their hearts. So the picture DA Carson uses here, a helpful illustration, is maybe a young couple buys a house, and maybe it's a fixer-upper, or they didn't have a lot of money, so they knew what they were getting into, but it needs a lot of work, and maybe it's really old, and so they start fixing it up, and they start to make it their own, right? And they start cleaning it up, and fixing it up, and decorating it, and then they get the sense, this is really our home, we really feel at home here. Well, when, Jesus enters our lives where there's a lot of cleaning up to do, right? And he starts to be at work, but Paul's praying that Christ would be more and more at home. He'd be more at the center of my life and of their lives. So that's something we can be praying for, and that they would more and more know the love of Christ, even though it can't be known. You say, wait a minute. Well, think of it this way, men. The Bible tells us to dwell with our wives in an understanding way, to get to know them. Do we ever think we'll come to a point where we fully understand? Probably not. If we do, I think we're fooling ourselves. Same with Christ's love on a more abundant scale, and that is we should seek to know it more and more, but we'll never get to a point where we go, oh, okay, I think I got this figured out. I think I got it down. I understand completely God's love, 100%. No, we'll never get to that point. but we should always be growing in the knowledge of his love and going deeper. And this will happen as we see it in scripture, as we experience it in our lives, and we should pray that for other people. Lord, I pray that Fred would just know you in a deeper way. He would know and experience your love in a greater way. Let's stay in Ephesians as we go on to the next point and turn to chapter 6 though, chapter 6 of Ephesians. This is a section where Paul talks about spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6, starting in verse 10, although we'll look at verse 19, or verse 18, verse 18. So starting in verse 10, he talks about spiritual warfare, and how we're in a battle, we're in a battle, spiritual battle, and we need spiritual armor for our spiritual battle. Paul was chained to a Roman soldier, or at least saw them regularly in his jail, so he could This picture, he just used an illustration that was at hand and said, you know, you need the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth, and the shoes of the gospel of peace, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. But soldiers also need to be in constant communication with their commanding officer. They need instructions. They need to give reports to the commander. Nowadays, they have headsets and they can just communicate. It wasn't always that easy, of course, but we need to be in communication with our commander in the spiritual warfare that we face. And the way we do this is through prayer. Verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So Paul says we should be praying. All right? But then verse 19, he asks for prayer for himself and for me. Well, what does he want them to pray for? That I'll get out of jail. Is that what he says? No, that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So this point is for opportunities and boldness to share the gospel. That's what we should pray for for other Christians. And I do want to mention, you know, John Calvin points out that basically... If Paul needs prayer, we all do, because if someone so richly endowed with spiritual gifts needs prayer, then we should not think that we don't need such assistance from fellow believers. Paul was asking for prayer, the Apostle Paul, and if he needs it, then so do you and so do I. So he prayed that utterance may be given to me, that God would give him the message, that he would have opportunities to utter the message, and that he would do it, and that he would have boldness as those opportunities came. He wouldn't shy away. He wanted to be an ambassador in chains. You know, his place of ambassadorship was in the prison, and this is where God's put me, so I know I need to speak, so pray that I'll do that. Pray that I'll do that. He wanted to use every opportunity, whether speaking in a public amphitheater, or standing trial before a Roman governor, or chained to a Roman guard to declare the gospel message. Here's another example from Colossians on the screen there. Continuing earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving, meanwhile praying also for us. Colossians pray for us, that God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in chains that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. So pray for one another that we'll have opportunities. But you know the neat thing about this is, from what Paul tells us in scripture, is that when we pray for opportunities to share the gospel for someone else, and then they do that, We, in a sense, share in the fruit that comes from that. Even though we weren't physically present sharing the gospel with them, we were a partner with them. So do you know that when you pray for Pastor Phil, when he preaches the gospel from this pulpit, you have a share in the fruit that results from his preaching. You didn't stand up here and preach with him, but you have a share in that fruit. When you pray for a missionary, you have a stake in the harvest that is reaped. When you pray for a fellow Christian who testifies at their workplace or in their neighborhood for Christ, you're a partner in their evangelistic endeavor. And that just binds us together as Christians. It knits our hearts together. And so we pray for those things. We pray for those people when we know they have opportunities. Well, first, that God would give them opportunities, that they would have boldness, and that they would share Christ as they should. So do that. Add that to your prayer list for other people. Then, Philippians chapter 1. Turn to Philippians, it's the very next book after Ephesians chapter 1. Once again, Paul starts the letter by telling the Philippians he prayed for them, he thanked God for them, always. And then verses 10 and 11. He prayed that you may approve the things that are excellent, the things that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. So I... Paul uses a lot of words, and we should study them and dig in. Sometimes, in our minds, we need to kind of condense it down, but righteous and holy living is the way I characterize this, and there's a lot of angles we could go at with the things he says here. He prayed that their love for others would abound in knowledge and discernment, but why? Well, so that they would approve the things that are excellent. So this means if, you know, you have a choice, you have choice between A and B, okay? Sometimes one of those choices is just plain wrong. It's sinful, it's evil, and you need to, you know, if that's A, you need to choose B. It's really Cut and dry, it's clear, sometimes still hard because of our sinful nature and the pull of sin. Other times, it's not so cut and dry. Maybe A is not sinful, it's just, it's good, but it's not best. And B is what's best. And so which one is it? Is it A or B? And Paul wanted them to be able to approve the things that are excellent in their lives. Then they would be sincere, they would be pure, they would have moral integrity, and they would be without offense, meaning they wouldn't stumble or fall into sin. So he's praying that they won't fall into sin on the negative side, but positively that they would grow, verse 11, be filled with the fruits of righteousness. They would grow in their spiritual life and have spiritual fruit. from Jesus Christ. So, yes, it's good to pray that we don't stumble into sin. When I was in college, I was on a ministry team that traveled to churches, and we would sing and, you know, minister and serve. And we were at a church on a Wednesday night, a small church, and they were having a prayer meeting, and they were taking prayer requests, and a teenage girl raised her hand and said, just pray for me, because Friday night I'm going to a party. Just pray I don't do anything wrong. And I wanted to say, well, I have an answer to your prayer, and that would be don't go to the party, but I didn't speak up at the time. Kind of the right idea, but not maybe the right application. Sometimes we just need to avoid temptation in the first place, but we don't always know when it's coming, and so Paul is saying, I'm praying that you will make good choices, Philippians, that you will not stumble into sin, but you will choose what's excellent and grow in the fruits of righteousness. God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort, D.A. Carson says. So we should pray for others, not that just they'll be comfortable, but that they will grow and not give in to temptation, not fall into sin, that they'll be pure in mind, heart, and conduct. Let's go to the next one, Colossians 1, verse 9, all right? Let's look at this next one. For this reason we also, Colossians 1.9, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask, what is it Paul asks, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. So Paul prayed for, this is the way I'm wording it, spiritual wisdom and discernment. He prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will. Not that they would be really smart people or intelligent, but they would know God's will. He wanted them to have wisdom. Wisdom is practical. Knowledge. It's life skills. It's doing what God wants us to do in life and making good choices. Knowledge and understanding, or wisdom and understanding, excuse me, spiritual understanding. So spiritually understanding what's going on and applying that to life. Many people are searching for wisdom. Many people search for wisdom. Maybe in the wrong place or in the right place in the wrong way, one man who was searching for wisdom spent three painful and grueling weeks climbing a tall, rocky mountain. At the peak, he found a wise old guru and asked, wise man, how might I make my life happier? The wise man replied, to begin with, the next time you want to come up here, go to the other side of the mountain and take the ski lift. So wisdom is knowing that there may be other ways to do things, and that's what wisdom is really, practical life skills. But of course we're talking about spiritual wisdom, not taking ski lifts up mountains. But he's saying, I want you Colossians to know God's will and apply it to your lives. That's spiritual wisdom and discernment and understanding. And when we do that, we will, verse 10, walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work. I need wisdom and discernment in my life to know God's will as a husband, as a father, as a pastor. How about you? Do you need God's wisdom in your life? Do you pray that for other people? Do you pray that they will know God's will? And by knowing God's will, it's not just when they're faced with a major life decision, like, should I take this job or move to this city? And that's important. That is definitely something that should be prayed about. But it's even just day-to-day stuff, just daily wisdom, right? We need that every day, not just in life's biggest decisions, but in every decision. So that's what Paul prayed for, for the Colossians. And then 1 Thessalonians, we're getting there. We're getting close. Just a couple more. 1 Thessalonians 3. Look at 1 Thessalonians 3 verses 10 through 12. Really verse 12 is the key here. He says in 1 Thessalonians 3.12, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you. So here Paul is praying for, as you write this down, increasing love for others. Now was Paul saying that they didn't have any love and they really needed to work on this and this was a big problem? No. No, because he had already said back in chapter 1 that he remembered and thanked God for their labor of love. The labor, the work they did for Paul and for the Lord was done out of their love. So, and in fact chapter 3 verse 6 tells us that Paul had received a report from Timothy about the Thessalonians and the love that they were showing to one another. So Paul was simply saying, you know what? Don't be satisfied with your current level. He wanted them to increase and abound in love to one another. These words are synonyms, but basically just keep growing, keep increasing, keep, you know, so that it's more than enough. It's overflowing. I want your love to be overflowing, Thessalonians. Here's another example from Philippians on the screen. This I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. A lot of people want their money to increase and abound, right? And Paul is saying, I want your love to increase and abound. That's what I'm praying for. And that's what you and I can pray for as we pray for other Christians. Lord, I pray that Fred would have more opportunities to show his love. to others. You know, I know that he has a difficult family situation and it's hard for him to show love. I just pray that he would be able to show Christ's love to those family members that are in his workplace. He's being persecuted for his faith. I pray that he'd be able to show love to those people. You know, just whatever is happening, that's how we infuse our prayers with these biblical concepts. And then lastly, 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 11 and 12. 2 Thessalonians 1, 11 and 12. What was happening with the Thessalonians is they were being persecuted. So Paul prays here, and this is the point, for God to be glorified in their trials. They were enduring persecutions, tribulations, suffering, trouble. He uses each of those words in verses four, five, and six. They were enduring with patience and faith, verse four, and Paul thanked God for that. He even told them the very fact you're suffering is one evidence of the fact that you are truly citizens of God's kingdom. And he told them, you know, God will take vengeance one day on your persecutors. Vengeance is the Lord, so he will do that. But his prayer for them, verse 11, therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, meaning the calling to suffering and persecution, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't pray that God would remove the trial, although that's not wrong to pray for. Remember, earlier we saw how deliverance from danger is a very important and legitimate prayer request, but he prayed that God would fulfill everything that he had planned for those Thessalonians through this difficult time. and that as they went through it, that Jesus Christ would be glorified, that he would receive glory. So we can pray for someone who's going through a trial. We can pray for the trial to be removed. Yes, we should pray for that. But we might also pray, and Lord, if it's not your will, to take this trouble away from them right now. I just pray that you would glorify yourself, that you would allow Brother Fred to glorify you as he goes through this, and that you would just do a work in his life so that you teach him everything that he needs to learn in and through this. Those are harder things to pray. I would want you to pray that it just goes away, and I would want God to do that, but maybe that's not what God wants for me, and we should pray according to God's will. So friends, when you pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ, what kinds of requests do you pray? Yes, we should absolutely pray for physical and financial and relational needs, absolutely, but do you and I also pray for one another's spiritual needs? As I conclude this morning, I guess one thing I just need to ask is, do you pray for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Charles Spurgeon didn't mince words. He said, you do not love the brethren unless you pray for them. He basically said, you know, you can't really say you love someone if you never pray for them. But do you struggle in your prayers? Yes, let's be honest with one another. But let's try to go beyond, Lord, please bless brother Fred, and just these generic kinds of things. Paul's prayers demonstrate how we can pray for our fellow believers. We should pray regularly. use some kind of a system, or be intentional about it, or as you have downtime, instead of always going to your phone, or always going to this or that, talk to God. So thank God for one another, pray for spiritual needs, And I was looking, I was thinking back to last Sunday. We had such a wonderful prayer service. We had times of prayer. And at the end, it was really encouraging to see people all across this worship center praying with one another. And I thought, you know, is that, should I end this service in the same way as we pray for one another? But here's the thing about that. That's not something we can do every single week. We will do it more than just once. But when we gather on Sunday, it's primarily for a time of worship and singing and giving our offerings and listening to God's Word. And yes, as we have opportunities, maybe praying for someone in the atrium that really has something on their heart. Is it possible, now maybe you're super spiritual Christian more than I am, but is it possible to pray like Paul does for every single person who attends Grace Church? Is that possible? It's not possible for me. I don't know about you. So how can we do this? How can we pray for, I would like to suggest that we find a smaller group of people for whom and with whom we can really pray. Now this is really gonna shock you, what I'm gonna suggest here. Like maybe say a Grace group. Right? Yeah, shocker. But let's think about this. You know, you can build relationships with this smaller group of people to get to know them and their needs. It's hard to pray well for people you don't know well, other than just surface-level prayers. It's hard to pray well for people you don't know well. So as you get to know people, you pray better, more effectively, deeper for them. You can meet with them regularly to get updates. No, you don't have to meet to get an update. You can text, group text, whatever, but you can meet and then to actually pray right then and there together. Yes, we should pray individually. We should also pray together. We can open up and share requests sometimes that we may not share with a large body of believers, but in a smaller group we can. So, you know what? I'm gonna be out there in the atrium. If you're not in a grace group, I'd love to show you the list and help get you connected with one. That's not the only way that people pray here at Grace Church. There are prayers going on all the time, but it is an important way, and let me challenge and encourage you. That's one of the reasons to be in a group. So, hopefully, as I conclude this morning, I've said that two or three times now, but as we pray for fellow believers this new year, I want to say with Paul, I want to end with this, what Paul said, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always, in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy.