life a little bit. Alright Colossians chapter 4 in your Bibles this evening. Colossians chapter 4. I want to begin tonight by sharing my testimony a little bit, and I think some of you will be, probably most of you, familiar with my testimony. But in high school, I told the Lord that whatever He wanted me to do, I would do. And that, for me, was very difficult. I was scared to death that God was going to call me to preach, and kind of the last thing I wanted to do was to get up in front of people and do anything like that. And so anyway, when I went to Bible college, I enrolled as a general studies major. In my freshman year, I just took a coursework that would go into any track that I would decide. And I was just praying, God, what do you want me to do? And after my freshman year, before my sophomore year, I was with my dad. We were out golfing. And on the way there, I said to my dad, I said, Dad, what do I do? I'm going back as a sophomore. I need to focus what I'm studying. God hasn't called me to the ministry at this point. You know, should I be a Bible major? What should I do? We discussed it and decided, you know, Bible major isn't going to be wasted. It wasn't until after My sophomore year that God called me to the ministry, called me to preach, and what not. But as I switched to Bible classes and more focused On ministry, I love my classes and my favorite class was my church planting class. It was dr. McAllister he's he's still a great guy and I really appreciate him godly man that just really challenged us with the need to get out and just start local churches and another class that dr. McAllister was over was preacher boys class and That was a class where all the ministerial students would come together, or they'd have individual classes by their year, freshman, sophomore, whatever, during the week, but then come together on that Friday to all be together and to listen to somebody preach. And for our Preachaboy class, we had a man from out west, Colorado, come and just challenge us with the great things that God was doing in his ministry. and speak about church planting. And that's the class that I walked away from, and just praying and saying, God, is this just a burden? Because I've had a burden for church planting, or is this a call? And I was a grad student at that point, and God called me to church planting. It wasn't until after Katie and I were married, and we're praying about where to start a church that God called us to Scotland. And so we became, or I became, a missionary, church planner, missionary, because I'm on a field other than my home field starting a church. And perhaps that's why tonight as we come and look at a man by the name of Epaphras that I have an interest in. Is the audio okay? Let me just ask. Katie, can you hear me all right? Yes, okay, I just felt like maybe the audio wasn't quite right or something. Last week, after we sang together, the audio changed on Zoom somehow. But anyway, maybe that's why I have an interest in Epaphras, and a special interest. Epaphras is a missionary church planter, and maybe that's, he's not a name that is familiar maybe to you, or maybe you think, well, I've read that somewhere. But Epaphras planted churches in what would be the southwest part of modern day Turkey. were associated with Epaphras, Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea. Now the church at Colossae, that might be a bit more familiar to us because we have the book Colossians that was written, a letter written by Paul to the church at Colossae, a church that, by the way, Paul didn't start, it was started by Epaphras, but that Paul became interested in, and one which Epaphras reported to him about, as we'll see here tonight. But Epaphras for a time was imprisoned for his faith. You may remember that Paul in prison in Rome let a slave, a servant, to the Lord whose name was Onesimus and he sends him back to Philemon and writes a letter to Philemon about Onesimus. But that church is a church at Colossae, the church that Epaphras ministered in and so when he wrote that letter to Philemon, But with all prepare me also a lodging, for I trust that, through your prayers, I shall be given unto you, there salute the Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus." And so there was a suffering for the faith that Epaphras went through, and maybe with Paul, or maybe just Paul saying he's a fellow prisoner because he's also been imprisoned for his faith. But Paul wrote this letter to Colossians, to the church at Colossae, when Epaphras was with him. He was present there reporting to him on the church at Colossae and Paul wrote this letter in response to some of the things that Epaphras told him about that ministry. And so if you look with me at Colossians, first of all, chapter one and verse one, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timotheus, our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints. And so if you stop right there and think, since we heard of your faith, since this was reported to us, you understand that it was Epaphras that was there telling him about what was taking place. Now skip ahead to verse seven. Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the spirit. Again, he's there, he's reporting to Paul saying, Paul, this is what's happening on my church planting field of modern day Southwest Turkey in these cities that I'm burdened about, that I care about specifically with regard to this city of Colossae. Now in chapter 4 verse 12, and this is our primary text tonight that we'll go back to chapter 1 a little bit, it says, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis." Okay, I wanna emphasize tonight what Paul emphasized about Epaphras, and that was the intercession for the local churches that he had established, his intercession for those ministries. Interestingly, as he shared his prayer burden, others joined him in this ministry of prayer, specifically the apostles. And I omitted these verses, I think in our reading already, but verse nine of chapter one says, for this cause we also, Paul also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom. and spiritual understanding. And what I want us to think about tonight, it's evident that the church planters of Paul's day, Paul included, Epaphras included, viewed intercession as vital to their success as church planting pastors. As they're seeking to establish those churches, they viewed intercessory prayers as essential. And I wanna preach tonight a message I've entitled Essential Intercessions, okay? Essential Intercessions. And my point tonight is this, your prayers for God's church is vital to her success. Okay, you're praying, you're interceding for God's church is vital to her success. And so I can ask you tonight, are you an intercessor for churches which God is establishing or which God will establish? Are your prayers making a difference in our local church, in other areas around here where we desire to establish churches by God's grace in the future? We need to have a vision for that. Is my intercession, is your intercession impacting our ability to successfully do that for God's glory? So let's pray. Ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God tonight. Father, we thank you for this example of intercessory prayer. And Father, I ask tonight that the Spirit of God burden us about this. None of us have an excuse for not interceding. Father, prayer is on a level that anybody can do. It's something that you've given all of us to do. And Father, I pray tonight that the Spirit of God would stir us up, that we'd look at our church in the ministry that the body of Christ, Jesus Christ Church in this area, and that we be burdened to pray and impact our ministry for God. Father, it's evident that the early church viewed intercessory prayer as vital. And so I just pray tonight, Lord, it might be that in our hearts we'd have to say, you know, I haven't given that proper place. I haven't prayed as I should. And certainly tonight we're going to look at Epaphras and there's things about his life that will challenge us in this area of intercessory prayer. Father, I confess I have no ability to speak of myself tonight, that any ability that I have is God given and that whatever I have must be enabled by you for me to communicate accurately the truth of the word of God in a way that would touch the hearts of God's people. And so I ask for your enablement. And Father, I pray that you'd help me to preach lovingly, help me to preach biblically, help me to preach practically and powerfully the truth of the Word of God, and I pray tonight that you give us ears to hear. And Father, I've been stirred up as I've considered this topic, and I've been challenged by it, and I just pray the Spirit of God tonight would convey that truth to our hearts, that as a church, we would be a praying church. And thank you for your help now, it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so your prayers for God's church is vital to her success. And so I want to challenge us tonight with each point. So the first one is intensify your prayers. Intensify your prayers. You know, the Capitol building was entered into by protesters this last, what was it, about two and a half weeks ago, maybe now. And, you know, it's amazing that they were able to enter in. I mentioned to our church that we were watching online the Senate hearings that were taking place regarding, and the Congress, congressional hearings, the joint sessions of Congress that were taking place, considering, you know, the election and what had happened. And as the tour, well, as the protesters entered into the Capitol, it looked like a tour group. I mean, it just looked like they're just kind of wondering about walking around and there wasn't initially violence. Obviously, some people that came in were intent on violence and they would do violence. But I mean, some of them were just meandering about having a look about and it just seemed as if it was a tour. And as I saw that, I thought, how did they get into the building? You know, and in fact, now there's You know, obviously they're reviewing security and saying, why, why did this happen? And there's going to be an accountability that the police are going to have, the Capitol Police, to give an account of how this happened. And some are going to be able to say, I mean, we resisted, we stood against them, we gave everything. In fact, one man sadly gave his life. A policeman died that was trying to keep But there are going to be some that apparently stood aside, apparently allowed these protesters to enter the building and sadly they are not going to be able to give an account, a good account of their resistance against the advance of the protesters. Tonight, we understand that Satan is advancing against God's kingdom, that he's intent on destroying that, that he's actively involved in that. I wonder tonight, can I give a good account of my resistance of that? Or do I need to intensify my prayers? Do I need to get more engaged with standing with Christ against what Satan desires to do in our church? To intensify our prayers, first of all tonight, walk in prayer for God's church. It says about Epaphras, laboring fervently for you in prayers." Now notice prayers is not singular, it's plural. It means there was more than one prayer, and then take that word always. There was about Epaphras this continual burden on his heart for that area that he was passionate about, seeing a church established there, that he was often praying about it. And Paul, if he was here to testify tonight, might say to us, you know, every time I heard Epaphras pray, He had Colossae on his heart. He had Laodicea on his heart. He had Hierapolis on his heart. I can vouch for the fact that he was passionately burdened and interceding always for those people. You know, in the early church, if you were to think, you know, who was the most important person in the early church, I think there's two that we would agree stand out in the New Testament. That would be Peter, And Paul, I mean as far as men that God significantly and more than anybody else apparently used. You know, Satan knew that those were key servants of God. And so Peter was taken and Peter was attempted to have been killed by King Herod. Acts 12 verse 1 says, Now about the time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, And he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison. And as Peter's in prison, what can the church do? I mean, nothing, right? I mean, they have no power to go against the government. They have no ability to rescue the great man of God that God was significantly using Peter. And so what did they do? They did what they could do and all that they could do because it was all something that God had to do. And so it says in verse five, but prayer was made without ceasing. That's the idea of always, of the church and to God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined in the prison. And he smoked Peter on the side and raised him up saying, rise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true, which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people." And if I were to stop there and ask the question, why? Why did God deliver Peter? Why did that gate open? Why did that angel come and smite him on the side and say, hey, follow me? The answer is very clear in the word of God, it's because the church was praying. Verse 12, when he had considered these things, he came to the house of Mary and Martha, and Mary, the mother of John, whose name was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And I could ask the question tonight, what if they hadn't prayed? What if they had looked at it and said, well, there's nothing that we could do? They didn't believe that. They believed that there was something very effective that they could do, and that was to get on their knees and say to God, God, you've got to set Peter free. You know, I wonder how often do we pray for God's church? How often are we interceding for our congregation? How burdened are we? I mean, we can look at the fact that nobody seemingly is getting saved in our day. Nobody's being baptized. is going on for God, really making a strong decision for God, or if they do come out sometimes, it's very sadly, we see them turn away. We can look at that with sorrow, we can look at that with grief, or we can get on our knees and begin to pray and say, God, it's gonna have to be you, and we're gonna just intercede always and continually, let God put this upon our heart that we pray for our church. Again, as we speak about intensifying our praying, one very obvious thing would be to increase the frequency of our prayers. Just begin to say, God, this is gonna be something every day I'm just gonna take to you. I'm gonna begin to pray for the local church and God what you desire to do here. And so we need to walk in prayer, walk in prayer for God's church. And then secondly, work at prayer for God's church. work at prayer for God's church. It says always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Laboring. Epaphras didn't just pray, Epaphras worked at prayer. I mean that was He put effort into it. He labored at it. Have you ever seen somebody with incredible talent and thought, I wish I could do that? I mean, that's amazing. We had a supporting church in the States send us a link to a Christmas concert that they did at their church. It was just a Christmas concert. It was just a bit of fun to have the community come in and the gospel was preached there, but it was some fun music and some carols as well, but they had very talented musicians. The fiddler that played the violinist was amazing. I mean, incredible skill. As were many of the other musicians, just amazing ability that they had to play those instruments. You know, if it was easy to play an instrument like that, everybody would, right? But somebody, you know, these guys had to look at it and think, you know what, I see that, I think I can achieve that. They disciplined themselves, they worked, they worked, they worked, they had a heart for it, and they achieved that level of playing. You know, I can say tonight, if powerful praying was easy, everyone would have a powerful prayer line. If it was easy to be a mighty intercessor, our church would be full of mighty intercessors. I'm not trying to downplay anybody's prayer life that's in our church, but the fact, as we understand it is, not everybody has a powerful, dynamic prayer life. Why? Because it is work if somebody's gonna have a prayer life like that. If you don't want it, you won't attain it because it will take work. Andrew Murray, the preacher, from Aberdeen that went to South Africa that I've been mentioning. I've been reading his biography and I finished it. He said to his brother in a letter, he said, I can say I have felt very strongly the necessity of more prayer as the only channel for attaining more of the spirit for ourselves. He's talking about the filling of the spirit, the baptism of the spirit, the enablement of God for ministry. And so he says, I see prayer as vital as the only thing that will achieve that blessing. And he said, and what is it that makes prayer so difficult, even when we feel it's necessity? And that makes us so soon desist, even when we kneel down with the fullest determination to implore God's blessings. So he asked, it's kind of a rhetorical question. He doesn't necessarily answer it, but he goes on to say, I begin to think the gift of secret pleading prayer is a higher attainment in religion than I have generally been inclined to suppose. It is the most spiritual act in which the soul is deprived of every external support, and in it the soul's power of communion with the eternal God is put to the test. It's a great statement. I mean, it's a man of God that God, by the way, he became dynamically empowered by God. The man was a man of prayer. He wrote more on those aspects of the spiritual life than many other men. He was a well-known speaker on those things. He saw God do incredible things on his field. And he looked at it and said, prayer is vital, but prayer is hard. And so tonight, if we're gonna increase our prayers, then it's gonna have to be us saying, I'm gonna work at it. I'm gonna put effort into it. I could ask you tonight, when's the last time you got done praying and felt like you had expended a lot of energy? We got done praying and felt like that had been a battle, that it was tough, but by the grace of God, you went through that because you're gonna intercede about those things which God had put upon your heart. And so if you want to intensify your prayer life, begin to labor in prayer. And so walk in prayer, work at prayer. And then I say under this first point as well, win at prayer for God's church. Win at prayer for God's church. It says always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Fervently. Laboring was what he was doing, fervently. is how he was doing it. At the Wilds Christian Camp, when I was a counselor there back, I was probably 20, 21 years old, counseling there. And they have a waterfront that's beautiful. It's a pine forest and a very large pond that's all private property. The Wilds is amazing. It's surrounded by wilderness and just a gorgeous area. But I particularly liked the swim area. As I mentioned, I enjoyed swimming and things. And so I was down there when a staff person brought a floating dock down to test to see how it would work for the campers. And he had an anchor for it. It was about eight by eight foot. And so he set it out there and we looked at it and thought, right, let's see who can stay on it and push everybody else off. and play a little bit of King of the Dock. And you know, it was fervent. I mean, there was an earnestness, a passion about it, a grappling, and a grabbing, and pitching, and trying to stand your ground and not get thrown off of the dock. You know, this word fervently means struggling and striving. Epaphras, as he prayed, he prayed with an urgency, with a passion, reminiscent of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32. It says in verse 24, Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And this is, by the way, if you don't know the story, it's Jacob wrestling with Jesus in a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord, okay? And so this is pre the coming of Christ, but it's bodily, you know, the Godhead present there, he's able to physically grab hold of God. He said, let me go for the day breaketh, the Lord said. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power with God, and with men and has prevailed." And I guess we could stop there and say there's where the idea of prevailing prayer comes from. It's that idea of grabbing hold of God. I will not let thee go except thou bless me. That is that fervency, that struggling and striving and grabbing a hold of God. And Jacob asked him his name. And it says, he blessed him there, and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. You know, I believe this, if you heard Epaphras pray, you wanna hear him pray this, Lord bless the church at Colossae. I don't think that's the way that Epaphras prayed. I believe it was with tears. I believe it was with passion and earnestness and striving with God that would have been very evident because Paul describes it as fervent praying. You know what? Fervent praying is winning prayer. Fervent praying is prayer that accesses God's grace. The Bible says that. James 5.16, confess your faults one another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. That fervency is vital. It is not just us saying to God, God, here's my wishlist of what I desire you to do. It's the passion of our heart saying to God, God, this is something that is absolutely necessary for the glory of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ and your cause, and I am pleading with you to do this. Matthew 11, verse 12. It says, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. You know, can you say of your prayer like that, my prayer life is fervent, that when I pray, I pray with earnestness, that I'm not just saying a list of dead things that somebody in a false religion could pray to their God, but I am passionately pleading with God by faith that God would achieve that which God desires to do in our community. and in our church. Increase your prayers by winning at prayer. And so your prayers for God's church is vital to her success. Intensify your prayers. Intensify your prayers. Walk in prayer, work at prayer, and then win at prayer. And then going on to the second point here this evening, advance your prayers. Advance them, all right? If you aim at nothing, you hit it, right? You gotta have something that you're targeting. I know this from shooting my bow or shooting my guns. When I go out to shoot, I don't just point the gun wherever or the bow wherever and pull the trigger and let fly when I'm shooting. I take a target and I put it up. And we enjoyed doing that this past summer. And even Mac had the joy of aiming at a target and seeing that he hit the target that he was trying to to hit. You know, Epaphras wasn't just shooting off his prayer gun. He had targets. He had things that he was very specifically asking God to do in the life of the church in Colossae. He was advancing his prayer, seeing God take, through prayer, take ground for Christ. And so as we advance our prayers, let's ask God to make his church stand. Ask God to make his church stand. It says that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, that they could stand. So as he prays, he's praying for his people, he says, dear God, help this person to stand, help this person to stand, help this person to stand. I recently read The Lionsgate. It's a story, it's a very interesting story. Let me say this, I don't approve of some of the language that's in the book, but it's an amazing book. about the Six Day War, and it's not written from a Christian perspective, but as a believer, as you pick it up and you look at it, you go, wow, that's a miracle that that happened. One of the things that was pretty miraculous is that they had 24 young pilots that were in training and had training planes that had no bombs, no weaponry, anything on them. But when the war took place, they very quickly took those planes and put weapons on them and guys that hadn't even received their certification as pilots took those planes up. on bombing runs against the Egyptians convoys that were going across the desert. And amazingly, I mean, they took out a lot of the trucks. A lot of the carnage that took place was done at their hands. They're just, I mean, kind of teenagers, early 20s that weren't certified that entered into that battle and won that battle. But if I was their commander and I was putting them into a position like that and the battle started, my mind would be thinking this, are they going to stand? Can they handle it? And I think if I remember right, six of the 24 died serving their country in that six-day war. But are they gonna stand? I can understand the heart of Epaphras as he looks at the Church of Colossae and he's just praying, saying to God, God, help them to stand, Ephesians 6.11. It says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, stand therefore. And again and again, it's this idea of standing and standing and standing and standing. Why? Because of adulterations. As you pray for our church and we see God reach somebody and somebody gets saved, begin right away to say, God, help them to stand. Look at it one another and say, you know what? We're not above falling. We're not above failure. We're not above departing from Christ. God, give us grace to stand. Advance your prayers. Ask God to help his church stand. And then secondly, ask God to make his church mature. Ask God to make his church mature. It says that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Perfect in the New Testament does not mean perfect like we think about it. We think about perfect as without error. We understand tonight that nobody is without error. Perfect in the scriptures, when you read it, has the idea of mature, all right? That they've come to maturity. You know, immaturity is dangerous. might hear somebody say something like this. They're telling a story about a calamity that took place and they say, I was young and stupid, right? I mean, I was immature and it hurt me. Why? Because maturity begins to understand the dangers and knows how to circumvent the danger. That's why a hunter will tell you a trophy is much more difficult to harvest than just an animal of that species because a trophy has been educated. They've been around for a while. They may not come out at daytime. They have a sense of smell and awareness of danger. They're much more difficult to take because their awareness is heightened. And so as he prayed, he prayed and said, God, make this church mature. You know, that's been the prayer of God's men. You find it other places in the Bible. Hebrews 13, verse 20, Paul prays this blessing. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will. Working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Peter prayed it in 1 Peter 5 verse 10, but the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory, by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. Again, we ought to pray, God, we're thankful for everybody that you give, but God, don't let us stay in immaturity. God, give us mature believers that are grown up in Christ. Advance God's church, ask God to help his church stand, help them mature. Then ask God to make his church whole. It says that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Completion has the idea of a finished work. Last week, we did another COVID project. I don't know how many you've done at your home. I don't know if Brenda has more for Tommy to do, but we've looked around and said we could do some more projects. So we ripped the floor out of my office, the laminate floor that was down there. The boys helped me. And to do that project, we had to take everything in my office, including my books, and move it to the living room, right? And then we had to pull the old floor up. Then we had to put the new floor down. and to touch up the paint and then move everything back in. But you know, praise God, it is a finished project. It's complete. It's great. You know, there's nothing left to do. It is whole. You know, God desires to do that kind of work in our life. And that's the Papyrus prayers. He looked at God's people. God helped them to stand, helped them mature, helped them to be complete, helped them to be well-rounded as a believer. Ben Everson wrote a hymn entitled Complete in Thee. It says, Complete in Thee, no work of mine could take, dear Lord, the place of thine. Thy blood hath pardoned, bought for me, and I shall stand, Complete in Thee. It's a glorious thing when that work is, and we understand God's gonna be working on us till the day that we go to glory, but in a great sense, there could be a complete work that's done in our life that we are well-rounded, well-equipped, well-able to stand for God because of a completeness that God has put into our life. And so as you pray and advance your prayers, advance God's church, pray that God's people will stand, that they will mature, that they'll be complete, and then ask God to make his church functional. Ask God to make his church functional. It says that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. You know, as Epaphras prayed, he's praying, I'm not praying that they'll get it a little bit right. I am praying that they will get it a lot of bit right, that they will be faithful in all the will of God in every area, just like we're talking about this morning, sanctification and the urgency of the hour and being ready that there is a faithfulness that's in the life of those believers doing the will of God. It's been said that success is finding the will of God and doing it. And you understand tonight that Jesus said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And Jesus Christ did it with complete faithfulness. You might hear at times as I'm preaching, a grandmother clock that is very close to where my wife's computer is sitting there by the dining room table. That clock chimes and that clock has a pendulum that's in it. And it's a mechanical clock. I find it amazing to think that they can make something that keeps time that's mechanical. But you know, that pendulum is beautiful. And if I took that pendulum out and I could put it on my desk and I could look at it and say, you know, this is a beautiful pendulum, but if it's not performing the function for which it was designed, then it's really a vain piece of metal that's there. You know, as Hephaestus looked at the believers in the church, Hephaestus didn't want them to look good and to be something that was ornamental for God. He desired them to be something that was fulfilling the will of God, the will for which God had saved them, the will for which God had made them. You know, as we look again at our church, we ought to pray and say, God, give us people that will be faithful. that they'll take the abilities and talents that God you've given to them and in all the will of God, church and home and wherever, that they will fulfill God's will. God give us faithful people. And so your prayers for God's church is vital for her success. Intensify your prayers. Walk in prayer, work at prayer, win at prayer. Advance your prayers. Ask God, God help these people to stand, our people, help them mature, help them to be whole, help them to be functional. And then lastly, tonight, increase your prayers, increase your prayers. It says in the hymn, Enlarge My Vision, Lord. It says, Enlarge My Vision, Lord, help me to see a whole vast universe in need of Thee. Increase my love, I pray. Cause me to hear the cry of dying souls afar and near. So prone am I, dear Lord, to dwell within my own secluded realm. Forgive my sin. Enlarge my vision, Lord. Teach me to care with thine own heart of love. This is my prayer. If I'm gonna increase my prayers, I'm gonna speak specifically about increasing our prayers for the city and for souls. If I'm to do that, I've gotta get burdened about it. I've gotta have my eyes open to it. I've gotta see the need of those that I'm praying for. And so, first of all, as I mentioned, get a prayer burden for cities. Increase your prayers. Get a prayer burden for cities. Be burdened for our city. It says in verse 13, for I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you. And Paul is writing to the church at Colossae and he's saying to the church at Colossae, look, I bear witness to Epaphras. Epaphras is burdened for Colossae. I want to ask us tonight, are we burdened for our area like that? Now our church location normally is Lone Head. So we can ask, are we burdened about this location in the Southern Edinburgh area, in these close villages of Bilston and Roslyn, and this area that we would think of, that is our Colossi. Are we burdened about it that somebody could testify of us, I bear in record that he hath a great zeal for you. He's passionate about that area. Be burdened for your city. Secondly, be burdened for a sister city. It says, and them that are in Laodicea. Now, the villages he's gonna speak about, if you did a triangle, they're about 12 to 15 kilometers apart. So it's very similar to some areas that we can look at here. I'm burdened about Bigger, and the church knows this. We've prayed about the village of Bigger, about 30 miles away. And the first time that I went there, and my family, we were just having a holiday, having a picnic, and I witnessed to some teenagers. What was very interesting and unusual about that, and this is the first year I think that we are here in Scotland, is that two of the teenagers that I witnessed to actually emailed me that night. That's never happened. I've been evangelizing here for 10 years. I can't think of another opportunity where I witnessed to somebody and they communicated with me that night. There were some interesting things that took place, but I got a burden for that city. Listen, are we burdened like that? We ought to be. We as a church oughta look at it and say, God, thank God for a free Baptist church in Lone Head, but God, what about bigger? What about that area out there that needs the gospel? Be burdened for a sister city, and then be burdened for another sister city, because it says, and them in Hierapolis. I've mentioned West Linton. West Linton is between us and bigger. It's closer to us, but it's an area that's hard. I can't say the same thing that I've had great divine appointments there. I've had hardness there. That's where the guy bumped me with his belly and got in my face this past year. And I've had other people critical there of the gospel that I was seeking to put out. But West Linton needs a Baptist church in that community. And so tonight, we can increase our prayers and say to God, God, I wanna start praying, not just for Free Baptist Church in Lone Head, but I wanna pray, God, help us to start another church in another place. And listen, we gotta start praying specifically, God, in the next five years, give us grace to establish another work somewhere else. Epaphras didn't just pray for his village of Colossae, he prayed for Laodicea, and he prayed for Hierapolis. And so get a burden for cities. and then get a prayer burden for souls. Get a prayer burden for souls. I just like to ask this question, how did Epaphras get burdened for these cities? And the answer is he got burdened by seeking to reach souls in those cities. It was boots on the ground. It was him getting out in those areas. And again, I've just shared kind of my heart as pastor, my burden for West Lent and my burden for bigger, and they need to increase, but I've got a burden for those areas because I've had boots on the ground there doing evangelism in those areas. And so how do I get that prayer burden for souls? Well, so the gospel, so the gospel. It says in chapter one, verse five, as Paul spoke to the church at Colossae, where of ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. He's referring to the fact that the gospel came to them. How did the gospel come to Colossae? The gospel came to Colossae through Epaphras. And because Epaphras was very connected with that community, he was very burdened for it because he got out there and he sowed the gospel in that area. You know, tonight you might not have a great burden for cities and souls because you're not evangelizing, because there is no boots on the ground. There is no, and I understand we got COVID, we got all the regulations and things, and we can make excuses, or we can pray and say, God, give me divine appointments. God, give me opportunities to get the gospel. Why? Because that burden increases as we participate in evangelism. Sow the gospel and then see the fruit. It says in verse six, which has come unto you as it is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day ye heard it and knew the grace of God in truth. And Paul's speaking to Colossians saying, praise God, genuine fruit is there on that field because Epaphras got burdened to carry the gospel there and how it ought to have rejoiced the heart of Epaphras to see this person get saved and that person get saved. You know, tonight, I listened in a little bit to the class that was taking place, and I heard Abby, and I went in to Sunday school briefly and said hi to Abby, but Abby got saved, as you know, about a month and a half ago. Abby would not have gotten saved without somebody carrying the gospel to her. Jade is saved tonight by the grace of God because of Free Baptist Church. Karen is saved. Callum is saved. Why? Because of Free Baptist Church and the gospel that's gone out into this area. We ought to see that and say, God, thank God for that. That gives us a burden for souls to see fruit on our field from the gospel. God, give us opportunity to see more. And then cultivate the harvest. You want to get a prayer burden for souls? Sow the gospel, see the fruit, and then cultivate the harvest. Verse seven says, as he also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of the gospel. Epaphras, why are you so burdened about Colossae? What is your big interest in Laodicea, Hierapolis? And he would say to us, look, I have labored there, I have invested there, I have worked there, and so I am passionate in praying and increasing my prayers for that area because I am laboring there. You know, one of the great ways that our church could get more burdened about what God is doing is when our church gets more involved. And it takes time, and there's maturity, and there has to be giftedness, and there has to be a calling, and things like that. But that's just us getting ourselves into that ministry and saying, I am gonna be a part of this, I'm gonna do something. You know, we're praying about Bigger, we're praying about West Linton. If God leads pastor to start a satellite ministry there, it's gonna be extra, but I'm gonna go, I'm gonna participate in that, because I am gonna get serious about seeing God do something in Midlothian. and I'm burdened about it, and that burden will grow as we get involved in that harvest. I say again to us tonight what you learned about Epaphras and what you learned about the early church as you consider these realities, and that is that intercession for God's church is vital to her success. And because intercession for God's church is vital to her success, my intercession, your intercession for God's church is vital to her success. Colossae was a church that was bathed in prayer by Paul, and by Epaphras. These men were very burdened to see God do that great work there in Colossae. I know tonight is a rhetorical question, but I could ask it anyway. Doesn't our church need prayer? Isn't there a great need for us to say, by God's grace, I wanna get involved in this. Is this something that I can do? Nobody else may know, but I'm gonna be somebody that is passionately interceding for God's grace to work in our church. So how do I do that? Well, I can intensify my prayers. I can walk in prayer continually. When God brings it to mind, God, I'm gonna pray for Free Baptist Church in Lonehead. I'm gonna pray for these other churches that we desire to start. I'm gonna work at prayer. I'm not just going to pray when it's easy. I'm going to maybe set my alarm. I'm going to get out of bed early, you know, to have quality prayer time. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to be diligent in prayer. It's not just going to be a two minute, Oh, I prayed for my church, but I'm going to say, I'm going to set aside a block of time and I'm going to intercede for God's church and then win that prayer. God, I'm not just gonna pray, dear God, bless the church. I'm gonna get passionate. I'm gonna get serious about interceding with fervency, because God, this is something, listen, if this doesn't happen, people are gonna die and go to hell, and Free Baptist Church will never be fully established. West Linton Free Baptist Church will be never started. Same with Bigger. And so we gotta say, God, by your grace, I'm gonna be fervent in prayer. And then advance your prayers. advance them. What am I praying about as I go to prayer? It's this, God, help our church to stand. God, help our church to mature. Help our church to be whole. God, help our church to be functional, where people are getting involved in faithfulness to God. And then I gotta increase my prayers for cities and souls. And a big part of that is boots on the ground. is getting involved, saying, I'm gonna sow the gospel, I'm gonna look at what God is doing, and I'm gonna help cultivate the harvest. I'm gonna get in there and do something for God. And so tonight, just two questions as we conclude. The first is, what does God want you to do? As we think about this, what does, you know, tonight, what does God want me to do with this truth about the intercession? And it's necessary and absolutely vital for us to pray, what does God want me to do? The second question is, what am I going to do? Right? If God wants me to get more involved in this thing, it's not gonna be easy, but by God's grace, God helped me to be that intercessor. And so tonight, Will you do that? It's essential. Essential intercession. We need, I'll tell you as pastor, please God, give us praying people. We've tried to develop that in our church and I praise God for what we have going on about that in our church, but I'm convinced more now than ever that the only way forward is by prayer and that by the grace of God, we need to increase in this area of prayer. And so tonight I challenge you to just say with me to God, God by your grace, I want this to, to grow in my life. I wanna be somebody that, by the grace of God, I'll be honest when I stand before God and say, God, I prayed for those people, and I got burdened about that, I got involved there, and we left it with you, but I was doing my part to see, God, what you desired to do in our community. All right, let's pray. Father, we praise you for the grace that you give, and for the privilege of prayer. And Father, I confess tonight, I haven't prayed as I ought to pray. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would call us to prayer. Father, I pray that he'd lead us out in prayer. Father, I pray that by the grace of God, we would see these prayers answered. I mean, this is what we need. And really, I could have emphasized this tonight. If we're not standing, we need to stand. That's what we're praying about. If we're not faithful, we need to be faithful because that's what we're praying about. Father, if we're not complete, we need to be completed because that's what we're praying about. And then, Father, we've got to get boots on the ground to really get this burden. We need to be doing something to evangelize. We need to be doing something to get involved in ministry. We're not going to pray as we should if those things aren't taking place, but by the grace of God, give us that place where we can pray. where we're not part of what needs praying about. But Father, we're part of those that have gone through the process and can look back and say, but I'm praying now God do that good work in somebody else's life, in the life of our church. And Father, I mentioned tonight Bigger and West Linton. Father, give us a vision. God, help us not to say, well, we can't do anything about it. Our hands are full of Free Baptist Church. What about the people dying and going to hell in West Linton? What about those dying and going to hell in Bigger that need the gospel, that need a gospel lighthouse? Father, should we let Satan just have those territories and continue to reign supreme in the ungodliness that's in those areas as it is in our area? God, give us grace to do something about it for God's glory. It's in Christ and we pray, amen.