An old man traveling along the highway came into the evening, cold and gray, to chasm deep and wide. The old man crossed the twilight dim before the southern stream held no fear for him. But when he reached the other side, he built a bridge to span the tide. The old man said, a fellow pilgrim near you, wishing your strength was building here, for your journey will end with the ending of day, and you never again will pass this way. The builder, with his old gray head, could trend on the road I've come. that will pass this way. In this stream which has been as naught to me, may that fair-haired lad a pitfall be." I'm sure you've heard that, you may know him. He's called the Bridge Builder. My wife and I, we got over the second Sunday of October, 1958. Got over by the way of the cross. And we've been trying to get others over ever since. And so I'm privileged to be here. I'm not in an envied position, because I know who you come to hear. And I used to box. And we would have some stumble bum, we called them, before the main event. And he was kind of warming the crowd up. Well, I'm going to warm the crowd up. And then Brother Gibbons is going to come. I want you to turn, if you would, in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26. I am privileged to be here, and I mean that. Tim and Vicki, they're our friends, and many of you I know, and some I've just met, and I've had a good time. I got me some good sermon outlines for later, and so it was worth coming. In Matthew chapter 26, I'll read please, in verse 36. Then cometh Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane. I've seen that, many of you have, very sobering. And saith unto his disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray under. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, dare ye hear and watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, thou that wilt, And he cometh to the disciples and findeth them asleep, and sayeth unto them, What, couldst thou not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. For the spirit is ruling, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time and prayed. saying, oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, I will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, and their eyes were heavy. He left them and went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest. for the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came in with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a kiss, a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same as he hold him. Dear Lord, this is one of the saddest chapters in the Bible. Except that Calvary and the crucifixion may be the saddest. But in this chapter, you find your disciples sleeping on you. In this chapter, you find Judas selling you out. Now Lord, we're with you in prayer. Teach us to pray. Lord, nobody can make it without it. So I pray you would. But I don't know everybody here, and I don't know where they are, where they're coming from, where they're going. I don't know their burdens, but I know you do. May we be encouraged I want to preach tonight, just a little while, where Jesus said, I go and pray yonder. I wonder where his yonder place was. We have 25 recorded prayers of Jesus in the Bible. And he had a favorite place, I'm sure, that he went to pray. I want to suggest to you tonight Prayer is a place that I overcome, try to overcome the four biggest challenges in my life. You know, I thought when I got old, I'd have a different fight. But that's not true. I'm going to list these for you before I show you. He said, I go and pray yonder. And in that prayer, he was settling the will of God for his life. I can't explain all that. That's what he said. Then in this prayer, he's working on the weaknesses of other men. In this prayer, he's working on the plan of God for their lives. So now, he said, I go and pray yonder. The first thing he said in this prayer was the will of God. He said if you look at it, he says, oh my father, verse 39, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Now I'll not waste your time by reading that three different times that I could. Three different times he prayed the same prayer. He prayed about the will of God What he was saying was, Lord, if there's another plan, could we discuss it? What he was saying was, Lord, if there's another way for me to please you and get our work done, could we do it the other way? What I have found out, sometimes there is no other way. Sometimes you have to go through what he has planned for you for His glory and for your good. So he was wrestling with the will of God for his life. I wonder if you've got that settled. And Brother King, this is a preacher's meeting, I know. And we're mature Christians, I know. He said, my grace is sufficient for thee. So Lord Jesus was praying about the will of God for his life. Not that he wanted out of it, but he'd like to discuss it with me. I'm 82 years old. And really, I settled the will of God for my life a long time ago. I settled for the first time in Pontiac, Michigan. In 1960, I went to college. My wife and I went to Pontiac. I went to college at Dr. Tom Malone's school. And I thought I was going to be a Christian school teacher. That's what I wanted to be because I knew they're poor, but it's a safe place to be. So I thought I'd do that. Anyway, last semester of my junior year, Dr. Paul in our school. Todd and Abraham went out to a country not knowing where they went. And I thought, I really haven't settled this in prayer. I better do that. And so I know Plymouth Carr. I mean, he's old. And it was the wintertime. And I went outside the Pontiac Mission in a cornfield. had my windows up. I was sitting there, and I would never recommend you do what I'm going to tell you. I did. When I did, I said, Lord, now I need to know what you want me to do. And I just opened the Bible and let it open where it wanted to, and it fell on my lap. You never guess where it fell. Oh, it was me, if I'm preaching out the gospel. And I said, thank you, Lord. And I really never doubted that again. Lots of folks doubt it. I don't doubt it. And one reason I have eternal security is I know I'm called to preach and God wouldn't call an unsaved man to preach. And so it's OK. So I got it all settled. And Jesus said, I go and pray yonder. Second thing that he worked with in this prayer was the weaknesses of others. Look what I'm going to tell you. Verse 40, and he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, what, could you not watch with me one hour? Now, keep in mind, these men I'm talking about are mature Christians. I mean, is there any more mature Christian than Peter, James, and John? They're having a problem. And so the Lord came to him and said, what, could you not watch with me one hour? I need help. I guess he found out they didn't love him as much as he thought they did. Maybe he found out they weren't as far into the work as he thought they were. For whatever reason, they went to sleep on him. Now, could we blame them, him, if he left them alone and left the guard and found him three more friends? I don't think we could blame him if he would do that. You know what he did? Look, if you would, at verse 45. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed in the hands of sinners. rise up, let us be going. Would you put that in context? He just served a great disappointment out of them. Have you had that experience? Somebody that you hold in high esteem becomes a great disappointment to you? He handled that in prayer. He said, can you just help me out a little bit for an hour? And they went to sleep three different times. He said, rise up and let's be going. I wouldn't have blamed him if he picked out three new disciples or apostles, but he could handle their weakness because he is a man of prayer. I believe you can settle the will of God for your life if you're a person of prayer. I believe that. I believe you can handle the weaknesses of others if you're a man of prayer. You can handle the disappointments. And then here's the third thing I want you to write down someplace. In prayer, we can handle the wicked plans of others for us. the wicked plans of others for us. What do you mean, Brother Cain? Well, let's see. Let's go down here, verse 47. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came with him, a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priest and elders of the people. Now when he had betrayed him came, gave him a kiss, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same as he hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and saith, Hail, Master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, He said, love your enemies, and he did. He said, pray for those that despitefully use us, and he did. So what I'm trying to say so far is getting old don't make it any easier. Used to be I could run through a troop and jump over a wall. Now I can't get up the steps unless my young friend there helps me. I don't like being old. I want you to know that. Somebody said, oh, age is just a number. Yeah. I've never heard an old man say that. I have a verse I have a hard time with, too. Jesus said, he doeth all things well. Well, he's running a little short on me right now. I'm just, anyway. We've all been through that. We go through great disappointments in marriage. I wonder if we'd pray more, if we'd do better. I'm not criticizing anybody. We have a lot of people change churches. Most of my membership has changed. The mailman notified me. I need to be able to forgive. Friend. Here's the fourth thing I want you to write down someplace. In prayer, stay out of God's work that you prayed about. That's what I want to tell you. Stay out of God's work that you prayed about. Apostle Peter, you know, he had that hoof and mouth disease. You heard about that. So he's over here in this little thing with Judas and Jesus, and he thought he had to do something. Didn't know what to do, so he picked up a sword, and he cut off a guy's ear because his aim was bad. A lot of folks mean well, but they do harm to the work of the Lord because they haven't prayed about it. I used to tell our folks, if you haven't prayed about it, stay out of it. And the apostle Peter, he messed the place up. Shed blood and caused undue harm because he hadn't prayed. He hadn't prayed. Brother King, are you a great prayer warrior? No, that's why I'm preaching this. Verse 48, now, he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, same as he, hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus and said unto him, Hail, Master, and kissed him. Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. I'm just giving you that And I want you to remember we're describing mature Christians. Honestly, I thought it would get easier. I'm not saying it's hard. I am saying it's hard. So we ought to do better, maybe better prayer warriors. Would you just let me give you one more place to look before I pray? Would you go to Hebrews chapter five? Hebrews chapter 5. I don't know who you think wrote Hebrews. I think there's 35 different people being accused of it. Three of them women. One guy said he thought John R. Rice did. I wanna show you something that shocked me the other day. Paul said in chapter six, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. What he's saying is we need to go on in our Christian walk. Now, you knew he said that too? He said that to people. They believe that Hebrews was written about 30 years after the Lord. And in chapter 5, look what he said. Verse 12, for the time you ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles, the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Now in the verse I just read, do you know who he's writing that to? Do you know who he's saying you need to, and go on, he's saying that the men and women that were probably saved under the ministry of Jesus, or with the Apostle Paul, and the apostolic ministers, maybe they have Pentecost, this is only 30 years from Calvary. And already, they're going away. He said, let's go on to perfection. And he's saying that to a bunch of mature Christians in verse one. Therefore, leaving the principles and the oracles of Christ, let us go on into perfection. Now I'm gonna ask you a question. Where are they going on to? He said, now, we need to get back on the track and go on into perfection. You know where I think he's going to take them to? I know he is. He's going to take them from the earthly ministry of Jesus to his heavenly ministry. I do most of my own preaching, so I'm condemning myself. I don't hear much preaching on the high priesthood of Jesus. And yet, Paul said, let's go on to that. We need to be careful that we don't get away from things because they're old, stay in prayer, and keep serving the dear Lord Jesus. And that's enough, let's pray. Dear Lord, teach me to pray. When I wonder if there are folks here that have a yonder place. He said over there in another place, Judas knew the place. Judas knew where to find him. Six in the morning or six in the evening or sometime he always goes to Gethsemane. Lord, help us to be people of prayer and have a yonder place. Lord, help us to settle the will of God for our lives. and help us to learn how to handle the weaknesses of others. People have church membership problems or marriages or whatever. God, help us to handle the wicked plans that the devil has for us. And then Lord, help us to settle.