Luke chapter number 11. We've been traveling through the book of Luke for about a year now, and we take breaks every now and again when the Lord leads in different directions. But we are trying to preach through the book of Luke, and we're hoping to get to the next 10 chapters during 2026. Only got one chuckle out of that. Luke chapter number 11. We've already preached one service about prayer, and I could just tell you, as we come into a new year, I hope and pray that as a Bible-believing Christian, you will make a renewed commitment to prayer, for prayer is important in your life. It's important to be a person of prayer. It's important to live a lifestyle of prayer. The Lord Jesus taught about this here, it says what predicated this in his life, there was some disciples there that asked him to teach them how to pray, and we'll consider a few things here before we consider three prayers in the Bible that made a great difference. Luke chapter number 11, the Bible says, and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, When he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when ye pray, say, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Then he goes on and he speaks about a subject of importunity, which we'll get into at a later date. But the issue here is of prayer, living a lifestyle of prayer. Let's pray as we begin this service. Father, we pray and bless the preaching of your word this morning. I pray, Lord, that decisions would be made to pray. And Lord, I pray that you would reward your servants. With answering prayer, Lord we look to You as our Heavenly Father and we pray Your blessing on this service in Jesus' name, Amen. Now the words of Christ in Luke chapter number 11, first of all He was asked to teach them how to pray. Now, prayer can be taught, but more than being taught, prayer in the life of a believer must be practiced. In my experience as a pastor, and what I have seen many Bible believers evolve into, are people who are very apt to ask other people for prayer instead of praying themselves. You ought to be known personally as a Bible believer, as a person of prayer. In fact, you really shouldn't ask other people to pray for you unless you personally are praying yourself. There are no examples in scripture of someone asking other people to pray for them if they themselves are not praying. We need to pray. Us men, we need to pray. Women, we need to pray. Young people, we need to pray. You should start your day off with prayer. Even Jesus says here, he says, when ye pray. So he doesn't say if you pray. He says, when you pray. We're supposed to be a faithfully praying people. In the book of First Thessalonians and the fifth chapter, the apostle Paul challenges the church at Thessalonica to pray without ceasing. You know, it's awful hard to say stuff that you shouldn't say if you're always praying. I guess I'm not going to get any amends in 2026, no problem. You guys know what the rules are. You're never going to beat the Methodists to the restaurant doing this. Okay, fine, all of my jokes are going to fall flat today. You know, the drug boat joke, now this one, I mean, I'll just shut that down, but the Bible says to pray without ceasing. This means that we should be praying all the time. You can pray, and I hope you'll pray for me as I preach. I hope if you brought a visitor, you know if you bring a visitor to church you're more apt to pray during church because you're asking the Lord to work in their heart that they came to church, Lord would you work in their lives and in their heart and do a great work there. Maybe God has a soul to save, maybe there's someone who needs to be right with God, but it's easier to pray if you've got a personal influence upon a matter. Pray without ceasing. Of course we should pray for our families, of course we should pray for the forgiveness of sins. The Bible says in Luke chapter number 18 and verse number 1, Jesus was teaching that men ought always to pray and not to faint. We're supposed to be praying without ceasing and always praying. I would say that those are encouragements for us. You say, Pastor, this is so elementary, but many people have moved on from the basics of the Christian life. We need, once again, to come back to a God that we believe in, and offer our prayers to him because prayer makes a difference. Prayer is not meant to be occasional or accidental. It's meant to be a lifestyle. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian, and a prayerless church is a defeated church. It was E.M. Bounds who once said, prayer is not learned in a classroom, but in a closet. I've told you the story before about a deacon in our church who was also a preacher, and he would pray on top of a bear rug that he had killed somewhere, probably in Canada. But there was a stain on top of that rug where this man had shed tears for his family and the people that he was praying for. Where's your prayer closet? Where's the place where you shed tears? Where's your special place at an altar, a special seat in church when Jesus said, my house should be called the house of prayer? This house should be a special place where we've had special times of worship and prayer to the Lord. Jesus also says how we're supposed to pray. He says when you pray say our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name So it's not if you pray Jesus said it's when you pray now the Lord's teaching us how we pray We're supposed to pray reverently It's our father which art in heaven. You know, God is in heaven. He is to be worshipped He's to be reverenced. He's not the man upstairs I know people have tried to bring God down to our level, but can I remind you of something the Bible says? That God's ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. He's a holy God. He's far above man. He's unlike man. God is not like man. He can't lie. He doesn't sin. He's never sinned. God is altogether holy and He's to be reverenced and worshiped in His holiness. He is a holy God. Now I know many people don't like to focus on the holiness of God today, but Jesus said when you pray, you can address God who's in heaven, and then you should say something like this, hallowed be thy name. That means holy is your name. You know, we should worship God in His holiness. To hallow God's name is to treat it as holy, sacred, and set apart. This aligns with the third commandment. You know, the third commandment doesn't say, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain unless something amuses you. When you find something funny, you should not say, oh my, and say the word God. That is taking the Lord's name in vain. Saying that God told you to rob a bank. God told you to leave your spouse. God told you to do something that God, the Bible says God doesn't do that. The Holy Spirit will always lead you to obey the Bible. We want to encourage you today to remember that God's name is set apart. We have a generation that thinks it's funny to take the Lord's name in vain. All your TV shows and the sitcoms and the things that people are doing today, people are making a spectacle about the name of God, even using acronyms like OMG. No, hold on a second now. You called yourself a Christian, right? You said you love Jesus Christ. Don't take the Lord's name in vain. It's one of the second commandments. It's one of the ten commandments, which some people believe are suggestions that can just be violated whenever. No, we should take God's commands seriously. And when we pray, we ought to be reverent to God. Why? Because He is God above. He is the potter and we are the clay. We ought to pray submissively, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. True prayer bends our will to God's will. This echoes the prayer of Jesus who said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And many Christians today are praying the prayer like this, not thy will, but mine be done. You know, if you always have to get your way, you're not going to be a very good Christian. Sometimes God tells you no. Sometimes God is going to do things in your life that you did not ask for. But when you come up under the weight of the cross and when you come up under the weight of affliction, you should be able to say, not my will, but thine be done. May God help us to have the attitude of prayer today that we ought to have, not an inappropriate attitude of prayer. True prayer is not about getting God to agree with us, it's about getting us aligned with our God. The old preacher Adrian Rogers said this about prayer, prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it is laying hold of God's willingness. Maybe we need to once again lay hold of God. Years ago a preacher said God's people have lost their confidence in God and they want to solve all their problems on their own and they want to manipulate and they want to change things and they want to do things in their own flesh. You can't accomplish anything in your flesh. With God, anything is possible, but without God, we can do nothing. So he tells us what we should pray for also. We should pray for our daily provision. Give us this day our daily bread. This should acknowledge our daily dependence upon God. And then he talks about this forgiveness, and forgive us our sins. For most of us forgive everyone indebted to us, no. For we forgive everyone that's indebted to us. Forgiveness is a part of the Christian life. If God forgave you, the Bible says this in Ephesians 4, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, what? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. If God forgave you, you should be willing to forgive others. And there's a great many believers out there today who are not praying things that Jesus said, hey, these are good things to pray for when you pray. Forgive us our sins, 1 John 1, 9 was written to Christians. You can't keep fellowship with God without confessing your sins. The Bible promises if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Prayer keeps our hearts clean and our relationships right. And finally, the Lord said, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. When you are weak, your enemy is strong. We need guidance and protection every day. Amen? We need God's guidance and if you pray, you'll have those things. This is what you're seeking in your life. I was thinking today and leading up to this message about the prayers in the Bible that had such great significance. Back in 1 Samuel chapter number 7, if you want to turn your Bible back there to the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, Samuel is just now entering the scene. You remember how his mother prayed that God would open her womb and God did and she made a promise to God that if he gave her a man child she would give him back to the Lord all the days of his life. She took him down to the temple, and there was a guy named Eli there who was serving, and Eli was old, and he was overweight, and he was blind, or he was going blind. And over a series of time, Eli ended up dying, and Samuel became the main prophet in the nation of Israel. And 1 Samuel chapter number 7 records this story, how that the Philistines had gathered together against the nation of Israel, And Samuel had challenged the nation of Israel to put away their false gods from among them, and the Philistines ended up gathering themselves to the place where the children of Israel were, and they came to Samuel and they said, Samuel, would you pray for us? Would you call unto the Lord?" It was a time of desperation. The children of Israel needed help. The people outnumbered them, the Philistines outnumbered them, and they had come to them when they were coming out to worship, they came unto them in a time where the children of Israel weren't prepared for battle, so to speak, but they'd come out to worship the Lord, and the Bible records Samuel's prayer in 1 Samuel chapter number 7. In verse number nine it says, and Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. You know, when do you cry unto the Lord, and what we learn from this story is when you are truly desperate for something, you'll cry to the Lord. What could cause you to cry to the Lord? Well, maybe it will be the sickness of a grandchild, a sickness of your spouse. A difficulty that comes, a prognosis or a diagnosis or something happens with your workplace. Oh, in 2008, I remember the economy crashed and I was a member of a church in Missouri and most of our men were men that worked with their hands. They were carpenters. They were plumbers. They were roofers. and the economy crashed, and nobody had money, and all I could tell you was those men needed work. They needed to have finances to, you know, most of them were not W-2 employees. That means they weren't really entitled to unemployment insurance. And when they started having financial needs, all I could tell you was, I saw some men who were believers in God who came down to the altar, and they hit the altar, and they poured out their hearts to God and said, Lord, we're trusting you. We don't know where our next dollar's coming from, but we're calling on you. And I could tell you this, God took care of all of those men. Every man who's willing to work will find work. Amen? If you're an able-bodied person, you want to find work, you can find it. You know you're never going to find work while you're sitting on blessed assurance. You'll find work by going out and finding work, and I can tell you as a man when my dad brought me up he made it sure that I knew that God made me capable of going out and finding work and I had to be humble enough to take it. If I don't have any other work to do, hey, I can push a broom. I can vacuum floors. I can clean bathrooms. I can cook some food. I can do something. I can do whatever is required. I can remember a day in my dad's life when he had to clean out sewers for $3.15 an hour. And the reason he did that was so that he could put his own food on his own table. That taught me something about a family man. And thank the Lord for good men who show their families how to work. That has absolutely nothing to do with my message. But it was a prayer of desperation, and God answered the prayer of Samuel here. In fact, he answered it in such a way, I was doing a little bit of study today and I won't bore you with all the facts on thunder. I remember as I was traveling through Missouri one time and a thunderclap shook me to the very core of my being, scared the living daylights out of me because of how loud it was. I actually felt like the compression of the thunder had gone off within my body. I learned today on Wikipedia and some other sources that if you're close enough to where a thunderclap goes on, it can cause permanent hearing damage. It can cause bruising in your body if you're close enough to a thing, a thunder. You know, thunder is a really, it's an incredible, scientists are still marveling at what thunder is. You know, you could see lightning, and then often the thunder clap comes thereafter. You can tell how far away you are by counting about five seconds. Every five seconds means it's about a mile away. But I was mesmerized as I was reading about the truths about thunder today and how hot that a stroke of lightning could be. And I think it was something like 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty hot. I don't think we could live under that, but aren't you thankful we serve a God who's in charge of the thunder? The Bible says this in verse number 10 of 1 Samuel 7, and as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel and the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them. And they were smitten before Israel. That word discomfited actually means to strike. I don't know all that this means, and I can't picture in my mind everything that happened. All I know is that they were coming down to the children of Israel, and as Samuel offered up that sacrifice, and that smoke went up, and as the prayer went up, God's answer came down. That's the way God works. Our prayers go up, and God's response has come down. We serve a God that's powerful. Samuel set up a memorial in 1 Samuel 7 and verse 12. He never wanted anybody to forget. He set up a stone how that God had helped them. He set up what he called an Ebenezer. We sing about that. Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hither by thy help I am come. Has God ever come down to help you? Many times God helps as a response to the desperate prayer that God's people word up to him. God shapes this world by prayer. Hezekiah's prayer in 2 Kings was no different. In 2 Kings chapter number 20, you read of a story of a man who was nearing the end of his life. It's recorded twice in Scripture, once in the book of Isaiah, and that was the prophet that God had used to deliver a message to Hezekiah, and once it's talked about here in 2 Kings chapter number 20. The Bible makes it very clear what was going on in Hezekiah's life at the time of this prayer. In verse number one it says, in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. He was sick and he was so sick he was about to die. And God sent the prophet Isaiah to him and he told him in verse number one, to set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live. You know, if you're preparing for death, and all of us are preparing for death, I would say the first thing you need to prepare for by way of dying is certainly not your finances or life insurance. You need to prepare for where your soul's gonna end up if you die. That's the most important possession that you have. Some people are sitting in here today and if you died right now, you don't know that you'd go to heaven when you die. I'm here to tell you by the words of scripture, you can know, you don't have to die lost. One of the greatest messages in all the Bible is this, God loves you and he doesn't want you to die and spend eternity in the lake of fire without him. God loves you, and He made a way for any sinner to come to Him through Jesus Christ and receive the forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven when you die. It's by grace. God paid your sin debt. If you don't have assurance of salvation, why don't you make the first Sunday your day where you say, hey, I'm not sure I'm saved, but I want to be saved. If you want to be saved, there's a God in heaven who's willing to receive you. The Bible says, him that cometh, I will in no wise cast out. Jesus calls to men for salvation. He says, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden. Are you tired of being lost? Are you tired of living in doubt? Christ can settle all that today. Salvation is in Christ. Now there are some things you should do to set your home in order if you're preparing for death. You know, sometimes you need to tell your family where you'd like to be buried. Sometimes you need to tell your family where all your assets are. Some men have not done a good job of telling their wives if they handle the bills, or some wives, they handle the bills, they don't tell their husbands about where all the assets are. You know, you need to be in communication one with another. Married couples, preparing, setting your house in order. That's a really good thing to do. I think that one thing people need to do as they're approaching those days where they know they're going on to glory, is you need to start offering some forgiveness and making reconciliation with people. You know, life is awful short to be carrying stuff like that to the grave. And there are also some people that need to say some things to their children. You ought to say those things to your children before you go on to glory. You know, if you're a dad and you had trouble, you're a part of that World War II generation and you had trouble saying, I love you to your children, why don't you cut that out? Your kids need to hear you love them. It's one of the worst things that you can do as an existence and being a dad and never telling your kid, hey, I love you. Your family needs to hear that. Same thing with you mamas, and I don't know how the Lord's working in your heart about this, but there may be people here today and you're preparing for those days when you're going to be meeting the Lord and there's some things you need to do to set your house in order. That's what Hezekiah was told to do. The Bible said in verse 2 that he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying, I beseech you, O Lord, remember now how I've walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight. And the Bible says Hezekiah wept sore. So there was a prayer of desperation worded by Samuel when the Philistines were attacking and God heard that prayer and helped the children of Israel. Now the Lord is seeing the tears of a man who's praying to Him. And I want to say this, God knows our tears. And as the songwriter said, tears are a language that God understands. There are people in this room who've cried even this week about something that's heavy on your heart. There's a God in heaven who sees. And in chapter number 20, the Bible says this in verse number 5, Isaiah had already passed on to the middle court, he'd left the presence of the king, and God told Isaiah, you turn around and go back and you tell Hezekiah. Verse number 5, the captain of my people, thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. God hears prayers, God sees tears, and the Bible said that He answered His prayer. He said, behold, I will heal thee, and on the third day thou shalt go unto the house of the Lord, and I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. God talks about defending the city for David his servant's sake. God had blessed David so many times even beyond his grave. I hope all of us are living a life where God can bless even when we're in the grave. That's a real blessing to leave upon your family. He lived a life where God will remember you. I hope one day when I'm in the grave, God will see something going on with my grandkids, or my great-grandkids, or my great-great-grandkids, and He said, you know what? I'm going to remember that Boo Jack. He loved me. He was faithful to me, and I'm going to raise up a child in that family to carry that name on. Oh, that would be a great blessing. You say, oh, God doesn't do that. Why don't you read 1 Kings chapter 15, see if God doesn't do that. Why don't you read this story right here where God said, I'm going to defend the city because of David, my servant's sake. David's been in the grave for a long time by the time Hezekiah comes around. I'm here to tell you, this is our God. God hears prayer. God sees tears. Tears are the liquid prayers of the soul, said Charles Spurgeon. When's the last time you wept before God? When's the last time something mattered to you so much? I say, Pastor, I've been praying, and when I first started praying about this burden, it seemed like I cried all the tears I could cry, and almost like the Lord dried up my tears. When God, or when something dries up your tears, it could be a sign of a hardened heart and a soul that can't be touched. I pray that the Lord never dries up my tear ducts for my children, for my family. Just the other day, I was sitting there with my family, sitting around a table right before we head back to Michigan. And as I was sitting there eating around all my family, I was just taking the whole thing in. We didn't have any empty seats around our table. We had one for my father-in-law. But all my kids were there. I had a grandson that was there. And I got some prayers that I'm praying for my family. There's things that sometimes my kids will never hear come from my lips, but God's hearing them. That's because this preacher is trusting in God. I'm looking to God for my help. The Bible says this in Psalm 121, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. I have a great God in heaven. And you know, our family has some hard issues. There's things that are going on that may not be so simple. They're complicated, but you know what? We serve a God that can unpeel the layer of that onion. We serve a God that can answer prayer. And even sometimes when you don't see what God's doing, God's working behind the scenes. And I can remember as I was sitting there, I had my little grandson on my lap and I was feeding him French fries. And I was praying for my family. And God brought tears to my eyes because of the emotional nature of it. I was just about to say goodbye. He said, folks, I don't know when the next time I'm going to see him, but I know this, God answers prayer. And you know, there's a part of God answering prayer where you are acknowledging you're not in control. How many of you realize this? Your children get older. You are not in control. When we know a God who's in control, may God help us to trust Him. We have a God that answers prayer. In Acts chapter number 12, we'll close with this story. In Acts chapter number 12, there was a situation happen at the beginning of the church. Jesus started his church while he was on the earth, but there in those beginning days, there was great persecution that came upon those churches. And in Acts chapter number 12, you find how James, the brother of John, was killed by Herod with the sword. And he took Peter and he put him in prison, and it was not Peter's time to die. And you've got a whole church that's gathering in order to pray for Peter. The Bible says in verse number 5 of Acts chapter number 12, and Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. If you read the story in Acts chapter 12, verses 5 to 17, the church collectively found out that Peter was in prison, and they said, we're meeting for unceasing prayer about our brother. They had a group prayer meeting, and everybody came together. And the Bible said that by a miracle of God, he sent an angel down there. The Bible says in verse 6, and when Herod would have brought him forth, he's going to kill Peter. 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 smote Peter on the side." See, that's scriptural to smite somebody who's sleeping in church. I'm just joking. He wasn't in church, he was in prison. But the Bible says that he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And the chains fell from off his hands. Why did this happen? Because there was a praying church. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bite on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he wished out, and followed him, and wished not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came unto the iron gate which leadeth to the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith an angel departed from him. Now 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 the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And we're not going to read the rest of the story. All I could say is the first church and in the first churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, they found it necessary to have some group prayer, corporate prayer. The whole church gathered together for prayer. We see what God did. You know, God works miracles through prayer. Corporate prayer matters. United prayer matters. Believing in prayer matters. Now, as we think about this praying that Jesus was teaching in John chapter number 11, I just want to ask you a question. Are you known by prayer or are you known by worrying? Worrying is the opposite of trusting. and faith. If your heart has been filled with worry and fear, and by the way, this world can produce a lot of that. You know, we live in uncertain times. We live in times where possibly nation rise up against nation. We live in a time where there's wars and there's rumors of wars and sometimes people's heart melt and people have nervous breakdowns and people faint because of fear. But God doesn't want you living in fear and He certainly doesn't want you living in worry. He wants you living in faith. You need to pray in faith and trust the Lord. Are you surrendered or are you just requesting? Are you desperate enough to pray? Some need to come today because prayer has been neglected. Maybe you've been neglecting prayer. Maybe 2025 wasn't known as a time or a season of prayer in your life. You can make 2026 different by saying, Lord, I'm going to make a commitment to be praying to you and trusting you. Some may need to come because they have a burden that's heavy to carry. And we know that the Bible talks about Jesus being able to carry burdens. He's a burden bearer. There's some of you, you've got things that are going on in your life and maybe nobody else sees it, but God sees. Why don't you let God help you carry that burden? Why don't you come lay the burden before the Lord? Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there, as the songwriter said. Some need to come because the enemy is pressing in. You know, the devil's fighting against the people of God. The devil's fighting against our families today. You know, prayer is a great, it's a great weapon that can be used against the devil, but it's often used in the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer is very important. I want to encourage God's people today. Won't you make prayer a daily part of your life? Why don't you renew your commitment to pray without ceasing and live a life that honors the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's stand together as we pray today with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Maybe you have something you need to bring before the Lord. In Jeremiah chapter 33 and verse 3, the Lord told Jeremiah, calling to me, and I will answer thee. Maybe you have something to pray about today. Maybe you have some sin to confess, or maybe you got to get right with the Lord. I want to invite you to come today. We're going to play this song called, Lord, I'm Coming Home. And as the music plays today, and we're about to sing this song, I want to encourage you. Give your heart and life to Christ. If you need to be saved, won't you come? If you need to get something right with the Lord or God spoken to your heart during the service, won't you come as we sing? I've wandered far away from God. Now I'm coming home. Maybe you need to make that renewed commitment to God. The paths of sin too long I've trod. Lord, I'm coming home. Yeah. Lord, I'm coming home Lord, I'm coming home Lord, I'm coming home Lord, I'm coming home Lord, I'm coming home I've wasted many precious years. Now I'm coming home. I now repent. With bitter tears, Lord, I'm coming home. Coming home, coming home, never more to roam. Open wide thine arms of love. Lord, I'm coming home. Let's be singing. I've tried of sin and strain, Lord. Now I'm coming home. I'll trust thy love, believe thy word, Lord, I'm coming home. Coming home, coming home, never more to roam. Open wide thine arms above, I'm coming home. One more verse. My soul is sick. My heart is sore. Now I'm coming home. My strength renewed, my hope restored. Lord, I'm coming home, coming home, coming home. Nevermore to roam. Open wide thine arms of love, Lord, I'm coming home. It's been good to be in the Lord's house today and it's great to see visitors with us and We thank you those so we have some that are returning visitors and we pray that God works greatly in your life this year in 2026 if you're a first-time visitor, thank you so much for coming to the Metropolitan Baptist Church, and it's our privilege today to have Brother Asim and Tina Rahim here with us, and they were involved in a Bible translation project with Brother Tom Gooday, who's now with the Lord. Many of you would know that Miss Crinney is normally sitting over here and It's brother Tom's widow and Tom had committed his life to getting the gospel to the regions beyond and the Word of God Translated and brother Asim was greatly used of God in doing that and we thank you from the depths of our heart brother Asim and when are you guys leaving to go back to Nashville? They're leaving to go back to Nashville, Tennessee tonight. You pray for that city and pray that God would use them as a light there and bless their children. And it's been great to be in the house of the Lord. I believe we have choir practice today at 445. Do I hear a nod of head or an amen or yes, that's true? Is there anybody who knows anything about choir today? You know something, Lily? What do you know? All right, there he is, Brother John, praise the Lord. Choir 445, brother. And then we have 6 p.m. evening service. If you can be back, please be back for our evening service tonight. We're traveling through the book of 1 Thessalonians and we're proceeding tonight. And so thank you all for being here today. First Sunday of 2026. May God bless you. Brother Tim, if you'd come and dismiss the service. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for allowing us to meet in your house today. Lord, we thank you for this message today about prayer. Lord, I pray that with this new year, Lord, that you'll draw us closer to you each day. Lord, we thank you for visitors today and repeat visitors. Lord, I pray that you'll continue to bless them and bring them back to us. Lord, bless each one that's here. Lord, I pray that you'll bring us back tonight. And Lord, just be with this new year. Lord, be with our families, be with our loved ones, be with our church. Lord, and bless it, help us to stay strong. Lord, bless our pastor, his family. Lord, we thank you for all they do. In Jesus' name, amen.