Amen. Turn with me if you would please back to Ephesians chapter 1 as we continue our series in this wonderful epistle. And I would like to read verses 16 through 20 of Ephesians chapter 1. Actually, we'll read verses 15 through 20. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. We looked last week about how Paul was so thankful for these Ephesians. And he was never sparse in letting them know that he appreciated them and that he thanked the Lord for them and that he prayed unceasingly for them. He thanked the Lord that they were born again, that they were experiencing, that they were children of God. He ministered among them for a very long time. Approximately three years, he ministered to these Ephesians. And it had been several years since he had seen them. Certainly they were on his heart. And there were two things that he heard about them that thrilled his heart. He heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus, and he heard of their love toward one another. So he says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, thanking the Lord for them. And he says, I also do not cease to remember you in my prayers. Paul here in this prayer, he gives three specific petitions for these Ephesians. He is telling them this is, I'm not only praying for you, but this is what I'm praying about. This is what I'm asking God to do for you. three specific petitions in verses 18 and 19. But before we consider those, it is very important and necessary for us to look at the foundation that undergirds Paul's prayer. The foundation that was his assurance that the Lord would indeed grant these things that he was requesting. This is Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. And I want to consider this morning two important truths about prayer that we learn from these words of Paul. And two important lessons that we all must learn, very practical lessons, very important lessons about prayer. But also we learn what is our greatest need. If you were asked the question, What is the most crying need of the church today? It would be interesting how many people would answer that. They would begin thinking possibly of material things. They would begin thinking possibly of, we need a better marketing program, or we need a more powerful teen and youth program, or we need this, or we need that. But Paul here identifies For us, what is indeed the greatest need for the church today? And what is your greatest need as a Christian today? And this need has never changed, regardless of society and how the culture has changed, regardless of everything else that is going on around us and the constant changes that we see. Our most urgent need, has always been the same, and Paul identifies that for us here. This is the foundation upon which Paul's petitions are laid. He identifies their most pressing need, and that is what he prays for. So the first thing I want to consider this morning is in verse 16, and it's very simply, when we look that Paul says, I do not cease in remembering you in my prayers. Paul was praying for these Ephesians. So this teaches us an important truth. And it may be a very challenging truth as well. That no matter what your circumstances may be, you always have the ministry of intercessory prayer. When Paul penned these words, we know he was bound in a prison cell, either in Rome or Caesarea. There is some debate about where indeed he was, but he was indeed in a prison cell. And although undoubtedly it was his desire to see these Ephesian Christians and to minister to them face to face, he knew he was not able to do that. He knew by the will of God, that he was locked up in a prison far away from them. However, Paul knew that he could still minister to them, however. His ministry to them and for their benefit had not ended simply because he could not be with them. His ministry to them had not ended just because he was now shut up in a prison cell. Even though he was far away from them, And even though he was in this prison cell, not knowing what his fate may be, he could still pray for them. And this is what he did. He told them that, I never cease to pray for you. He said, I always pray for you. I always remember you in my prayers. This is what Paul wanted them to know. I do not cease to remember you in my prayers. that he still had the ministry of intercessory prayer. He knew that his circumstances, no matter how difficult they may have been, his circumstances did not prevent him from ministering to these people. His circumstances did not prevent him from praying for them. You know, a pastor often said, that the best thing you can do for someone else is to pray for them. And he constantly emphasized the importance of prayer and the importance of the prayer meeting, of the corporate prayer meeting that we have every Wednesday night, and the importance of that private prayer, that secret prayer that we go into our closet and we pray. The best thing that you can do for your brothers and sisters in Christ is to pray for them. You see, Paul shows us that no matter what your circumstances may be, you always have the ministry of intercessory prayer. Every one of us has a ministry. And every one of us has a powerful ministry. And a very effective and helpful ministry. And it is the ministry of intercessory prayer. You may not, not everyone is called to be a preacher. Not everyone is called to be a Sunday school teacher. Not everyone is called to be a missionary or to be a church planter. Not everyone is called to be in a full-time Christian ministry. But everyone, if you are a child of God, you have been called to a specific ministry. And that is the ministry of intercessory prayer. You can minister to people no matter what your circumstances may be. You can do it at any time. You can do it at any place. You can do it under any circumstances. We are told in Scripture we are to pray continually. We should never cease to pray for one another. Do you want a ministry? Possibly you have been praying and asking the Lord, give me a ministry. I want to serve the Lord. I want to be of help to people. And possibly you have been waiting for the Lord to show you what you can do to open those doors of ministry for you that could possibly be your heart's desire. And that is a good thing. That is an admirable thing to pray to the Lord and ask the Lord to open doors of ministry for you. You may not know what the Lord has in store for you. It is a good thing to wait upon the Lord, to ask Him to use you for the benefit of others. But in the meantime, we need to understand He has already given you a ministry. He has already given each of us a ministry. And this is the ministry of intercessory prayer. Prayers of intercession, we know, are to be offered on behalf of all people. 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 3. says, first of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. And he goes on to say, this is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior. So we are to pray for all people. We are to intercede on behalf of all people. Do people around you and people you know have needs? and concerns or problems, facing difficult situations, then we are to cry out to God on their behalf. We are to intercede in prayer for them. And this pleases God, we're told in scripture. But here in Ephesians and throughout Paul's epistles, the emphasis and the focus is on interceding in prayer on behalf of God's people. our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is good and right to intercede in prayer for all people, but especially God's people, our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible gives us several examples of intercessory prayer for God's people. As we read Paul's epistles, we read constantly, Paul is telling his beloved people that he is praying for them, In Acts chapter 12, verse five, the church prayed fervently for Peter when he was in prison. It tells us, so Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. But of course, we know that Jesus Christ is the greatest intercessor of all time. His life on this earth was a life of intercession. His death on the cross was a death of intercession. His resurrection and his place in heaven today is a place of intercession. When Christ was on this earth, he prayed for his people constantly, continually. He would cry out to God on behalf of his people. In Luke chapter 22, verses 31 and 32, Jesus prayed for Peter. He said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Jesus prayed for his disciples, and he prayed for all of his disciples at that moment in time, but he also prayed for all of his people throughout all eternity who would believe in him. John chapter 17. Someone recently said here that all scripture is my favorite scripture, but this particular chapter in John chapter 17 particularly speaks to me. It is the word Jesus is high priestly prayer. He is, just ready to face his betrayal and face his arrest and face that cruel cross. But before he did, he lifted up his heart to God in prayer and he prayed for his people. He interceded on behalf of his people. Even at that moment in time, even under those circumstances, he ministered to his people. And the best thing that he could do at that moment in time was to pray for them. In John chapter 17, verse 9, Jesus said, I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And then he prays for them in verse 11. Holy Father, keep them in your name. In verse 13, he prayed that they may have my joy fulfilled in them. In verse 15, he prayed, I do not ask that you take them out of the world. but that you keep them from the evil one. In verse 17, he prayed to his father, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. And then in verse 20, he said, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. Verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me. In Jesus's ministry of intercessory prayer has not ended. He is our great high priest in heaven today. He ascended into heaven and he is seated at the right hand of God. He sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the saints. Jesus is interceding for His people even now. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says that He always lives to make intercession for them. If you are a child of God, Jesus interceded in prayer for you before you were ever born. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that wonderful? He prayed for me before I was ever in existence. He prayed for you before you were ever born. Before you were ever thought of, He knew you and He prayed for you. He interceded for you. And He is interceding for me and for you even now. He will intercede for me. He will intercede for you if you are His child. If you believe in Him, He will intercede for you until that day that you will see Him face to face. That you will see Him in all of His glory. That was His prayer in John chapter 17. And that will happen. What a wonderful ministry we all have. What a wonderful example we have to follow in Jesus Christ. the ministry of intercessory prayer. Never, ever take prayer lightly. It is the best thing, the most beneficial thing that you can do for one another. No matter what your circumstances, you always have the ministry of intercessory prayer. Paul said, I unceasingly remember you in my prayers. So what about you? Do you pray for God's people? Do you intercede on behalf of your brothers and sisters in Christ? In the book of Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 23, Samuel said to God's people, he said, ask for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord, by ceasing to pray for you. Intercessory prayer pleases God. Do you spend time regularly praying for others, especially your brothers and sisters in Christ? This is the best thing we can do for one another. It is a powerful ministry. It is a beneficial ministry. And it is a ministry that is pleasing to God. In James 5, verses 13-16. We're told, is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Do not underestimate the power of prayer. And do not underestimate or take lightly this ministry that God has given to you, this ministry of intercessory prayer. Charles Spurgeon commented on this passage in James chapter 5, on this admonition, this exhortation to pray for one another. He says, as an encouragement, cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer, remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears. For the prayer of Christ is of this character. In all the incense which our great high priest now puts into the golden censer. There is not a single grain for himself. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications. And the more like our prayer is to Christ, the sweeter it will be. Thus, while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit, more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation that we can offer to God, the very fat of our sacrifice. Remember again that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has brought. The word of God teems with this marvelous deed. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in your hand. Use it well. Use it constantly. Use it with faith. And thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren. The ministry of intercessory prayer. And I thank God that you pray for me. And I thank God that we pray for other people. Let's not take this lightly. Let's understand the importance of this, the necessity of this. Do not think that you cannot be a ministry to people. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are. It doesn't matter where you are, what place you're in, what time of the day or the night it is. You have a ministry. And it is the ministry of intercessory prayer. Let us pray for one another. This pleases God. This is the first lesson that we've learned as we see and read that Paul prayed continuously for his brethren. But there is a second lesson in this text, and it is found when we read what Paul prayed for. It tells us what we need more than anything else. And it tells us what should be the primary focus of our intercessory prayers. What is it more than anything else, that we should pray for other people. Paul identifies that here in verse 17, in the first part of verse 18. He says, he remembers them in his prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. Remember that this church in Ephesus, these Christians in Ephesus had many needs. They had many legitimate and necessary things that Paul could have prayed for. But in his words here, Paul tells the Ephesians that he is praying for what they need the most. He is praying for their most pressing need. We oftentimes think that we know what our great need is, but oftentimes we do not. It is like when we go to the doctor when we're not feeling well. We may think we know what is wrong with us, and we may think we know what the medicine is that we need, but when we get to the doctor, we find out, that's not my problem at all. And I don't need that procedure or this medicine, I need a different medicine. Because that is the most pressing need. It is striking as you read these words of Paul's prayer, that he did not ask the Lord to deliver them from persecution. And they were under severe persecution. He did not ask the Lord to give them good health. He did not ask the Lord to provide them with employment. and good jobs. He didn't ask the Lord that they might possess the wealth of the world and the riches of the world. He asked for none of this. Now, it is not wrong to ask the Lord for some of these things. But Paul knew that they needed something better. They needed something more. No doubt they had very pressing needs. But in Paul's prayer for them, we see Paul identifies what they needed more than anything else. And that is what he prayed for. And this is the lesson that we learned. That the greatest need of our church, and your greatest need as a Christian, is to have an ever increasing knowledge of God through the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, again, Verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. You see, Paul prayed that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. He prayed that they would know God. and that they would continuously know God better, that their knowledge of God would continue to increase and would continue to abound. He prayed that they would have a right knowledge of God and that that right knowledge of God would continue to grow and would continue to increase, that day by day and week by week, they would know God better. And he prayed that the Holy Spirit would do this. They needed a larger measure of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 16, verse 13, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come and guide his disciples into all truth. That is a ministry of the Holy Spirit, to guide his people into all truth. And by the way, there is truth. and the truth is in the word of God. Jesus Christ said of himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. All truth is found through Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us and guides us into all truth. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus encouraged his disciples to ask the Heavenly Father to give them the Holy Spirit. He said, the Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, in Luke 11, verse 13. And this is what Paul was praying for these Ephesians. Paul prayed for their greatest need, and this is our greatest need, to have a right and ever increasing knowledge of God through the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit. This phrase, a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Wisdom means understanding. It means that we know things. And revelation means literally to lay bare, to make naked. It means to disclose or to manifest something that was before unseen and unknown. This is what the Holy Spirit does. This is a prayer that they would understand God. that they would have a right understanding of God, more and more. That the knowledge of God, of who God really is, as revealed in His Word, His nature, His character, His attributes, all of this would be disclosed, that all of this would be manifested to these people. You see, our Christian life must be centered around this purpose. to know God as he is in truth, as revealed by his word, to correct our false and sometimes idolatrous ideas of who God is. There are many false and idolatrous ideas of God. They are very prevalent today. And some of them, sadly, are prevalent in contemporary Christianity. We could name them. Certainly there is atheism, but there is pantheism, which is now called New Age theology. There is nothing new about it. Pantheism is the belief that the essence of deity permeates everything, that the whole universe is God. An advocate of this New Age theology expresses it like this. Quote, in a sense there is no such thing as God. God does not exist. And in another sense, there is nothing else but God. Only God exists. All is God. And because all is God, there is no God. This is foolishness. It makes absolutely no sense. But there are people who have this idea of God. It is permeating. the thoughts and the minds of people who even profess themselves to be Christians. This is absolute nonsense, yet it is prevalent in our country. We know that God is eternal. We know that he is the creator of the universe, and he is thus separate from it, and he is transcended to it. There is also polytheism. It is the belief in many gods. And this, too, is prevalent in America today. Hinduism, for example, is making its presence significantly felt in America today. There is deism in all kinds of forms of it. Deism acknowledges the existence of a supreme being, but denies the biblical truth of the sovereignty of God over all things. repudiate the Bible as a revelation from God. And they assert that man must walk by, by light of human reason and experience. A French deist, Joseph Joubert said, God has withdrawn within himself and hidden within the bosom of his own being. This too is nonsense. It is idolatry. There was Mormonism, the religion of Joseph Smith. Mormonism denies the eternal God. Joseph Smith said, quote, we have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. He said, I will refute that idea and take away that veil so that you may see. Mormons also assert that God the Father, quote, has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man. The scriptures clearly teach that God is from all eternity. Moreover, he is not a man who possesses flesh and blood. He is a spirit being. You see, all of these things and more, we could list them on and on and on. These are false ideas about God. and they are dangerous. They are far more than dangerous. They are leading people to hell. They do not know God. They might be searching for God, but they do not know him. And this is what Paul is praying, that these Christians would know God as he is, as revealed in scripture. While we may not go to some of these extremes that I've talked about, we still, nonetheless, must be very careful that we have a right understanding of God. That we understand God as he has revealed himself in the word of God. You see, a little leaven, leaven it the whole lump. We must have a right understanding of who God is. It is very important that we know God as He is in truth, as revealed in His Word. The passage that Ron read this morning, I'd like you to turn to that, 2 Peter chapter 1, because it tells us how important this is. And it tells us the benefits, the blessings that we have through the knowledge of God. In the first few verses of 2 Peter 1, he talks a lot about knowledge, but it's not just any knowledge. It is the knowledge of our Lord. In verse 2 of 2 Peter 1, he says, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, our Lord. You see, grace and peace, They are ours in abundance through the knowledge of the Lord. Do you lack peace? Do you lack assurance of your salvation? Assurance of the grace that you've been given for now and for all eternity? We're told that these are found in abundance as we grow in knowledge of who our Lord is. and how loving He is, and how good He is, and how merciful He is to us. You see, there are practical benefits. There are blessings that come to us as we know God as He is, and as that knowledge grows and abounds day by day. In verse 3 of 2 Peter chapter 1, we're told, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Many people stop there. But through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, we discover that His divine power has given us everything we need, everything we need to live for Him, to live a life of godliness. But it is through our knowledge of Him. You see, have the power to live. God gives us the power to live and to live godly lives. He gives us His power. But it is not through our own striving. It is not through our own willpower. It is not through our own efforts. It is not through a list of spiritual disciplines that we try to exercise. But it is through knowing Him. The more we know Him, the more power he gives us to live for him and to live a godly life. Our primary, our foundational focus should be on growing in our knowledge of the Lord. And this was Paul's prayer. In verses five through eight of 2 Peter chapter one, Peter gives a list of qualities in which to grow in order to keep us from being ineffective and unproductive. But once again, he says, in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse eight, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The knowledge we are seeking of God is not simply a head knowledge. It is a heart knowledge. It is a knowledge that the Holy Spirit must reveal to us and must teach to us. As J.I. Packer emphasized in his book, Knowing God, he says, it is one thing to know about God, but another thing to know of God, to experience Him, to really know Him. The way we can tell if we have effective and productive knowledge of God is that we will increasingly grow in the fruit of faith, and goodness, and knowledge, and self-control, and perseverance, and godliness, and brotherly love. This is the fruit. This is the evidence that we know him personally. Can you see how this is our greatest need, to know God as he is? And you see, we never graduate from this school of knowing God. There are no graduates in this school. We constantly learn of God. He is infinite in his many glories and should excite and delight us more and more the more we seek to know him. Peter says, if we are lacking, this, it is because we have forgotten that we have been cleansed from our past sins, as he says in verse 9. So if the desire to know God has died out, we should ask the Lord, we should pray to the Lord to remind us of how lost we once were, to remind us of our destination if he would not have saved us. to remind us of what it cost Him to save us. Ask Him to rekindle the passion to know and love Him as our life's highest desire. That was Paul's prayer, to know Him and to love Him as our highest desire. Just from the first 11 verses of 2 Peter, chapter 2, or chapter 1, we learn about the Lord. In verse 1, we learn that God's righteousness is not our own, as granted as our precious faith. In verse 2, we learn that He gives us grace and peace, and He enables us to know Him. In verse 3, we've already looked at it, He gives us power to have everything we need to please Him. In verse 4, He has given us very great and precious promises. He has chosen us to participate in the divine nature. and to escape the corruption of the world. In verse 11, we're told that he will richly welcome us into his eternal kingdom. This comes through the knowledge of him. From the beginning of scripture to the end of scripture, we have the character of God. As we go to the word, we must go to the word with the intention of learning of Him, and to know Him better. And as we do, we will grow in our knowledge, and we will grow in grace, and we will grow in strength. If we make that the focus of our spiritual attention, all the rest of what He offers us will be ours in abundance. You see, it is vitally important for us to know God as He is. This is our greatest need. Not material things, but spiritual things. But notice, back in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul makes it very clear that this is wholly the work of God. In verse 17, He says, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit. This is not something that we have. It is something that God must give us. And then in verse 18, he prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened. We cannot enlighten the eyes of our own hearts. You see, God must do it. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a supernatural work. If we are to know God as He is, as He has revealed Himself in Scripture, and have an ever-increasing and growing knowledge of the Lord, the Holy Spirit must enlighten the eyes of our hearts. That word heart in Scripture, as it is used here, is used often as we use the word soul. It is the eyes of our souls will know God. It is the very core and center of our being. Only the Holy Spirit who searches the depths of God can bring this understanding and knowledge to our minds and our hearts. It is called a spiritual understanding because it is an understanding given by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You see, sin clouds our minds. Sin clouds our wills so that we miss and we resist the truth of Scripture. The Holy Spirit, however, opens our heart and unveils our minds so that we can understand what God has revealed in His Holy Word. Without the working of the Holy Spirit, we will not and we cannot know God as He is. We will go astray from the truth apart from the working of the Holy Spirit. So this is what we must pray for. the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit. You see, we have this ministry of intercessory prayer. Let us say, as Paul said, I do not cease to remember you in my prayers. And let us make the focus of our prayers, the primary focus of our prayer, that the Holy Spirit would move and come upon us mightily. Pray for the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit so that we might grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. This is what we need, more than anything else. So as we read Scripture, as we study upon it, or as we study it and we meditate upon it, as we hear the Word of God being preached and taught, we must pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal His truth to us. Apart from His powerful Word, in our hearts and in our minds, we will not understand it and we will not know God. But God said to his people, I will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. That is our primary prayer for one another. Pray for the powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit in this church. Pray for the powerful Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your own heart and in your own life. so that we might know God and serve Him. But also, let us always intercede in prayer for the lost, for those who are unconverted. You see, we must pray for the salvation of the lost. We cannot save a soul. Salvation is of the Lord. You must be born again, Jesus told Nicodemus. God uses his word. We must preach the gospel and we must pray that God will save them from their sins. Salvation is the powerful working of the grace and mercy of God through the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit. Let us close. Heavenly Father, we come before You in prayer, thanking You for Your grace and for Your mercy. Thank You, Father, for the Holy Spirit Father, I pray that you would impress upon us the importance of, really the necessity of praying for one another. This is the best thing we can do. And we all can do it. We all must do it. It pleases you when we do. And Father, help us to understand what it is we need more than anything else. Let us not pray for those things Or rather, let us not make it the focus of our prayer on those things that are temporal, but let us focus on that which is eternal. Father, we do pray for the powerful interceding ministry of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us that we might know you and love you more and serve you more. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.