Well, turning your Bibles to John 15 tonight, as you're turning there, there was two ladies that hadn't seen each other in a very, very long time, and they met at a coffee shop and grabbed a latte. One of them said, I thought I'd let you know the news. I just got married. And her friend said, oh, that's great news. She said, no, it's bad news. He's ugly. She said, oh, that's bad news. She said, no, it's really good news because he's rich. She said, oh, well, that's good news. She said, no, that's really bad news. He's stingy. She said, you're right, that's bad news. She said, no, it's good news. He built me a new house. Really? Yeah. Well, that's great news. She said, no, that's bad news. It burnt to the ground. Oh, that's terrible news. That's terrible bad news. She said, no, that's really good news. He was in it. That was rough, wasn't it? Wow. Boy, you're really piling on the guys tonight, Preacher. I know you can turn that one any way you want to. I thought I'd be smart. I heard it the other way, but I changed it to two ladies because I'm not dumb. I've got to go home with my wife tonight. Oh my. John chapter 15 tonight, we've been talking about the abiding life. Every Christian ought to live the abiding life. You can never be the person that God has saved you and designed you to be apart from abiding in Christ. The Christian life will never be what it ought to be unless you're abiding in Him. The Lord, before He went back to heaven, is going to spend that evening with the disciples. He begins in the upper room. You start in chapter 13. You go all the way through chapter 17. There's the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus. We call this the upper room discourse, but actually, He's going to leave the upper room after chapter 14. He's going to move through the Kidron Valley by the vineyards, and as He's moving through the vineyards, He begins to tell them the parable of the vine and the branches. We learn that you and I are vinewood. We know that in that particular parable when we were studying it in John 15, in the very outset of our preaching through the abiding life, that the Lord is teaching us that He is the true vine. He's not a counterfeit. Aren't you glad? Anything other than Christ is a counterfeit, not worth living for. And so he tells us in this point, I am the true vine. And then he tells us that his Father is the heavenly caretaker, the husbandman, that He's at work in our lives. And that you and I, believers, we're the vine branches, that we are connected to the vine and that we are to abide in the vine because it's through abiding in the vine that the branch draws forth the necessary nutrients and life-giving sap to do what vine branches are designed and created to do, and that is to bear fruit. You see, Christian, God has designed you to bear fruit for His glory, but the reality of it is that you cannot bear fruit except you're abiding in the vine. It's impossible. So we find that a fruitful Christian is an abiding Christian and an abiding Christian is a fruitful Christian. And then we saw in our passage that we looked in verse number 11 and we found that a by-product of the abiding life is a joyful life. And Jesus talked about His joy in us and our joy being full. And if there is an indictment against Christians in our day, it's a lack of joy. And friend, can I tell you, the root of a joyful life is abiding in Christ, is I am walking with Him and I'm being what God has created and designed me to be. Then out of that flows true joy. And then we've noticed beginning last week, and we're going to finish up this week, that the abiding life is also a prayerful life. You're going to find that throughout the Upper Room discourse, the Lord begins to talk to them about this matter of prayer, and the importance of prayer, and communing with Him. And he tells us, if you would please, in verse number 7, because that's our key text verse tonight, we're going to work our way through a few verses. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, there's union and communion. Ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Hearing as my Father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye." That word continues, the same word abide. He says, remain, abide ye. Continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. And then he talks about the joy. that comes to our lives, these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." He said, "...This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this. And a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends." What a statement! You do whatsoever I command you." Now, notice he didn't say, you're my children, my sons and daughters. No, he's not talking about salvation here. He's not talking about relationship. He's talking about fellowship. Fellowship. Friendship equals fellowship. There's a closeness among friends. And the Lord said, you're my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command you." And in the midst of that is the matter of prayer. An abiding Christian is a praying Christian. Let's pray. Father, as I bow before You tonight, I thank You for the truth of the abiding life. I thank You for the reality of the abiding life. I pray, Lord, that we would learn great truth tonight about prayer and being prayerful as Christians. And I pray, Lord, that it would be an integral part of who we are and what we are as believers. That, Lord, we would recognize that it's our lifeline, it's our connection, it's our communication with You. And I pray, Lord, tonight that You would teach us Your truth, grow us in Your grace, change us, Lord, and help us to be more fruitful for Your glory. And we'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Well, we've been talking about this matter of abiding, and we found that that word abide is a very key word throughout our passage. It has the idea of remaining in fellowship with, of walking with the Lord, of abiding in Him. And part of this, or an integral part of this matter of abiding in the Lord Jesus is this of prayer, of being in communion with Him. with the Lord. I'm talking to the Savior. It's a very living relationship, a very real relationship as we connect with the Savior through prayer. And we found already that prayer has purpose. And we saw that over in chapter 14 as he talks about this matter of prayer. He'd already mentioned this to them and talked to them about prayer even prior to. Look over at chapter 14 and verse 13. He said, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. We like that part of the verse, we do. Well, we ask something and we get something. But in reality, do you realize, that's not a blanket promise, it's a conditional promise. The Lord is saying to us, Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. Why? That the Father may be glorified in the Son. that we recognize that prayer is not so much a matter of what I desire as what God desires for me. Of realizing that all prayer ought to bring glory and praise and honor to the God of heaven. That the Lord Jesus came not to seek His own honor, His own glory, but the honor, the glory of Him that sent Him. That's what He said. He said, the honor of Him that sent Me. He says in John 17, glorify Me with the same glory that I shared with thee from the beginning. And then he talked about that his desire was that of glorifying God. And the reality is, dear child of God, that you and I are to live every area and every aspect of our life, not for our benefit, not for our convenience, not for our gladness, but for His glory. Amen? 1 Corinthians 10.31 is our theme verse for the year. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all, not just part, not just some, not just most, but all to the glory of God, the Bible says. And so, my prayer should glorify the Lord, and it should make much of Him. And I believe the reason a lot of our prayers go unanswered is because that we're praying for our benefit rather than for His glory. And then we come not only to find that it has purpose, but we're going to find that it has power. It has power. Look down, if you would, in verse number 14. He follows up with another statement. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. You ever notice that that word, anything, is all-inclusive? Do you realize that prayer is the most powerful force in the universe? Do you realize that? You say, preacher, why is that? Because it connects us with the most powerful person in the universe, and that's God Himself. R. A. Torrey in his book on prayer, he said prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's infinite grace and power. He said all that God is and all that God has is at the disposal of prayer. But we must use the key. That's what he's saying. Prayer can do anything that God can do, and since God can do anything, prayer is omnipotent. Frank, can I tell you, nothing is outside the bounds of prayer and asking and believing God for His glory that God might work in our behalf on earth. Aren't you glad that not only does prayer have purpose, but prayer has power? And then tonight, thirdly, we're going to notice that prayer has a prerequisite. It has a prerequisite. And we saw that in the verses that we read. Notice he says in verse 7, "...if you abide in me and my words abide in you." We realize that through his word that God talks to us. Aren't you glad that God speaks to us through his word? And that we talk to Him through prayer. You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. And then He talks about fruitfulness. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. And then He begins to talk about this matter of obedience. Can I help us to understand that an abiding Christian is an obedient Christian? The abiding life is living in unbroken fellowship with the Savior. And it flows out of our prayer life. You're going to find that obedience and prayer are vitally connected together. You cannot separate them. They go together. We're going to see that. And you're going to find here that he's talking about this obedience to the Lord, and it flows out of my fellowship, my walk with Him, and my love for Him. Look, if you would, verse number 9. He's going to bring in this matter of obedience. Look what he says. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my... He says, I want you to live in the reality of my love. Christian, listen, never lose sight of the fact that Jesus loves you. There are times that we go through hardship, we go through difficulty, we have the rough patches of life, things are not going our way, and it's in those moments that the slanderer will come to us, and he will begin to slander God to us. If God cared about you, if God really loved you, if you were valuable to God, you wouldn't be experiencing this in your life. The reality is that, friend, listen, all of us are going to go through rough patches of life, and I'm sure glad that God's love through all of that never fluctuates and it never changes. There are times that we maybe feel like God loves us less, but God loves you with all the love that's within Him all the time. Do you realize that if God's love ever fluctuated, if God ever loved you more, or God ever loved you less, and He loves you right now, He would cease to be God. Because He's changeless. I'm reminded of the story of Spurgeon visiting one of his young preachers out in the country and as he did so, they noticed that they had taken an old barn and they had renovated it into a church and at the top of it was a weather vane and in that weather vane were three words, God is love. He asked that young preacher, he said, are you telling me that God's love is fluctuating and fickle as the wind? And he said, oh no, Mr. Spurgeon, that's not at all what we mean by that weather vane. What we mean is that God always loves no matter which way the wind blows in our lives. And friend, no matter which way the wind blows in your life, He always loves. But then we come to our love for Him. He said, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. Isn't that interesting? Then he comes down and he says, this is my commandment that you love one another. And so he's going to tie this matter of obedience and love together. How important it is to understand that God is not interested in pious platitudes. He's going to say about the disobedience of a man by the name of Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of lambs. Here's what God's saying. More than the pious platitudes that you can offer Me in worship, if you love Me the way you say you love Me, you will obey Me. That's what God's saying. That love for God is not a sentimental thing. It's not a mushy thing. It's not a touchy feeling matter. We may feel all kinds of love for God, but if we're in disobedience to God, Jesus says this, You do not love Me. Love for God is a very concrete matter. It's not so much what we say as it is what we do. It's not so much what we declare as what we demonstrate by how we live our lives. He tells me, If you love Me, then keep My commandments. Obedience to the Lord is a testimony of our love for the Savior. It should be a priority in our lives. There was a missionary translator, and he was having problems finding the right word for obedience in the native language that he was seeking to put the Scriptures into. And obedience was a virtue that was in that particular culture was seldom practiced. And as he returned home one day, he whistled for his dog. And when he did, the dog came running at full speed, and the old native looked at him. Seeing this, he admiringly said, Your dog is all ear. Immediately, the missionary knew he had His Word all ear, that obedience is being all ear to God. We're saying, God, whatever it is that You desire, whatever it is that You want from my life, whatever it is that You command me from the Scriptures, I recognize that His commandments are not grievous. They're not to harm me, but to help me. They're not to limit me, free me that I might live my life successfully for Him. And Jesus is saying to me that if you love me, then you're going to do what I tell you to do because it's best for you. That's a pretty powerful thing, isn't it? It's priority in our lives. And then you're going to find that not only is it a priority in our lives, but it proves our love. Look back at chapter 14. Look at verse number 15. We're all in the same discourse. The Lord is tying together, piece by piece, these important, vital truths to His disciples. And He says to them in verse number 15, If ye love Me, keep My commandments. How do I remain in fellowship with God, preacher? I obey Him. I live in obedience to God. I seek to please Him with my life. Look down, if you would, verse number 22. Excuse me. Let me find it. In verse number 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. You know what he's saying? When you love me and you obey me, I'm going to come to you and I'm going to fellowship with you. That's what he's saying. Can I tell you the gospel of the grace of God lifts us to a higher plane of living? It is not a matter of have to. It's not that I have to obey, but I want to obey. It's not a sense of duty. This is what I must do as a Christian. No, it is a matter of devotion. God, I love you because of all that you've done for me. And that should foster within us a desire to do that that pleases our Heavenly Father. It proves the sincerity of our love. By the way, how you and I obey is a reflection of our love for the God of heaven. Amen? Because there's nothing that will short-circuit our prayer life quicker than a disobedient life. I'm gonna go back a little bit to when I was young, and one of my favorite things, we'd go on vacation, was to go to a place that had bumper cars. How many of you remember bumper cars? They still have those things. I wouldn't do it today, because I'm old and I'd get whiplash, but anyway. You get in the bumper cars, and you're in this room, and you got these bumper cars, and my favorite thing was ramming, I really didn't care if I rammed anybody but my sister. I have two of them, but my middle one was closest to us in age, and I'm 11 years between myself and the youngest, and so the middle sister, she's just a few years behind. Always competition. Always trying to give the other one whiplash. in reality. But you get in this little car that operates off of electricity and in that little bumper car that's got these bumper guards around it that you hit and bounce off of, there is a pole that goes up and it connects to an electrical screen at the top and the power is going up and it's empowering this whatever that wire screen is at the top and it's connected to it and as long as you're connected, I mean you can drive here, drive there, forward, reverse, sideways, hit, get knocked backward, but you know what's interesting, it didn't matter how much you were jarred and knocked and hit and all of that, as long as the pole stayed in touch with the power, it would flow through into that car and it would power, and it would give it power, and it would enable it to go, and it would propel it. But if that car, if you ever bumped it, and it went off sideways, and it derailed, so to speak, and that pole may have just been, just barely, maybe an inch away from that power source. I mean, just, it was close, but wasn't touching. It was disconnected, and no power could pass. And in the same sense, friends, sin disconnects our fellowship with God and no prayer can pass. Psalm 66 verse 18, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. That word regard means to see and know it's there. That there is a sin that's in my life that is now unconfessed. God has brought it to my attention. I regard it. I see it. But then I ignore it. I see it. I cover it up. I see it. I fail to confess it. It's at that moment that we have been derailed, so to speak. We're no longer in connection to the power source. And no prayer can pass. Can I remind us that it's not just those things that we do that we shouldn't? But friend, it's those things we should do that we haven't. No wonder David said, search me and know my heart. Try me. God, I don't want anything in my life that's going to derail me. I don't want anything in my life that's going to disconnect me from You. I don't want anything in my life that's going to hinder the power source and the fellowship with God. I don't want anything in my life that's going to hinder my walk with You. Friend, listen, if you're here tonight and God's touched an area of your life and you've not dealt with it, I can promise you that it's derailed you. And as we measure sin, we may say, well, it's just a little sin. Oh, it's not really a bad sin. Oh, but if it's disobedience to God and we regard it, God said no prayer can pass. The Lord will not hear me. God's not going to hear a disobedient child ask for that which is his own selfish desires. Can I say this, and I want you to jot it down because this is very important. Prayer is not just something we do. Prayer is not just something we do. Prayer is the outflow of who we are. Prayer is not just a check on my daily list. Although I have a daily schedule, and that's on the top of my schedule, is that I spend time with God, but I realize that there are days in my own spiritual life that it's just a check mark. It's just what I did, rather than the outflow of who I am in Him. Prayer is not just an exercise to check off of my to-do list as much as it should flow out of my daily walk with the Lord. When it comes to my wife, communing with her or our relationship is not a checklist. Okay, I spoke to my wife today. Check. I told her I loved her today. Check. It's not just what I do. Our relationship is the outflow of who we are when we gave our lives to one another and pledged our love to one another over 30 years ago. And it's an outflow of who we are in that relationship. And no matter how long you've been saved, understand, it is not a task. It is an outflow of a walk with God, of a daily walk with the One who saved you and who lives within you and whom you're to fellowship and commune with and live in His presence in a daily manner. This thing with God's presence isn't just a Sunday thing or a Wednesday thing. It's an everyday thing. When I'm right with God, then my prayers are right. When I'm wrong with God, then my prayers are wrong. And so we find that prayer has a prerequisite. And then we move forward to another thought very quickly. Prayer has parameters. Look what he says in verse 7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you. That's an important phrase. My words abide in you. Remember, God speaks to me through His Word. I speak to Him in prayer. It's called communion. God's Word creates the parameters in which I pray. Notice over in verse 3, would you look over there? He said, Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you. God's Word has a cleansing effect upon our lives. It helps us to meet the prerequisite of prayer. When I bring myself in alignment with God's Word, then that brings me into fellowship with God. And it opens and clears the prayer line so that I'm in touch with my Heavenly Father. And Jesus said that when we're obedient to Him, that He and the Father through the Holy Spirit will come and make His abode with us. He will fellowship with us. I've been amazed when I preach through the book of 1 John, how much 1 John is really an outflow of all that the Lord said, an expansion of all that the Lord taught in this discourse of chapters 13 through 17. And John, through the Holy Spirit, is going to say this in 1 John 5, verse 14, If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. Well, where do you find the will of God? You find it in the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. He that turneth his ear... Proverbs 28 verse 9, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination. It creates the parameters of prayer. The better we grasp the Word of God, the greater our grasp of the will of God. You realize there are certain things in your life, Christian, you don't have to pray about. When it comes to this matter of sharing the gospel, sharing your faith, that's not, well, Lord, let me pray about that. No, that's a command. It comes to this matter of giving to God. Well, let me pray about that. No, tithing is commanded. Being faithful to the house of the Lord, three to thrive, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. That's not a suggestion from the Lord. We're to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. That's a command. I don't pray about whether or not I'm going to come to church. I do that. It's obedience. reading my Bible, living my life in obedience to Him. There are certain things that God has clearly spelled out in His Word that is His will for my life, and I don't have to pray about whether or not I do it. I do it because God has asked me to do it, and I love Him, and I want to please Him with my life. God's will is not some mystery that you have to solve. God's not playing hide and seek with His will. God's not trying to withhold it until finally we can twist His arm behind His back that He will show us His will. No, He wants you to know His will. I'll give you a couple of verses. Ephesians 5, 17, Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Colossians 119, Paul prayed for the Colossian believers as well as for you and I, that we might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom, that you and I would discern and know the will of God. But I'm here to tell you, listen to me, you and I cannot, we cannot know the will of God apart from the Word of God. We cannot. And you say, well, preacher, what about those things in my life that may not be in the Word? Because the Bible doesn't say marry this person or don't marry that person. Well, in some ways, and in a very real way, it does. Because God says that you're to marry in the Lord. If that person doesn't know the Lord, then guess what? They're off limits. I'm not to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever, God says. Now, it may not tell me the specific person, but it does lay down parameters that that person needs to fit. What I do in life, where I go to college in life, if I go to college, or what trade I go into in life, or whether I'm going to buy this house or that house, that car or this car, whether I'm going to do this or that. And you say, well, preacher, God doesn't say buy the yellow one. How do I know? Well, there's where it comes back to if I will do what He's plainly revealed in Scripture, He will make known to me in a very real and vivid way what is right for my life that may not be revealed in Scripture. That there's the voice that says, this is the way, walk you therein. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts and mind, the Bible says. as you and I are obedient to the Word of God, which lays out the general will for our lives, and we do what God has told us to do here, it opens the door for us to be in tune with Him and to fellowship with Him, that we might know His peace, that through the circumstance, through godly counsel, and through the peace of God in my heart, can determine the specific will of God for my own personal life. I know that I'm the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church as much as I'm standing here. You saw a preacher, I know, we voted you in with 90-some percent. I don't know if it was 98, 90-something, I'm not sure. I know I only got the small percent. My wife sang that day and she got 90. That's what it said on that little paper. It wasn't a vote of a church. It was the appointment of God. the peace of God that I'm to come here and this is my place of ministry. That's the only thing that keeps anybody doing what they do, is knowing God placed me here. God put you here. God brought you here. Through whatever circumstance and situation, God has, and you believe this is the place where you're to worship and serve the Lord. God through a series of circumstances brings my wife into my life. It was an unbelievable set of circumstances that happened. I didn't even know she existed. We went to the same high school at the same time and I didn't know her and she didn't know me. Go back home and through a series of circumstances I meet one of her sisters. I need a wife, she needs a husband. She didn't know I existed. I said to her sister, I said, do you have any more sisters? She said, as a matter of fact, I do. And that's when I met my wife. I was just praying and trying to seek the Lord's will. God brought her into my life. And then my grandma said this, you better not let her get away. And I said, yes ma'am. The moment my godly grandma said she's the one, I nabbed her. Godly counsel and the peace of God. That this is who God created for me. Wait on the Lord. God will never give you peace to do anything that contradicts His Word. Let me just leave you with this thought and I'm going to give you the last one and we'll be done. The prayer that gets to heaven is the prayer that starts in heaven. When I can know the mind of God through His Word, and I begin to pray back to God His desires for me, for my family, for the ministry that God has brought me into, I can know that the prayer that gets to heaven is the prayer that starts in heaven. Prayer not only has a purpose and a power and a prerequisite and a parameter very quickly tonight, it has a product. Look at verse 16. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. We've learned this morning in this morning's message out of Ephesians 1, that any time you see the word chosen in the Bible, don't automatically say that God's chosen someone to salvation, because that's not true. That's not what this verse is all about. We've already learned that context means something. And God's dealing not with salvation and relationship, but fellowship and fruitfulness, the abiding life. And He said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. For what? He tells us, "...and ordained you." I've appointed you. that ye should go and bring forth fruit." It is a choosing to fruitfulness that God separated this group of men out of all the other disciples that followed Him. These eleven men, because one of them, Judas, was never saved to begin with. He was never part of this group. And we find this eleven. He's saying to them, I've selected you out of all the other followers as my apostles, so to speak, and I've appointed you that you'd go and bring forth fruit. Now we can bring that back down. The moment you trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, God has now appointed you that you should go and bring forth fruit. And He says that your fruit should remain. Notice what is attached to this verse. that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you." Do not separate the first part of the verse from the last part of the verse. Don't just reach in there and pull out that little last phrase about whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you, without understanding the context in which the Lord has given that. He's saying that the fruitful life is a prayerful life and we're never more powerful in prayer than when we're praying for the work and the will and the ways of God to go forward. That's what he's saying. That we need to be praying for God's work to be accomplished in my personal life. That Christ would be formed in me. That I would walk in His will. That I would walk in the light as He is in the light. That I might have fellowship with Him. That I might yield myself as an instrument of righteousness unto God. Praying for my own personal life that I might be in tune with and that I might be in alignment with the will of God that His fruitfulness, that His fruit might show forth in my own personal life. Are you praying for your fruitfulness as a Christian? Are you praying that Christ might be formed in you? Are you praying that you can be more and more like the Lord Jesus and less and less of who you are by nature? Are you praying that He might show forth in your life? That others might see Him in you? Are you praying that you might die to Seth and live unto God? Those are the things. I need to be praying that His work might go forward in my life because God's at work in me as His child. How about our church life? To bathe this place in prayer. Have you prayed about today? Have you prayed for me today? Have you prayed for our choir? Have you prayed for our musicians? Have you prayed for your Sunday school teacher? Have you prayed for the children's church worker that's going to teach your children? The teen Sunday school teacher that's going to invest in your teenager? Have you prayed for them today? Have you prayed for the nursery worker that may care for your child? Have you prayed for the First Impressions team that will connect with people the first time they walk through our door? Have you prayed for the person that God will bring here on a Sunday that doesn't know Him? Oh, I don't have to know their name. I just know that God's going to fill these seats on a given Sunday, and He's going to send people here to hear the gospel message, and I want to pray for them. I don't know who they are, but God knows who they are, and He's going to send them through a set of circumstances into this place to hear the gospel. Have we prayed for them today? Have we prayed for our fellow believers that God's will might be accomplished in their life, that Christ might be formed in them? Have we prayed for the ministry of our church outside these walls? I think if we'd think a little bit, it sure would stretch our prayer life and our prayer time. What do you think? Let me ask you this. Have you prayed for the world today? Oh, a while back we gave you a missionary prayer card. Did you pray for any of them today? Or this week? Have you prayed that God might do something in South Africa? Have you prayed that God might do something in New Zealand? Or in Big Timber? Or Haverhill, Massachusetts? Or maybe Thailand? Have you prayed for any of them this week? Have you prayed that the gospel would go forth? Have you prayed for their safety? Have you prayed for their protection? Have you prayed for God's provision in their life to meet their needs? Have you prayed for the struggles that they face as missionaries on a foreign field or in a different area? Have we prayed for them? Or has all of our prayers been for us? I'm just asking. Because the Lord is praying for fruit. He raised up Calvary Baptist Church that we may bear fruit. And part of that bearing fruit is not just the support of a missionary through the giving of an offering. And can I just say that when I praise the Lord for everybody that's involved in giving to world evangelism through our local church, and I rejoice in that as we gave, in excess of $270,000 last year to missions above the tithe and offering. And I say to God be the glory. But our responsibility did not end with us putting our money in the offering plate, however that happens today. Whether it come through here cyberly, or you put it in the box, or however it happened. It didn't end there. Oh, I'm preaching to me. Would you think that there's somebody in the world that's never heard the gospel that needs to hear it? That maybe those 100,000 French Creole scriptures that went to Haiti, that we need to keep praying for them, that they go into people's hands that need them desperately to be saved. That God wants to use that. Listen, fuel that through prayer. And then praying for other people's hurts. Folks, there's a product in prayer because God works in answer to prayer. Be the person that God can use to pray for somebody else and things get done. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man, a righteous woman availeth much. I'm just going to ask you this, and I'm going to give an invitation. How's your prayer life? Because an abiding Christian is a praying Christian. Let's stand to our feet with our heads bowed and eyes closed. God's spoken to your heart tonight. You come. You come. Father,