Good evening, everyone. Please turn in the Word of God to Romans, Romans 15. And as you're turning there, I'm glad to see you. Trust the Lord will bless you here in our midweek prayer meeting. Beautiful weather that we're enjoying at present. A little bit of rain here and there. The spring sunshine It's lovely to see everything greening and blooming. Nice time of the year. Of course, some of you are seeing through to the end of your studies as well. Perhaps glad homeschoolers coming to an end and everyone tying things up. And that's always a good time as well for teachers, for parents, and well, for most of us. So it's good to be here. Romans 15 is where we are tonight, and we'll read from verse 20. We come in the middle of the week to seek the Lord together, to pray as the church ought always to pray. The church is to have a, be known and be marked as the house of prayer for all nations. And here in Romans 15, we see the burden of the apostle. If you go back a little further, you'll see him speaking about being called a minister to the Gentiles, but just reading from verse 20, he says, "'Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation, but as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see. They that have not heard shall understand. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. But now having no more place in these parts and having a great desire these many years to come on to you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you. For I trust to see you in my journey. and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go on to Jerusalem to minister unto the saints, for it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, Their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain, and I am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all, amen. And amen indeed, may the Lord bless the public reading of his precious and infallible word. Let's pray, let's seek the Lord and you pray with us and sincerely desire that God may speak to your own heart and minister to you, whatever the need may be. Lord, we are glad to be here with thy people, and we're glad to be spared, to have the health and strength to be in the place of public prayer, to gather with the saints and call upon thy name, and to have the opportunity to hear the Word of God, even the blessing of having it read to us. The encouragement of reading of this language of one who was so desirous is going from one place to the other, traveling hundreds and thousands of miles, driven by a sense of divine compulsion to take the gospel to every creature. And oh God, that the very spirit of the Apostle Paul, something of that may be found in us. We may not be called to traverse the world in the way that He did, but we pray that we still will feel the call to speak a word and season to them that are weary, to speak the gospel to the lost that we come across day by day, to bear a good testimony in our places of work, and to be faithful wherever we're found in home or beyond. We're glad, Lord, to be here. to sit under thy word and be encouraged. And we pray that that would be the case tonight. And we remember those that continue to need our prayers. Continue, Lord, to uphold our sister, Chris Trimble, sustain her, give her strength as she continues through treatment. We pray for Mrs. Elliott, also glad for almost daily noted improvement. We pray that thou will continue to raise her up and strengthen her. And others as well, there are many others. We pray that thou wilt draw near to each of them. We think of our sister Leanne as well, often in recent times has been with us. We pray that with some of her challenges you'd draw near and help and help the doctors to get to the bottom of her medical needs also. We ask Lord that thou wilt help us to appreciate, those of us with good health, help us to appreciate it. Help us to make use of it and help us, Lord, to daily wake up and raise our thanksgiving to God. We know not what a day may bring forth. And so we pray, Lord, please help us to continue to live and appreciate each day and redeem the time for the days are evil. We look upon the young in our congregation. We pray that their youth would not be wasted, that you would help them to, with their energy and gifts and talents, to put them into the hand of God, and that you would guide them and preserve them and empower them. Here tonight, Lord, we pray, give us rest in thyself, encouragement in the place of prayer, and that we might hear thy voice through thy precious word, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. want to encourage you tonight in a very selfish way. That is specifically to encourage you to pray for your minister, your elders, and for the other ministers and elders who will be in attendance right here in this very space next week. Most of you know that this will be our week of prayer. It is a week that is divided between seeking the Lord, hearing his word, being encouraged under the word, praying, and then giving ourselves to business. And the busiest days, of course, are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, in which usually the format is that there's a season of prayer in the morning and business in the afternoon. Well, this week is going to be a little different, slightly different, not major difference, but there's some, a burden among some of us that we would just double down in seeking the Lord. And so on Tuesday is going to be entirely given to prayer. There's going to be no business dealt with at all on Tuesday. And so we're going to be, those of us who are able, fasting, praying throughout the entirety of the day until the evening time. So we encourage you to be in prayer for us, that the Lord would help us and draw near to us in a powerful way and help us then with the business on Wednesday and on Thursday. And you see in the language of the apostle here, how he has a desire to encourage people in that regard, to pray for him. And he does so in the context of the burden of his ministry. And of course, the context of his ministry is different than ours. I made mention, if you go back to verse, really from verse 15 and following, he's noting his call to ministry, his call to minister to the Gentiles specifically in verse 16. And he makes mention of his desire to go to them as he makes his way to Spain. That's his intention and desire. And he's hoping to be able to go through and minister to those in Rome on his way. That's verse 24. But he has this present burden, of course, taking up his time and his energy that he intends to go to Jerusalem, verse 25, for he has received the collection that was to be passed on to the suffering saints in and around Jerusalem because of the famine and the struggles of their rejection from their community. So, he has a full life. Paul never sat still for very long. And he's traveling all across Europe from one end to the other. If you think of the places that are named here, on the one hand you have Spain, on the other hand you have Jerusalem. That's quite the distance, especially in the context of the ancient world. And it's all in relation to ministry. And so then he invites and encourages in verse 30, I beseech you brethren, Oh, I lay hold upon your lapel, as it were, and grab you to say, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. And he gives another reason, because in the midst of his ministry, especially as he head to Jerusalem, there are those opposing him, that he may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. So there would be profit. that the Lord would give help in these matters. And so he's not just assuming everything will go well, he is asking the saints, pray that things go well. Strive together in your prayers with me, and I feel the same. And when we come together to pray next week and we give these days for this particular endeavor, as the men come to preach to us and we seek the Lord in the place of prayer, we can't just assume everything will go well. I imagine most, if not all, have had the experience of what we, it may feel a little extreme in this language to use language like this, but it gets the sense, a dead prayer meeting, a lifeless prayer meeting, one in which it seems no matter how you try in yourself, there's a flatness within your own soul. And you can feel it across others as well. It's just this flatness, and it just seems everyone either is disengaged, uninterested, or just struggling to even call upon the Lord. And often in such prayer meetings you will have mature saints. who are able to come to the fore and really try to pray, but even they're struggling. They feel the flatness within themselves, and maybe, I can't imagine I'm speaking on my own here, we've all had something of that experience. And so we need the Lord, and we encourage others even to pray for the matter of prayer. I have said to you before, don't forget to pray for the prayer meeting. You come on Wednesday nights, pray for the prayer meeting. You pray for the Lord's Day services, and tonight, no doubt, that will be in our prayers. But pray for the prayer meeting itself. Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. The Lord needs to give help in these matters. So before anything can go forward, there needs to be a pause and a pleading, seeking the Lord. And this is what Paul wants from them. Not their goodwill, not their wishes and encouragement, but their intercession. And that's what I want from you. That's what I want from you, your intersection, to be praying for us. So I put this before you. I'm looking at verse 30, just taking the language, prayers to God, prayers to God. What are these prayers to God to look like? And how are we to be encouraged in our prayers to God in this regard? Well, first of all, there is the lordship that compels us. In verse 30, he says, and I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, He puts that at the head of his appeal. He's wanting them to strive together in their prayers to God for him, but instead of just saying, pray for me, which he does in other places, he begins by saying, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, he exalts, he lifts up, he puts in their vision the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. This is not about the lordship of Paul. It is about the Lord Jesus Christ and His cause. So as soon as you put that name and that title before God's people, a couple of things we can think about are relevant. We are compelled then because we have access. As we think about prayers to God and putting the Lord Jesus Christ before us, we see that we are compelled then to pray because we have access. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who enables us to come and pray. who gives us the sense of confidence and access to the Father. And so, thinking upon Him, putting Him there at the head of His appeal, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, the believer then comes to remember, yes, yes, is He not there to give us access? Are we not to utilize who He is and what He has done? Is He there at the Father's right hand to be ignored by His people? Is He ever living to make intercession for us that we are to ignore then the very business of intercession that He is engaged in? No. He is ever living to pray. We are to enter into those prayers and are encouraged in powerful language from His own lips. John 14, it's just one text among many in that very section, John 14 verse 13, "'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.'" So there's this ultimate desire to see the Father glorified in the Son. God's people are to enter into that desire, that ultimate aim, that the Father be glorified in the Son. that God would receive the praise that He deserves. We then come, whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do to that end. That the Father is glorified in the Son, if you ask anything that drives toward that end, and you do so in my name, you can be confident, that will I do." There's such encouragement there. Our Lord Jesus Christ took our nature, lived, died the most horrific, awful death on Calvary, bearing the burden of being the sin bearer. And now He's there pleading in the midst of His victory. And we come to pray tonight, right now, as He currently, presently, this very moment, is receiving the prayers of His people. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. So when you think about what I'm driving you towards, of course you can bring anything in here. But I'm encouraging you, pray for your minister, pray for your elders, and pray for the other ministers and elders and students and missionaries and so on that will be here next week. You're coming to God to say, Lord, please bless these men. Help these men, meet with these men, not simply for our own uplifting and encouragement, but again, why? For His glory, for His honor, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So we're compelled because we have access. We're also compelled because we have purpose. What are we praying for? Well, again, the context of the apostle here is specific in relation to ministry. That ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea. That I not be hindered. And this is something he had experienced before. If you go to, I think it's 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter two. Yes, 1 Thessalonians chapter two, verse 18. He talks about being hindered. That Satan hindered us. But if you look at the context of the passage, he seems to be pointing in the fact, again, the Jews being a hindrance wherever Paul went. But he sees a satanic influence through unbelief. He says, Satan hindered us. He's stopping. He's preventing. He's causing there to be difficulty as we try to progress to get the gospel out and do what pertains to the advancement of Christ's kingdom. And so this is the same. It's essentially the same thing. And we have a purpose then. We have a purpose to extend the kingdom of God, to be involved in the kingdom of God, to advance the kingdom of God by the preaching of the gospel of Christ. And so we're to pray then, thinking about our Lord Jesus Christ and seeing His victory and being driven by a sense of gospel purpose. Our Lord Jesus would have us pray about that which pertains to His own kingdom. So as he says here in verse 30, I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and he goes on then to talk about being delivered from those that hinder whose kingdom? Paul's? No. The Lord Jesus Christ's. It's His kingdom. It's the advancement of His cause that's under threat. Pray then that we're delivered. For His sake, pray for deliverance. And so it's the same here. Do you think Satan would not try to weary and discourage and distract God's people when they gather? I mean, they do here. We experience it here in Lord's days, Wednesdays, other things. Men gather next week to pray, ministers, elders, students, and so on, coming to give a concentrated effort to seek the Lord. Do you not think there may be hindrance? Of course. And we want to see the Lord help and advance. and forward his own cause." Again, writing to the Thessalonians, this time in his second epistle, the apostle encourages them in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 1, finally, brethren, pray for us. Why? Why pray for Paul? Because he is deflated and discouraged. Just make me feel better, Lord. It was always with this keen sense of his calling that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. even as it is with you. You've benefited from the running of the Word, the forwarding of the Word. What a wonderful thing when a community is turned upside down, as it were, because the Word just seems to run through hearts. and penetrate barriers and overcome obstacles. And no matter what the enemy tries to do, it seems that everything that even is done against the people of God falls out rather, to use the language of Philippians 1, onto the furtherance of the gospel. And when we live in times like that where it seems that nothing can hinder the gospel of Christ, the church is so encouraged, communities are so blessed. Beloved, we need such a time. We need such a time here, I need the Lord to break through my life, the life of the session, this church, and the rest of our sister congregations and the works that we associate with. But Christ is the reason, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a lordship there that keeps our focus, doesn't it? I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. It's for Him. It's about His cause, His Word, His intentions. That compels us then. But also the love that moves us. The love that moves us, not just the lordship that compels us, but the love that moves us. Because he says in verse 30, and for the love of the Spirit, and for the love of the Spirit. Oh, what a wonderful expression this is. A love of the Spirit. There's so much that could be said there about what it indicates, but a couple of things. We realize first that love is born of the Spirit. Love is born of the Spirit. Now you know this. There's the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. And at the head of the fruit of the Spirit is love. When we think about what the Christian life is, how you put your arms around the Christian life, what is it? How do you describe or give language to the believer's obligation to his God? Love. How do you do the same in relation to the believer's responsibility to his neighbor? Love. There's a lot involved there, and the Bible of course gives other details, but the Holy Spirit is what produces this kind of love. It's not natural. It can be reflected naturally. There's a certain form of it can be seen naturally, but the problem with natural expressions of love which can be very intense. I think sometimes Christians like to say, you know, your language sometimes it said, agape can only be produced and expressed by Christians. Agape. I think, well, it's clear you can't read the Greek text because that's not the case. It's not the case. It doesn't bear it in scripture. Agape can be expressed The Lord says about those that love them, that love them back. I can't remember the exact language, I think it's Luke 7. He uses the word agave. About those who aren't believers, they love them who love them in return. But I call you to love your enemies. So agape can be expressed and known within the natural realm, but it's not a love that is driven by, motivated, and culminates in the glory of God. It's not a love that is born of the Holy Spirit. And the indwelling Holy Spirit then not just gives us the feeling or sense of love, but directs it. And that's the point here. The apostle is expecting that the love of the Spirit The love that is born of the Spirit within their hearts will encourage them to do what? To strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea. If the Spirit of God is in you, it's going to produce something in you. It's going to produce prayer in you. We are told in Romans 5, verse 5, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. The experience of the love of God, the working of the love of God, is by the Holy Spirit. So have you ever had the feeling of, I'm struggling to love this person? Have you ever had that feeling? You know, you know that the weight of Scripture's bearing down on you, saying, love your enemies. And you say, I'm struggling to love this person. Why, why is that? What do you need? You don't just need a philosophical change. A perspective change. You need the Holy Spirit. You need more of the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that will produce in you that love. And this then, this love of the Spirit, this love born of the Spirit, will lead God's people into prayer for the apostle, for the preacher of the Word. For the one who is bearing forth the gospel." So the love born of the Spirit, but love is also binding the saints. The love of the Spirit binds the saints together. And so when he said that, he strives together with me in our prayers, he's seeing the unity of God's people. And the Spirit of God is what makes that. How am I joined to you, and how are you joined to me? Because you are. We are joined. Not simply by membership vows or whatever, or by the fact that we occupy the same space and given times through the week. That's not what we're joined by. It certainly shows commonality and so on, but the union, the mystical union of the people of God is produced by the Spirit of God that abides in every genuine believer. We are joined one to another. So the apostle describes it then as a body, and we are many members of one body. So love binds the saints together. Whenever saints are quarreling, it's not love being expressed, it's pride. Only by pride cometh contention. Fighting and squabbling and looking at things differently, and more not how we look at things differently, but how we react and respond and treat one another because we see things differently. And the Apostle writes to the Colossians in Colossians 2.2, he talks about their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love. And so he's looking for an expression of what the Spirit has produced. They are joined by the Spirit, then let that love of the Spirit be seen. It ought to be there. An impulse within us, the Holy Spirit beating and throbbing and encouraging us to feel that we're one in Christ. And in that then, we enter into one another's prayers, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. It gives legitimacy to corporate prayer in the sense that as one audibly prays, we enter into that prayer, and it's not insignificant. If we look at it in some, in just humanly speaking, we might say, well, if one person on their own prays to God, is it any different than if multiples do the same thing. And on one side, you might argue, well, in one sense, maybe it doesn't make any difference at all. And I think there are arguments you could say from Scripture, certainly there are encouragement. You think of how Solomon prays at the dedication of the temple. When Solomon prays at the dedication of the temple, he prays in light of expecting spiritual decline. He prays, he knows, he knows there's going to be dark times ahead for the nation. There's the dedication of the temple. And he knows there's going to be tough days ahead. And he, in light of that, what does he say? If one man pray toward this place, hear thy in heaven and forgive. Of course, that's a wonderful, wonderful depiction of Christ who can bear that as a mediator and pray perfectly that God might bless His people through one man, even the God-man. But the implication, of course, is that the prayers of one man are significant. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much James 5. But there's something to corporate prayer. And you see this borne out. Why do they gather together in the upper room? Just to feel better and feel safe? No to pray. Why do they assemble whenever Peter is imprisoned? Why aren't they just told, hey everyone, Peter's in prison. When you're praying before bed tonight, pray for Peter. Why are they found in the middle of the night, in a home, praying together? for Peter. Why? They understood there's something about the corporate body praying in unity, praying with one accord in one place. So, for the love of the Spirit, strive together with me. Does he mean when in your home pray for me? Sure. Does he mean when the church of Rome comes together to pray together? Absolutely. Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. There's also then the labor that unites us. That you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. We have the lordship that compels us, the love that moves us, the labor that unites us. That you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. labor. I use that word intentionally. It's a labor. Prayer is a labor. It doesn't feel like a labor, then what can I say? Either there's a problem with me, or there's a problem with you. Prayer at times is a labor. Unlike all labors, sometimes labor goes easily, right? Not every day at work feels as tough as other days, right? Sometimes you go into work and it's like the day goes quickly, everything seems to go well, things work, people respond, it all gets together, you get a whole ton of things checked off the list of things to do, and you have a day, you say, this was a productive day. Many of these, it doesn't matter what you seem to do, they're roadblocks. And people haven't done what needs to be done, and you've forgotten this thing, and this thing's broken, preventing the other thing, and whatever else. It's like you're hitting your head against a wall. And so that's the way it is with prayer. Sometimes you gather and it's like, prayer is easy. Sometimes in the morning when we call upon God, prayer is easy. It's like, this is the most enjoyable thing. I wish I had nothing else to do. This is wonderful. And other times it is a grind. Well, in the language you can see something of that. Prayer demands personal effort, that ye strive, strive. You can hear in that very word, don't you, the idea of agony. The real challenge of prayer, striving, laboring, wrestling, contending, straining the muscle, straining. You know what it's like to strain, young men do. Certainly those who like to go to the gym, you know, do your max and give yourself to, you can't do any more. What is it? To failure, that's it. That was the word I was looking for. Reps to failure. Well, what about in prayer? strive together with me." Not just a passing reference. Lord, remember Paul. And I'm moving on to the next thing. It's like really thinking about him regularly. Each time you come before God, and Lord, remember Paul. Give him his heart's desire. Give him the Holy Spirit. Take away the hindrances of the enemies. Let the word be powerfully used. Put him in positions of influence. Let souls be converted. Entering into the burden. Yes, contend. Our Lord Jesus, we're told in Luke 22 in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed, it says, I'm being in an agony, He prayed. Being in an agony, He prayed, more earnestly. And so there's that element of effort, isn't there? Strive together with me. Yes, prayer demands personal effort. Prayer invites collective partnership. Strive together. Paul doesn't say, I've got this. It's all good. The Lord's with me. And sometimes we say that, don't we? We talk that way. We say, the Lord's with me. Everything will be fine. I think sometimes there's an element of unbelief there. You could say it's faith. You know, I believe the Lord will be with me. Well, yes, maybe. But maybe you're being dismissive of an area that God wants you to put emphasis on. Where you actually say, you know, brother, I need your prayers. I need your prayers. That's what Paul was admitting. Strive together with me. Don't leave me on my own. Don't forget me, brothers. Strive together with me. And he writes to those in Corinth in 2 Corinthians. He says in the first chapter, ye also helping together by prayer for us. Helping together by prayer for us. So, prayer invites collective partnership. strive together. And also, prayer secures divine intervention. It secures divine intervention. You strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. It's your prayers to God. We're looking for God's help here. Your prayers to God that's implying the desire for divine intervention. I want God to come here. I'm looking for something specific from Him. God, pray. Pray with me to God for me. This is a strategy then, expecting God to answer prayer and give help. He didn't have an answer for those that did not believe in Judea. He didn't have strategy to deal with all of that. He's walking in there knowing in all likelihood there's going to be tremendous opposition. When he writes to those at Philippi, again he's imprisoned, and he's told them how already know basically saying like don't be discouraged this has fallen out rather onto the furtherance of the gospel as Philippians 1 verse 12 he goes on then a little later in that same chapter verse 19 for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ through your prayer oh get that through your prayer you God's people in Philippi God's gonna work here through your prayer. And so believing that, he says to those at Rome, pray for me. Please, your prayers to God for me. So this is what we ask for. This is what I'm asking for then tonight. I'm asking you, pray for us. Pray for me. I selfishly ask that of you. Pray for me. Especially as we look at this week. I need the Lord. I need his help. And so do all the men, every one of us. We're not above needing divine intervention, far, far, far from it. So we've seen tonight the lordship that compels us, the love that moves us, and the labor that unites us. So let us strive together in prayer. Ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. May the Lord help us. Let's sing. Think about what we're singing.