because of your steadfast love. So notice the first thing. I think we see two things actually in Paul's prayer here. We see the form of what our prayer should look like, as well as the content. Okay, so there's something about the form, and I want you to notice the form first, which is thanksgiving in light of God's redemption. Now I'm curious, when we give thanks, I hope we give thanks all the time, but what do you typically give thanks for? So if you're praying, typically, I'm curious, what would you say you give thanks for often within your life? Any thoughts on that? The good stuff and the bad stuff. The good stuff and the bad stuff. What are some common themes though, of those good stuff and the bad stuff? Blessings of life. Okay. My life situation. Yes Yes, that's good, that's good so good but good the bad and the ugly basically you're saying good anybody else peers at all. Yes. Yes. That is so good. You're so right. What else? Anything else? Content, what you're thankful for. Grace. That's a good one. Good. Yes. Thanks for the forgiveness of sins. Absolutely. Good things. Anybody else? Say what? Friends that are willing to challenge your thought process. Absolutely. I am curious. D.A. Carson said this. I thought this was really helpful. He said, the unvarnished truth is that what we most frequently give thanks for betrays what we most highly value. If a large percentage of our thanksgiving is for material prosperity, it is because we value material prosperity proportionately. And again, he's not saying we shouldn't give thanks for the things that God has put in our lives. But I think it is interesting that our thanksgiving, often we neglect the gifts of God right around us. And actually what's crazy is we neglect the people that God has put around us. Notice how Paul starts the letter of 2 Thessalonians. He doesn't start by saying, man, you guys are under persecution. That is awesome. I'm so glad for you. What's he start with? I am thankful for you. I want you to look around just for a second. This is really awkward, but I'm gonna ask you to look around. It's a small room. How often do you give thanks for one another? And actually, let me go a step further. Not only how often do you give thanks for one another, but how often do you give thanks for what God is doing in one another? Oh, oh, brothers and sisters, how we need to grow in this area. I want to give you three areas that Paul does this. And he does it in verse three. Notice what he says. He says, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right. Here's why. Because your faith is growing abundantly. Now that word abundantly is overflow. And he's seeing in these brothers and sisters, a faith that's not decreasing, but that is increasing. You know, you all are small in number, but you're increasing in faith. And for that, I am grateful. I am grateful. And I wonder how often we don't give thanks for the growing faith that we see, not just within our own souls, but in one another. Well, here's the second one. Let me give you the second one. He said, we ought always to give thanks to you, brothers, as is right, because your faith has grown abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. You know, Christian love is not natural love. Christian love is a foreign love. It's a divine love that loves one another. I guarantee you in this room, I don't even need to ask. I know in this room, you all have wronged one another. There's wrong done, there's been wrong done, there's wrong doing at some level. And yet Christian love is not natural because what it says is, I'm gonna love you in spite of that. And what he says is, I'm thankful that there's not divisions, there's not infightings, there is love increasing over an abundance in one another's lives. Let me give you the third one. And this one's a little bit foreign to us, but I think it's one way we can pray for our brothers and sisters overseas. He says, therefore we boast, we ourselves boast about you, in verse four, in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. And it's Thanksgiving, for steadfastness under persecution. So it's Thanksgiving for growing faith, Thanksgiving for growing love, and Thanksgiving for steadfastness under persecution. You know, I often feel like I'm kind of taken back on what to pray for the persecuted church around the world. But I don't know if you've ever thought about this, that the first thing we need to do for them is we need to be thankful for them. There are brothers and sisters right now in Iran, in Nepal, in Iraq, all across the country, all across the world that are facing deep persecution. And often the only response I want to have is, oh Lord, help them. But really, I think we need to start by saying, Lord, thank you for them. Thank you for them, and may it continue onward. Now we're going to see why he says this. And it's actually a very startling, striking picture that he gives of why he can say thank you for them. But I think the other thing I want to draw attention to is, you know, we'll get there. We'll come back there. Notice, though, what he goes on to say. That's the first thing. So it's thanksgiving in light of God's redemption. I want you to see, secondly, it's rejoicing in light of God's coming kingdom. rejoicing in light of God's coming kingdom. And I think we could actually probably put this first, because I think it's the pinnacle of what he's arguing for here. It's the centerpiece of what he's arguing, verses 5 through 10 are the center of what he's arguing for here. And it's actually very striking what he says. Notice what he says in verse 5. He says, this is evidence. Now notice he's talking about the persecutions. The persecutions are evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Now remember, Jesus himself took the path of suffering. Jesus himself took the path of suffering in obedience to the Father. He sought the joy that was set before him to redeem a rebellious people. And you know what he says of all his followers? Come, follow me, follow me and be a part of, as Matthew 5, 11 says, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Jesus tells us that when we face trials and persecutions, we shouldn't pray them away. We should do a little dance. Okay? Literally, we face trials, we face persecutions. Anytime this happens to you, you share your faith, you tell them the truth. And in our society, it can be as simple as, this is a boy, this is a girl. People will scoff at you and mock at you. And what you need to do, rather than grumbling, is you need to do a little dance. Jesus tells us, do a little dance. You know why? Because your reward is great in heaven. And we should not pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters overseas. We should not pray for these things just to be alleviated immediately from them, because they're being made worthy of the call of Christ. Now notice what he goes on to say. He says, verse five again, this or the persecutions are evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering. And he says in verse six, since indeed God considered it just to repay with afflictions, those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's two realities that Paul's governing here in 6-8. The first, I would argue, is the relief of the saints. Notice what he says again in verse 7. since God considered it just to repay with afflictions, those who afflict you and to grant relief or to grant comfort. How beautiful, think about this for a second. How beautiful of a prayer request is Lord grant them comfort in the midst of their persecutions. That is a beautiful prayer. We should want to pray that, but we need to be very clear that we pray the right kind of comfort. Because I'm afraid we often pray a very temporal kind of comfort that tries to alleviate the persecution. But there's another kind of comfort that actually increases faith. And it's comfort looking forward to the day of Jesus Christ. It's a kind of comfort that anticipates the relief that's only going to come when Jesus appears himself. You know, I heard it put one time that we really need to, any applications we ever make from Scripture, a good litmus test is can this be applied to a persecuted people? Can this be applied to people in Iran? Can this be applied to people here, there, anywhere around the world? The reason I ask this question is there's untold millions of Christians around the world. We are the minority, the absolute minority. Families shun them. Neighbors try to kill them. They are deeply mistreated, all because they bear the name of Christ. All around the world. To be baptized in many parts of the world does not bring any social benefit. Actually, it sets you up for hatred. And Jesus says here that they will be granted relief, but it won't be here. that the relief that's coming for the Christian is not relief here. Notice what he says in verse seven again. And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed. We are to be merciful to everyone, including unbelievers, because God has first been merciful with us. He goes on, actually, in another place, and he says, Romans 12, 17-21, Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. do not become overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. You know, one of the reasons that God tells us to do that, we don't think about this because it's very, very uncomfortable to think about this. One of the reasons God tells us to not do that is to entrust vengeance to him. We don't know how to do vengeance. Our vengeance is always very tick tacky, very petty, but God will one day come and judge all those who are outside of Christ. which is the second reality, the judgment of God on unbelievers. Notice what he says again in verse seven and eight. It's to grant that God is coming to repay with affliction those who afflict you, to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have rejected the knowledge of God because of their idols they've clung to, Those who have persecuted, scoffed at, scorned, beheaded, and harmed his followers, Christ himself will return with vengeance upon them. And I find this interesting. It's only a people who dwell in safety and comfort that find this teaching challenging. It's only us, I really think, that find this teaching challenging. Only a people who never face threat of life, liberty, or opposition find this to be a hard teaching. Think about brothers and sisters in Iran that had their families killed for the cause of Christ. Do you think they find this teaching hard? Not at all, not even a little bit. This is meant to be a deeply comforting reality to those who suffer for the name of Christ. We shouldn't feel guilty because we dwell in safety. What we should do from this text, at some level, is ask the question, why, Christians, do we not face more opposition? Why do we not face more opposition to the cause of the gospel? I think we would find that we would not dwell in the kind of safety and security that we imagine from day to day if we did share the gospel, if we did talk with people of the things of God. People hate us for that. Now, they show it differently here in America, but notice what he goes on to say, even about the judgment. In verse nine, he says, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Mark Howe says, though the darkness, fire, anguish, and pain will make hell unbearable, the total absence of God's presence is what makes hell what it really is, hell. The unbeliever does not have any reward from the hand of God. The reward they have coming is judgment. And I think at some level, this should motivate us to talk to believers, to our talk to unbelievers, people who are far from Christ. We really need to have an idea when we talk to them, there's going to be a reckoning. There's going to be a reckoning someday. And the reward for the Christian though, notice what he says in verse 10. He talks about the glory to be revealed. glory to be revealed. Yet to be revealed, that is. The glory yet to be revealed. Notice what he says in verse 10. So it's not just judgment that's coming. They will suffer punishment, the eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. In verse 10, he says, when he comes on that day, to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony was believed among you. When Jesus returns, I don't know if you think about this very often, he will be glorified amongst his saints. You know, I've been to the Grand Canyon. I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to be to the Grand Canyon. But oftentimes when we talk about the Grand Canyon, the first thing I always want to say to people is, you got to go. You got to go see it. You got to go see the Grand Canyon. It's magnificent. That's what I always want to say. It's magnificent, and it truly is. But we do not consider and ponder enough the magnificence of Jesus Christ. There will come a day when Christ will appear in glory. And Christian, there is no image that would capture for our finite minds the beauty that it will be revealed in the coming of Christ. Oh, Christian, that we would ponder the beauty and the splendor of our Lord and master returning on the clouds of heaven. There is no, every thought of faith, every desire for Lord Jesus' come will be realized. 1 John says, Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 Corinthians 13, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I've been fully known. We could spend a lot of time talking about the glory and the marveling that will be done by all who have believed. But I want you to notice, we've spent all this time to build up to these prayers. Notice what he prays in light of all this, in light of the coming judgment on unbelievers, in light of the relief to the saints that Jesus will come and bring to his people. This is what he prays for us. This is what he prays for them. And it's praying in light of the promises of God. It's praying in light of the promises of God, which is part of the form that we need to take in prayer. I want you to notice the first one. The first one is that may God make you worthy of his calling. May he make you worthy of his calling. Notice what he says, to this end, okay? So he says, he said all this, the glory of the Lord Jesus coming, the judgment on unbelievers, all of this, and the comfort that's coming for believers. This is what he says, to this end, we always pray for you. that our God may make you worthy of his calling. You know, that word calling always, every time when Paul uses it, is the effectual call of the gospel. It's not something we do. It's something God has done before the foundations of the world. And we're reformed here. With a capital R, we're reformed. We love reformed teaching. We hear Romans, for those who he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that we might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he's predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. We love it. We drink from it. We glory in it. But you know what we don't know how to do? We don't know how to pray for it. We don't know how to pray for someone who's been elected before the foundations of the world. How do you pray for someone that God's already chosen? And I would argue, this is what it kind of sounds like. Notice what he says again in verse 11. To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling. I'm gonna use some really bad English to describe what I mean. Become what you already are, Christian. Become who God made you to be. And this is how I would argue, we should pray for one another. So we need to look around at one another and throughout the week and throughout the months and throughout the years, pray for one another. God, make them to be what you've already made them to be. Help them to know the adoption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be who God already made you to be. It's complex because the Christian is simultaneously justified and a sinner at the same time. And it's like Paul saying, work out your new creation life. What 2 Peter says, I'll just give you a couple other texts. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fail. Ephesians 4.1, there I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. Christian, if you're a Christian here today, you have been called before the foundations of the world. Work out your calling. And may we pray for one another to work out your calling. This is what it sounds like. Lord, help them become what you've already made them to be. Lord, you've done a work in them, complete it. Help them be who you've already made them to be. That's the first thing. So may God make us worthy of his calling. Here's the second one. May God fulfill every resolve for good. Notice what he says again in verse 11. You could actually, I think that, The new English translation that the net Bible actually puts it better there when it says, and in this regard, we pray for you always that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power, every desire for goodness. So what it could sound like is this, maybe you hear from one another on a given week, you hear a struggle in their life. And you hear them even expressing, man, I really wanna help in this situation. So maybe they're at work and there's a struggle with a coworker or whatnot. And you can hear in the person's voice, they're struggling with it, they don't know what to do, but they want to do the right thing. And I think part of what, we hear things like this all the time. And one of the things we can pray for one another simply is Lord, fulfill the resolve for good you put in them. Fulfill it. Fulfill the resolve for good that you've placed within them. The Christian knows that any desire for goodness does not come from us. It comes from the Lord. The Christian knows that the spirit dwells within, brings about the desires for goodness. And the Lord works within us in that way. So when we pray, Lord, fill up, fill up for them all the desire for good. That is everything that we ever desire that is contrary to our sin nature and is fulfilling what God has done in us. Romans 15, 14, Paul says a very similar thing. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness. That doesn't mean they're good now. What that means is they're filled with all the knowledge and able to instruct one another. So that's the second thing. It says, may God make us worthy of his calling. Secondly, may God fulfill every resolve for good. Let me give you the third one. May God fulfill every work of faith. And again, these things seem simple, but notice what he goes on to say. To this end, we pray for you that God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power. I think we become, too often we become hyper aware of Christians that we're not justified by what we do, but we're justified by Christ. We're made right in Jesus Christ. But a person who's standing upon Christ alone as their insurance, has been made for good work. They have been made, recreated by the Spirit in Christ Jesus for good work. Ephesians 2 says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So thoughts like this. I wonder how I can get into witnessing opportunities with my neighbor. We hear those types of things said by one another. And when we hear them said, part of what we should pray for one another is, Lord, fulfill that work of faith. Help them to trust you in this. So they know a coworker, they've been thinking about and praying about, how do I reach this coworker? How do I reach this challenging family member? How do I reach this friend? I would argue God is magnified when we pray for one another, fulfill their work of faith. Lord, do that in them. You've made them new creatures, help them live in light of it. Let me give the last one. I think it's the most glorious of all of them. It's may God's glory extend over all of life. May God's glory extend over all of life. Notice what he says. To this end, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling. He may fulfill every resolve for good. He may for good and every work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him. according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there's two elements here. The first one, notice what he says. So he says in verse 11, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you. I want to focus on that one, which is Christ's glory in our lives. Think of the alternative of this. People bent on themselves, focused on their own glory and excellence. People bent and focused on lesser glories. And oh, Christians, how we need to pray for one another. Lord, be glorified in them. Meaning that they would turn away from their navel gazing, inward looking, to may you be magnified in them. That is always something the Lord finds pleasing for us to pray. D.A. Carson, again, I think he says it well. When we glorify God, we're not giving him something substantial that he would not otherwise have. We are simply ascribing to him what is his. And may we pray that for one another. Lord, help them to ascribe to you what's already yours. Be glorified in their lives. Let me give you the last piece of this, the second part of it. Notice what he says. To this end, we always pray for you that God may make you worthy of his calling. He may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you. Here's the mind boggling piece. And you in him. And you in him. Which is the saints to be glorified in him. I thought Carson, again, says it very well. He says, but when we are glorified in the sense just described, we are being made more like him. We are being strengthened or empowered to exhibit the characteristics that we would not otherwise display. Christ is glorified. As we are glorified, we are conformed to his likeness. Jesus Christ will be glorified in us on account of what we have become by his grace. And we will be glorified in him on account of what he has done for us. To Christians, when we see, when we look at each other and we see God's work of grace, we not only should give thanks for it, We should continue to pray, Lord, make them worthy of the call of Christ. Help them be what you've already made them to be. Fulfill every resolve for good that you've put in them. Fulfill every work of faith that you desire for them. Lord, be glorified in their lives. And I will tell you, these prayers, if you notice, you know how long of an impact these prayers have? They're eternal. They don't happen next week. Maybe they might, they might. But they're praying with a mindset that is, that are of eternal significance. So if you're taking notes, you're gonna see at the very, here's the cookies at the very bottom shelf. Since Jesus is magnificent, we must give thanks, rejoice, and pray for God's purposes to be realized in our lives. Oh, church, what we would sound like, well, maybe what our churches would look like if we began to pray for one another, Lord, you've done this in them, do it all the more, do it all the more. So I'm gonna pray for us, and then I just wanna give us some time just for discussion and for conversation of what this can look like more fully. So I just want us to give us a second, just calm your heart here before the Lord, and I'm gonna pray for us. Lord, as we saw today, this text has shown us your glory and your marvelousness. Lord, you are so magnificent. And yet, Lord, that will be what transforms us one day. Father, I ask in the meantime that we would seek your face and we would do it in such a way that, Lord, we would pray with eternal significance in mind, that, Lord, you would make us worthy of the call of Christ, that you would make us worthy of the call of Christ, that you would make us become what we already are. Lord, help us to live in light of what you've already said is true of us. And, Father, I ask for us that you'd fulfill every work of faith that you'd fulfill every good desire for good that you've placed within us. And Father, would you do it all for your glory, that you would be glorified in us as we're transformed, and that we would be glorified in you as we marvel at your grace and kindness. Lord, we are all dependent upon you. Help us, we pray. Do this in us, we ask. For this we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I don't know if you guys want to do Q and A time now, that'd be fine. Or just even just a short discussion time. We can do that now. And if there's not any questions, we can kind of just move on, but. Brad, I was a little bit last evening, and in a long time. And I was just curious what you're. You brought up the race. John racing there. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. More than the longest given. Yes. bit. If I would have had more time, I would have literally talked on the New Covenant, the glory and the beauty of the New Covenant, because that's really what he's arguing for. In that quote particularly, he's referencing, I think he's referencing Romans, something within Romans, but actually I would point you to, let me give you just one example that is sticking in the top of my brain. When Jesus says in Matthew 5, 17, He says something, I think it's the most profound reality that could be. He says, do not think that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. my understanding of fulfill them. He's not come to tear apart the Old Testament. He's come that the Old Testament literally might be fulfilled. He is the end and the goal and the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. Part of that is us living differently. Part of that is, if you look at even the ethical commands of the Old Testament, it's not that we throw the law away. And I think what ends up happening is you have two different perspectives. You have covenantal theologians who say something like, that'd be like Presbyterians, whatnot. They would say, well, we're still under the law, just like Moses. We're the new Israel, we're still under the law. Then you have dispensationalists who say, no, that was a law given for a different time and a different place. recent or what he's trying to argue for is grace has not only the law is like the vehicle. It's still we're still obeying the law it but it's the law of Christ fulfilled by grace in that way that makes sense. So grace is not just forgiving grace. It's also empowering grace to obey the law to walk in obedience to God's moral and ethical commands. So that makes sense. We could talk, there's a lot more to be said and mind there. No, that's okay. No, no, no. That is, that is a great question. And I think there's, we need more teaching on that topic because grace is not just forgiving grace. Grace is empowering. It's forgiving, but empowering grace to obedience. And that's, that's how we, that's what he's really arguing for. I think more than anything now. Now, what are those laws?