Brothers and sisters, the watchword for the Christian life is growth. God doesn't want us to stay static, but to grow. Once we have come to new life in Jesus Christ, we need to grow. Any baby that is born, if it's healthy, it's going to grow. If it doesn't grow, something is seriously wrong. So we need to grow as Christians. Peter exhorts us at the end of his second letter with these words in 2 Peter 3.18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his first letter, he tells us how this happens, when he says, as newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word, that by it you may grow up with respect to salvation. The Apostle Paul calls us to grow in Ephesians 4.15 when he says, for we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, Christ. He calls Christians to grow in their love. He says to the Philippians, I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. He calls Christians to grow in faith. In 2 Thessalonians 1.3, he speaks of their faith as greatly enlarged. He calls Christians to grow in hope. As in Romans 15.13, he says that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In every area of our Christian life, we are to be growing. Well friends that includes our prayer lives. We are to be growing in our prayer lives in that we are to be praying more and praying better. This was obviously a concern of the early disciples, the apostles, because at one point in his ministry they said, Lord teach us to pray. teach us to pray. So I've embarked on a series of messages on prayer. We finished the Gospel of Mark for the time being, and I want to launch into the study of another book. But before that, I want to bring a series of messages. I'm bringing a series of messages on prayer. I ask the question, why should we want to grow in our prayer life? Why should we want to pray more and pray better? Last week, I gave you five reasons why prayer is of vital importance to the Christian life. Let me review those and then go on to some more. We saw that prayer as communion with God is the very goal of the gospel. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3.18, Christ also died for sins, that he might bring us to God. In the garden, fellowship, friendship, communion, and communication with God was cut off because of man's sin. In Jesus Christ and the salvation that is in him, it is restored. We have restoration of fellowship and friendship and communication and communion with God through the gospel. And what is prayer but that very thing? It's an expression of our renewed friendship with God, communication with God, communion with God, and so I say without hesitating that prayer is the very goal of the gospel. We saw that prayer as asking is God's appointed means for supplying our needs. And we took that little snippet from James 4, that stand-alone truth, you do not have because you do not ask. God wants to supply all of our needs physically, materially, spiritually through Christ. But what's his formula? You got to ask. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be. Ask, ask, ask. If you don't ask, you won't receive. So prayer is God's ordained means for providing us with what we need. Thirdly, prayer is the language of dependence, is the very heart of the gospel. We took Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12, where he says, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Here is the key to the truly Christian life. I am weak. I am inadequate. I am dependent. God is almighty, and he has all the resources. And so prayer is the language of that dependency. that says, God, I have nothing, I need everything from you. And we need to grow in our understanding of Jesus' words when he said to his disciples, apart from me, you can do nothing. So prayer as the language of dependence is the very heart of the Christian life. And then we saw, fourthly, that prayer as praise gives to God the glory that is do him. Psalm 18.3 for example says, I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. God deserves to be praised and honored, and prayer as praise gives to him the glory and the honor and the praise that is due him, he is worthy of it. And then lastly, we saw that prayer as confession keeps our consciences blameless. The Apostle Paul says in Acts 24, 16, I take pains to maintain always a good conscience toward God and toward all men. And I noted that a good conscience is a powerful weapon in the hands of God and enables us to be useful for his kingdom. Without a good conscience, we are compromised and we are sidelined. It's important that we keep a good conscience. And how do you do that? By prayer, by praying the prayer at the end of Psalm 139, Lord, search me and know me and see if there be any hurtful way in me. And when he reveals it and uncovers it, we confess it, we repent of it, and we claim forgiveness for it and we move on. So prayer is vital. Prayer of confession is vital to maintaining a good conscience, which is necessary if we are to be used for God's work. Well, we continue this morning with additional reasons why prayer is of vital importance. The next is this. Prayer was vitally important to Jesus, who is our great example. We saw two studies ago that our Lord Jesus was utterly devoted to prayer in the time of his humiliation, in the time that he was on the earth. And I remind you that Jesus was fully man. He shared our humanity fully with the exception of sin. And we see that Jesus intentionally and habitually and dependently got away to be alone with his father, to a lonely place, to a mountain, to the wilderness. For Jesus, prayer was not a perfunctory activity, it was a vital lifeline for him in connection with his father in the time of his humiliation and pilgrimage on the earth. Remember, especially the times when Jesus prayed, besides morning, evening, and throughout the day, when he had made a great expenditure of energy. He was late into the night healing people, casting out demons. Early in the morning, he gets up to seek his father's face, to replenish all that energy that had been expended the night before. When his agenda was challenged, his disciples come looking for him, Jesus, you got to come back, you got to heal more people. Fresh from his father's presence, he said, no, we've got to go to other villages and teach because that is why I came out. Being with his father restored a sense of perspective and priority. And he didn't follow the agendas of men, but God. When he was tempted, Remember, they said they wanted to make him king, earthly king. And he knew that's not the path to kingship. That's not the path to the crown. The cross is the path to the crown. That was a temptation to Jesus. Bypass the cross. They want to crown you now. And in face of that temptation, he got alone with his father. And when trouble threatened, when he learned about the death of John the Baptist, his forerunner, and he knew that his time was coming, He withdrew to be alone with his father. Here's the point. If Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, needed regular, disciplined times of prayer with his father, who do we think we are if we don't have a desperate need for prayer? And so, let Jesus be our example here in our prayer life. Another reason prayer is of vital importance is prayer as time alone with Jesus is necessary for conformity to him. As Christians, wouldn't you agree? that having been saved by Jesus Christ, the great goal of your life is to be more like Jesus Christ, isn't that right? Isn't that the great aim of our life, to be more like Jesus Christ, more holy as he is holy? John says we are to walk as he walked. Paul says we are to love as he loved, give as he gave, forgive as he forgave, serve as he served, and even suffer as he suffered. How's that gonna happen? Well, Let me remind you of how it happened with the early followers of Jesus, the disciples, the apostles. Early in the book of Acts, because they're preaching the word, they're getting in trouble with the authorities. And they're dragged before that austere body of Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin. Listen to this great statement in Acts 4.13, as these rabbinically trained leaders, Pharisees, Sadducees, have these fishermen come before them. This is what they say. Now, as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, the boldness of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. They saw these fishermen. They're not theologically trained men. They're speaking about the things of God with authority. And these leaders said, we've seen that before. We've seen that in him of whom it was said he taught as one who had authority and not as their scribes. Jesus didn't come saying, well, Rabbi so-and-so says this and Rabbi so-and-so says this. He came saying, thus says the Lord, thus says I. And they recognized that authority, that they had seen it in Jesus. Now they're seeing it in his disciples. How'd that happen? Well, Mark 3.13 says, he chose 12 that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. How'd they come to take on the boldness that Jesus had? Friends, they spent time with him. And what did they do when they were with him? They watched him. They listened to him. They talked to him. He talked back to them. They communed together. They asked him questions. They got answers. They were asked questions by him and they were forced to answer his questions. There was communication. There was dialogue. There was knowing and being known because they were with him. Now friends, we cannot be with Jesus in the flesh. But Jesus is alive at the right hand of God. And what do we do when we pray, but we spend time with Jesus? We talk to him. We listen to him as he speaks to us through his word. We learn from his word, his ways, his character, his interactions, his attitudes, his actions. In prayer, there's a give and take. We talk to him. He talks back to us through his word. We ask him questions, he answers us again through the word. He sometimes asks us questions from the word. And we're communing and communicating with him, we're spending time with him. And so I say, if we are to achieve what is our goal as Christians to be more like Jesus, it's gonna be as we spend time with him. And prayer is one of the ways we do that. Second Corinthians 318 says, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, justice from the Lord the Spirit. As we behold Jesus, we become more like Jesus. And prayer is one of the ways we do that. Another reason prayer is of vital importance is that prayer was of vital importance to the apostles. to the Romans, the Apostle Paul says in Romans 15 30. Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Roman Christians, pray for me. To the Ephesians, he says in Ephesians 6, 18 and 19, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit and pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Yeah, I need you to pray for me that I would be bold. to the Colossians chapter 4, 3 and 4, praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Pray not only for my boldness, pray for an opportunity for me, and when I do speak, pray for clarity, that I will make it clear. To the Thessalonians, at the end of his letter, he closes with these little staccato exhortations. And one of them is, brethren, pray for us. Pray for us. He calls on the Corinthian church, 2 Corinthians 111. He says, God who delivered us from so great a death, and he will deliver us. Notice, though, you also joining in helping us through your prayers. That thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf. And to the Thessalonian church. Second Thessalonians 3, 1 and 2. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men, for not all have faith. Pray not only for my boldness, for my opportunity to share the gospel, for clarity in sharing the gospel, but that the gospel would spread and God would remove hindrances to the spread of the gospel. And then to Philemon. and at the same time also prepare for me a lodging, for I hope through your prayers I shall be given to you." The Apostle Paul did not see prayer as a mere formality. He depended on the prayers of God's people as Key words, the necessary instrumentality for God to accomplish his work through him. The necessary instrumentality. Again, 2 Corinthians 1, I will be delivered, but it will be through your prayers. Philemon, I hope to come to you, but it will be through your prayers. Now, we believe that God is sovereign, right? He's sovereign in everything. He knows the end from the beginning. That shouldn't be a stumbling block to us. How do we reconcile the fact that God knows the end from the beginning, His will is going to be done anyway in our prayers? I say to you, don't worry about that. That's for God to figure out, how His sovereignty fits with our responsibility. All we know is the God who ordains the end, ordains the means. And one of the means He has ordained is prayer. That should be enough for us. Don't try to figure out what our finite minds can't figure out. Maybe we'll know more in eternity, maybe not. But God has it figured out, and God said, it will be through your prayers that things will happen. And so prayer was of vital importance to the apostles. Ian Bounds helps us apply this. He says, if Paul was so dependent on the prayers of God's saints to give his ministry success, how much greater the necessity that the prayers of God's saints be centered on the ministry of today. Paul did not feel that this urgent plea for prayer was to lower his dignity, lessen his influence, or depreciate his piety. What if it did? Let dignity go. Let influence be destroyed. Let his reputation be marred. He must have their prayers. called, commissioned, chief of the apostles as he was, all his equipment was imperfect without the prayers of his people. Here's another reason prayer is vital. Prayer was one of the basic commitments of the early church. Now, there are some things that happened in the early church that are not to be repeated. And we need to be clear on this. The day of Pentecost was a one-time event. That's where our charismatic friends get it wrong, and they try to say, you have to have your individual Pentecost, you need to be baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues. No, no, no, no. Pentecost was a one-time historical event when the Holy Spirit came in his new covenant presence, and Pentecost is not to be repeated. We're not to look for apostles, and in my view we're not to look for prophets anymore. Why? Because Ephesians 2.20 says, for the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And we don't need to consult Sean or Merv or one of you builders to say, where do we put the foundation? Right? We know the foundation gets laid and then the superstructure. You don't relay the foundation. And some things stay in the first century. Well, they have abiding effect, but they're once for all events. But prayer is not one of them. Praying is not something that we should leave behind in the first century. The early church was a praying church. And that was one of the reasons God did the glorious things that he did in the expansion of his kingdom in that first century, and we do well to imitate them. And let me just rattle off a lot of statements from the book of Acts that indicate that the church was praying. Acts 1.14, these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer prior to Pentecost. Acts 2.42, when 3,000 people were converted by Peter's sermon, and they continued steadfastly in apostles teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. Acts 3.1, Peter and John went up to the temple in the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. In Acts 4, 23 and 24, when Peter and John are released from the authorities, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, O Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth, and they prayed. In Acts chapter 6, we read, and I'll reference this later, the apostles said we must give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. In Acts 7, 59 and 60, as Stephen is being stoned to death, he prays, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them. In Acts 14 and 15, Peter and John come to Samaria, and they pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit. In Acts 9, Saul is wonderfully converted, and the report comes to Ananias. Behold, he's praying. One of the indications that Saul had been changed. He was a new creation. He was a Christian now. What's the marker? He's praying. In Acts 10.4, we find Cornelius, a praying seeker, And in 10.9, Peter, a praying saint, and God brings them together, and Peter brings the gospel to Cornelius' household, and people get converted. In Acts 12, Peter's in prison, and what do we learn? That the church was praying fervently for him. In Acts 13, 2 and 3, where the work of missions began at the church of Antioch, it was while ministering to the Lord and fasting, they were given direction by the Holy Spirit to set apart Barnabas and Saul, and then it says, having fasted and prayed, they sent them away. In Acts 14.23, Paul and Barnabas prayed with fasting before appointing elders in the churches. In Acts 16.25, Paul and Silas are in chains in a Philippian prison at midnight, and they're praying and singing hymns. In Acts 20.36, Paul leaves the elders of Ephesus. He kneels down and prayed with them all. In Acts 21.5, he leaves the saints in Tyre. And the men are there with their wives and children kneeling on the beach, and they are praying. In Acts 28.8, on the island of Malta, Paul prays and lays hands on the father of Publius, the leading man of the island, and healed him. Point is, the early church was a praying church, and God has not rescinded that priority. Some things you leave behind in the first century, prayer is not one of them. The early church prayed, and the church throughout history needs to be a praying church. 10th of 12th. Prayer as a weapon of the church is an indispensable means of accomplishing the church's work. What is the work of the church? God has given spheres of authority. He's given the family. He's given government. And he's given the church. And it's important for every realm of authority to stay within its bounds and not overstep those bounds. What is the work of the church? I think we find it in the Great Commission. where Jesus, about to go back to heaven, says, going, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded. What is the work of the church? It is to make disciples and to nurture disciples, to make more disciples and to make better disciples. Now, I was once part of a very fine Christian organization, parachurch organization, called the Navigators. And we were working with students at the University of Pennsylvania. And I remember the paradigm that the Navigators had. And they were very good at discipling people. But they said, when a person believes he's a convert, then later he becomes a disciple, and then he becomes a disciple maker. Well, that paradigm is not really correct. Because every convert is a disciple. Because in Acts 14, we read verse 21, after they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples. As soon as a person believes, he or she becomes a mathetes, a learner, a disciple. If you're a young believer, you're a disciple already. You don't have to attain to a certain level of maturity before you can become a disciple. You are a disciple when you're a convert. But then, it says in Acts 14, after they had made many disciples through preaching, they were already disciples when they were converted. It says he did something with those disciples. 14.21 and 22 says, after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. And so what's the work of the church? Make disciples by preaching the word, and then strengthen those disciples, as Jesus said, teaching them to observe all that I commanded. That's the work of the church, right? Make more disciples, make better disciples. But I ask you, how is that work to be done? Can you, as a believer, convert a sinner? Can you give life to a dead person? Can you give light to a sin-darkened mind? Can you give sight to blind spiritual eyes? The answer is no. We can't do that. We don't have the power. Who does? Let the Bible answer 2 Corinthians 4, 6, for God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. A deliberate reference to the creation, where in the beginning, God said, let there be light, and there was light in the physical creation. That same God spiritually speaks, let there be light in this dead, darkened soul, and there's light, and the person is regenerated. We've seen it in our own lives. We've seen it in the lives of others. We may be the instruments, but we recognize God is the one who did the work. The work of converting sinners is God's work. Now, do we have the power to build up the saints? Do we have the power to sanctify one another? To strengthen them in the faith, to nourish them, to cause them to grow in grace, to cause your brothers and sisters to overcome their temptations? Do we have the power to help our brothers and sisters to help one another increase in love for God and love for one another? Again, the answer is no. And that's why Paul prayed for believers in the way he did. Listen to some of the prayers of Paul that tell us who has the power not only to convert, but also to sanctify. In Ephesians chapter 1. He prays, beginning at verse 16. He says, we do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you, that he may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. Paul says, I'm praying that God will show you these things, that God will reveal himself, the riches of his inheritance, and show you what power is at your disposal. In Philippians 1.9, he says, I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. Because only God can save, regenerate, convert, and only God can sanctify his people. The great work of the church. is God's work. The acts of the apostles were really the acts of the risen, ascended Lord Jesus done through his apostles. The power to regenerate, the power to convert, and the power to sanctify is from the Lord. Salvation in all of its aspects is of the Lord. And how will that power be unleashed? The power of God to regenerate and to save and to sanctify and build up the saints If God is going to do it, we need to appeal to him. And that's where prayer comes in. If the work of the church is to be done in a real way, it's going to be done through our prayers, asking God to do what only he can do. And that's so that he gets the glory, because he alone deserves it. Remember Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 3.6, I planted, Apollos watered, but what? God gave the increase. I planted seeds. I spoke the word initially. Apollos comes along. He gives further teaching. He waters the seed. But the heavy lifting was done by God. Only God could produce life and growth. And so, if the work of God is to be done through his church, then we need to pray. Otherwise, whatever is done might have the appearance of success in numbers or any other way, but it won't be God's deep work in souls. 11th of 12, prayer as a duty of spiritual leaders is a top priority. Acts chapter 6, the first internal problem the church faces, there are certain widows being neglected. They had Hellenistic Greek widows and Jewish widows, and one group was being neglected. And so there was a need to solve this internal problem, lest it bring division in the church. The apostles are appealed to. And they declined to do it, not because it was beneath their dignity, but they declined for this reason. But we must give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And so look out among yourselves, choose seven men full of the spirit and wisdom whom we may put in charge. And that's where the deaconate began. But notice the apostles said, we must give ourselves to prayer in the ministry of the word. That word we must devote ourselves is the word proskartereo. It's used in Acts 2.42 when it says, they gave themselves, they addicted themselves to the apostles' teaching fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. It's used in Romans 12.12 when he calls the Christians to be devoted to prayer, give constant attention to prayer. Now, is there significance to prayer being mentioned first? We apostles must give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Ian Bounds, in his book, Power Through Prayer, aims these words at pastors. Prayer is the preacher's mightiest weapon. An almighty force in itself, it gives life and force to all. The real sermon is made in the closet. The man, God's man, is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God. Prayer makes the man. Prayer makes the preacher. Prayer makes the pastor. Mr. Spurgeon says, of course the preacher is above all others distinguished as a man of prayer. He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a hypocrite. He prays more than ordinary Christians, else he were disqualified for the office he has undertaken. All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our closets. Bounds goes on to say the preacher must be preeminently a man of prayer. No learning can make up for the failure to pray. Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. He who has not learned to talk well to God for men will never talk well and with real success to men for God. He quotes Edward Payson, prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray then, my dear brother, pray, pray, pray. I'll read just one more. It is true that with little or no praying, there may be popular preaching, pleasant preaching, captivating preaching, intellectual preaching with measure and form of good. But the preaching which secures God's end in preaching must be born of prayer. From text to exhortium, there would be application delivered with the energy and spirit of prayer. One more, we may excuse the spiritual poverty of our preaching in many ways, but the true secret will be found in the lack of urgent prayer for God's presence in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we said that leaders in the church are not necessary for the being of the church. When they appointed elders for them in every church, they were churches before they had elders. But we've said that elders are important for the well being of the church. They're called to feed the flock, protect the flock, be examples to the flock, and as such, pastors are prime targets for the enemy's attack. And so they need to be men of prayer, and they need to be prayed for. So I invite you, as people of God, pray for me, pray for Pastor Sean, pray for Pastor Clint, that increasingly we would be men of prayer. And then finally, prayer is something we are called to do continuously. Luke 18.1, Jesus says, now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. That same word, not lose heart, is used a couple places, Galatians 6. 2 Thessalonians 3, not lose heart in doing good. Don't lose heart in doing good. And here we're told to pray always and not lose heart. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, Paul says, pray without ceasing. The adjective of that word is used in Romans 9, 2 when Paul says, for the unceasing grief he felt for the unsafe condition of his fellow Jews. It's used in 2 Timothy 1, 3 where Paul constantly remembers Timothy in his prayers, the same Family of words is used in Romans 1, 9, where he says, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers. In 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, and 3, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith, labor of love, etc. And in 1 Thessalonians 2, 13, we constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of man. Believers are told to pray continuously, ongoingly, unceasingly, to not lose heart in our praying. Now surely something that we are called to do unceasingly and continuously must be of utmost importance. Is there anything else that you are called to do In an unremitting, unceasing way, well, there is, maybe Psalm 1 comes to mind, that we are to meditate day and night upon the Word of God. In that law, he meditates day and night. Two things were to do unceasingly, meditate, reflect upon the Word of God, and to pray unceasingly. And so, The final reason for the vital importance of prayer is that it is to be a continuous, perpetual activity on the part of God's people. So brothers and sisters, I've given you a dozen reasons to make prayer a higher priority in your life and mine than it likely is. All of us need to do better in our praying. I've known some great preachers who have acknowledged that I feel much better about my preaching ministry than about my prayer life. Prayer is hard work. It's easier to study, to teach, and preach than it is to pray. We all need to improve in our prayer lives, but here are a dozen reasons that should increase our desire to pray more and pray better. If these things are important to you, prayer ought to be important. Is the gospel important to you? Well, the very goal of the gospel is that we be brought to God. If the gospel is important, prayer should be important. Is having your needs met important to you, your material needs, your physical needs, your spiritual needs for the glory of God? You say, well, yeah. Well, you don't have because you don't ask. Prayer is God's way of supplying your needs. Do you want to relive the truly Christian life and understand what it means, power perfected through weakness? Then grow in your prayer life, because prayer is the language of dependency that says with Jehoshaphat, I don't know what to do. I have no power, but our eyes are upon you. I'm impotent and I'm ignorant, but I'm praying. If you want to unlock the key to the Christian life, God's power through weakness, we need to pray. Is the glory of God important to you? It should be. It's the most important thing to God. God is glorified when he is praised. And that's part of our prayer. Is a good conscience important to you? I hope it is because you will be sidelined for the kingdom if you don't maintain a good conscience. Well, how do you maintain a good conscience? By coming before God regularly and saying, Lord, search me and know me, see if there be any evil way in me, and then purging ourselves of sin so that we maintain that good conscience. Is the example of Jesus important to you? You're called to walk as he walked. Well, prayer was not perfunctory. It was a lifeline to Jesus in his humiliation, in his humanity on the earth. Is conformity to Jesus important to you? It's the goal of Christian life, to be more like Jesus. How'd they become more like Jesus? They were with him. We need to spend time with him. Prayer is one of the ways we do that. How about the power of the early church? Do we want to see God converting people, sanctifying people, It was through their prayers. You want to imitate the apostles where they should be imitated? They were men of prayer. Is the work of the church important to you, the real work of the church, saving souls and sanctifying souls? It's the work of God. We cannot do that in our own strength. So we need to pray and ask God to do that work to his glory. And if you want godly and useful pastors and preachers, pray for us that we would be better men of prayer. And if you're going to be faithful to the few things that you are called to do continuously, constantly, prayer is one of them, as well as meditating upon the word. Well, brothers and sisters, in light of all that, it is a sobering reality that the measure of any church and its effectiveness is its prayer life, right? It's not its friendliness. It's not the faithfulness of the preaching and teaching of the word. Those things are important. The warmth of the fellowship of the church is important. But in light of all that, a real metric as to how mature our church is and how useful it is, is our prayer life, individually and corporately. And so again, I call all of us to pray privately, to grow in your prayer life. Pray in our home groups, and I call you all to come to the corporate prayer meeting, which we only have twice a month. It's all to come and pour out our hearts to God, to ask him to do his work in his way by the power that he alone possesses. But in closing, I just say, if anyone is here and you are not a believer in Jesus, all this in a sense is irrelevant to you. Because outside of Jesus Christ, God doesn't hear your prayers. Because only in Jesus does the throne of God's wrath become a throne of grace. Only through salvation in Jesus Christ does God hear our prayers. And he does. He hears our prayers. He delights in our prayers. But only through Jesus Christ. And if you've never acknowledged yourself to be a sinner, and repented of your sin, and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone to forgive you and change you, your prayers are not heard. The sacrifice of the wicked, Proverbs says, is an abomination to the Lord. But here's the first prayer that God will hear from you, and would delight to hear from you. May you make it today. The prayer of the publican in a parable in Luke 18. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. that prayer God will hear from heaven, He'll show you mercy, He'll come down, He'll save you, forgive you, give you His Holy Spirit, and you will be saved eternally and changed eternally by that one heartfelt prayer. May God grant you the grace to make that prayer if you're not a believer. Let's pray. Father, forgive us for our relative prayerlessness. Forgive us for not understanding and appreciating how vital prayer is. Forgive us for our pride, our self-sufficiency, our self-dependency. And help all of us, Lord, from pastors on to people, to become better in our prayer lives, to pray more and to pray better. For the sake of your kingdom through your church, we ask in Jesus' name.