I've entitled the message, Persevering in Prayer, not to quit praying, not to give up praying, youth conference that happened here yesterday, which was a fantastic gathering of young people from all over the valley, and God's word was proclaimed, and it was entitled Rising. And one reason I wanted to keep it up this weekend is a lot of people worked really hard on it, and it looks great, so I wanted to kind of show that off. But the other reason is I wanted you to be aware that our youth met here and that we should all be praying for our young people. It's easy to become cynical and critical of young people today, and I think we should be really careful in that. Instead, I think what we should do is be pouring our lives into theirs and passing on the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord to them in a winsome and in a loving way, keeping a positive attitude toward young people. Otherwise, why in the world would they listen to us when we share the good news of the gospel with them? And then the third reason I thought it would be appropriate is because the word rising is a perfect word for prayer. In fact, in Revelation chapter five, verse eight, the Bible says this, it's this picture of heaven, and it says the Lamb is there, and that there's these 24 elders that fall down before the Lamb, and they're holding, each of them holding their harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which would be like, you know, picture smoke rising from them, so there's these elders before the Lamb, and there's so much more I could say about this, but I just want you to get the picture. This is going on in heaven, it says, which are the prayers of the saints. And the picture here is that our prayers are carried into heaven and laid before the lamb who is our intercessor, Jesus who intercedes on our behalf. So our prayers, they don't just hit the ceiling and die there. They actually go all the way to heaven. When you pray to God, you're not just talking to yourself about yourself, you're actually coming before the very throne room of God, and Jesus is receiving those prayers like incense. It's pleasing to Him. It smells beautiful to Him. He's reacting to that. He's interceding for you, even as you pray to Him. It's a remarkable picture. So our prayers are rising before the throne of God. So I thought that the sign behind me today would only be appropriate. I appreciated Rocky reading the Lord's Prayer today. It reminded me of a story that two guys were together actually standing in the back of church, and for whatever reason, they started to kind of debate whether or not they knew the Lord's Prayer or not. One guy said, I bet you 10 bucks you can't even say the Lord's Prayer right now. He goes, you're on, I totally can say the Lord's Prayer right now. And so he begins, he says, now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Which, by the way, what a great, thing to teach kids to pray, like just fear death right before you go to sleep. And the other guy pulls out his wallet and he goes, man, I didn't think you knew the Lord's Prayer and gave him the 10 bucks. Well, many of us today were, you know, reciting the Lord's Prayer with Rocky. I've heard a lot of you just start to say it and I'm sure many of you know it, but what's more important than knowing the Lord's Prayer is knowing the Lord of the Lord's Prayer. Like, it's actually possible to know the Lord's Prayer and not know the Lord. I want you to remember how the Lord's Prayer starts. Our Father who is in heaven. Jesus uses an intensely personal name. That prayer isn't about some kind of religious activity, impressing other people with your words, which is why I think so many people are inhibited to pray out loud, by the way. Because so often, what we're trying to do is impress people, impress God with our prayers. And really, he says, no, just come to me as your dad. Come talk to me normal. I'm always actually concerned when I hear people that carry on normal conversation, and then they kick into prayer mode, and they pray some kind of, it just sounds pious, and it doesn't even sound like their voice, and I'm thinking, is that why you think Jesus came to die, so that you can impress God with your prayers? Or did he come to die so you could have access to God, and come to him any time? He's always available to you. He's like a great dad who's available to his kids. Not everybody had a dad like that. I did have a dad like that, and I still miss my dad 20 years later after he's gone to be with the Lord, because I miss that access to him. It was so comfortable to talk to my dad. He was approachable. But whether you had a dad like that or not on earth, let me just tell you, you have a father in heaven who is just like that, and he desires that you would come to him. Listen to Hebrews chapter four, verse 16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need, literally just in the nick of time, that you have grace for the moment, that's what that means. And so we see here that we're to come to God with confidence. In the Old Testament, only one man, one savior could go into the throne room of God, that was the high priest on the day of atonement. And it was a fearful thing, really. And yet the Bible tells us that the temple veil was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross and now we have full access to God. Like we can approach Him anytime and all the time. Charles Spurgeon says this, if any of you should ask me for an epitome that is a perfect example of the Christian religion, I should say it is that, in one word, it is prayer. And he's right. Prayer is the greatest privilege we have on this planet. I don't know where you may have access to, if you have some places you can go that some of us can't go. Maybe you have a top security clearance out at the base, or maybe you know of things that are being built around the Antelope Valley that we don't know of, and they fly around at night, and we think they're UFOs. I don't have any idea. which you might have access to. The only thing I have access to is the hospital. I have a badge that they gave me as a pastor, so I have access to the hospital. And so, if you ever wanna go, I can get you in. I can swipe the card, doors open, it's amazing. Power. No, but I have access to a place called heaven. And you do, too, if you're a father of Jesus. And do not take that privilege for granted. Well, as we come to our passage today, it's clearly instruction concerning prayer, and I wanna give you four components of prayer today, that prayer is to be faithful, watchful, thankful, and purposeful. Warren Wearsby identifies those as well, and I just think they're perfect points to walk us through this passage today. The first thing we see is that prayer is to be faithful, that there's to be faithful praying. Notice it in verse two, continue steadfastly in Prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Continue steadfastly means that you're to give it constant attention. You're to be busy with prayer, to busy oneself with prayer. Many times we don't pray because we've busied ourselves with things that are much less important and privileged than prayer. and so we're to not quit. 1 Thessalonians 5.17 says, pray without ceasing. Literally that means it's to be a habit of life. It's like a nagging cough that's just constantly something that just keeps coming up. The only difference is it is a joy and not a burden. So it's to be done at regular times and at all the time. The Bible says this in Luke chapter 5 verse 16. So we see the word often there. That means it was a habit. Jesus made a habit of praying, and he went to lonely places. I would call those holy places, lonely places, places that are, the word holy means to be set apart, places that are set apart to pray. Where is that for you? I remember when Kristen was raising four kids and they were all living at home. They no longer do, so now it's just the two of us, but she would have a hard time finding a lonely place to pray, and she would oftentimes, this is the truth, lock herself in the bathroom. Our kids grew up wondering if their mom had some kind of severe intestinal problems. But really what she was doing is just seeking the Lord, really on my behalf, on their behalf, and probably on your behalf, that's the truth. But she's a woman who's faithful to pray. She's a model to me. This week I actually walked into the room in the morning, and she was down on the ground, and I thought she was stretching. I said, are you stretching? She says, well yeah, I kinda stretch when I'm praying down here. She's being humble in her answer. But literally down on the ground praying. She finds that much more comfortable than the bathroom floor was, so she's on carpet now, but nonetheless, she still gets interrupted, not by kids, but by her husband, who has far too much energy and can walk again. I wonder sometimes if we don't find ourselves irritable and short. Do you ever find yourself being irritable, impatient with those around you and your family? I wonder sometimes if you feel like, man, I'm just too busy. I wonder if that's because you're not praying. Sometimes we feel like we're too busy to pray. I would say we're too busy not to pray. You see, what you're doing is, is you're living life, when we fail to pray, we're living life under our own power. Somebody has said this, the absence of prayer is the sure sign of work done in the flesh, that I'm just operating in my own flesh. I may even be doing what God's called me to do, but I'm just doing it under my own strength because I haven't plugged into the power source. I'm not really abiding in Christ. Turn back to Colossians chapter one, verses 28 and 29. Notice what the Apostle Paul says, him we proclaim. And so he makes Jesus known, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. So he's teaching the word, he's giving them the truth, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. That seems like a pretty big task. In fact, notice, he works hard at it. Verse 29, for this I toil, struggling with all of his energy that so powerfully works within me. You see, he was doing God's work with God's power. And when we fail to pray, we cut off the power. Charles Spurgeon, one of the most admired pastors of all time, in the late 1800s in England was asked one time, why is your church always so packed? Why does God work in so many ways? Why are so many people getting saved through your ministry? And he said, it's not because of what I'm doing in the pulpit, it's because of what the people are doing in the basement. He says, you know what? While I preach, there's people in the basement who are praying the whole sermon long. And so he was plugged in to God's power. We need to be as well. Now it's interesting when we think of this idea of praying in specific places, and I would encourage you to have places where you pray, but I also think there should be specific times. I don't know where your place of prayer is. I pray that there be even a thought in your mind right now where that is. For some of you, it might be your car. That might be your best bet. I don't know where that place of alone time with God is. But in the Greek here, there's a definite article there that we must identify, continues steadfastly in the prayer or in the prayers. And so it seems like there was a specific time or a specific place that they would pray. In fact, we see those rhythms of prayer even in the Old Testament in Jewish life, Jewish people still to this day, Orthodox Jew would have three times a day that they pray, in the morning and at noon and at night. I'm not saying that that should be in some kind of a legalistic way, that that's exactly when we should pray. I'm just saying that we should have a habit to pray, that we should have a schedule for praying. In Psalm 55 verse 17, David says this, evening and morning and at noon, he hears my voice. So that seems to be something biblical to me. Daniel chapter six, you remember Daniel. We admire Daniel because he wouldn't stop praying in public, right? He would swing those doors open and face Jerusalem and pray those prayers. And eventually he's thrown into the lion's den for violating the law of the day. But he was a courageous man and we love him for that. But maybe you should be reminded of Daniel 6, verse 10. It helped me. He got down on his knees three times a day, prayed, and gave thanks. Three times a day, he got down on his knees and prayed. I don't want you to somehow take some kind of ritualistic, legalistic approach to praying, but maybe it would be good for us to think about, maybe I need to have set times during the day where I am praying in set places. And maybe that's just five minutes at work in a break room. Maybe that is in the morning before everybody else gets up. Maybe it really is in the evening that you get down before your bed and you pray. In Acts chapter two, verse 42, the early church seemed to have this idea of the prayers. Look at it, it says this, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread, and here it is, into the prayers. And so there seemed to be this continuation probably from the Jewish custom of doing that, from some Old Testament precedent, that they would pray at specific times. D.A. Carson says this, we do not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. That means we must set aside time to do nothing but pray. When we actually, what we actually do reflects our highest priorities. That means that we can proclaim our commitment to prayer until the cows come home, but unless we actually pray, our actions disown our words. You see, prayer is a passing privilege. Why do I say that? Because time passes, right? We know that. Time passes quickly for us. And so for every moment and every day that passes that I don't devote myself to prayer, that time has passed. I can't get that back. Last month was my birthday, and my family asked me what I wanted for dessert, which is so kind. My wife is so thoughtful, she always is on those occasions. And my favorite dessert, and they know this is 31 Flavors ice cream cake. Chocolate cake, mint and chip ice cream on top, that frosting, just the best thing in the whole world. But I said, I don't want that this year. And my daughter Brianna said, oh, Dad, you're just being cheap, because it's like 50 bucks for a cake now, whatever. And it's quite possible that I'm being cheap. But actually, that wasn't my motive. My problem is, especially when I wasn't moving, I'm like, man, if they get that cake, they always leave half of it behind. And I really do, I'll map it out. I'm like, okay, that cake, there's like six pieces left. The cake expires in a week. I'm gonna have to have at least one. No, no, actually, I think they left so much, there's eight pieces left. I can't eat that a week later. I'm gonna have to have it for breakfast one day. You know what I mean? Like, it's just not. Why? Because I love it so much, I don't wanna waste it. Is that how you feel about prayer? Like you just love God's presence so much. You love your father so much. I'm so eager to just be in his presence. I don't wanna waste that privilege. Because with each moment that goes by, another moment to have prayed and enjoyed fellowship with him expires. I'm certainly not saying that we should only pray during those times that we've set aside. I actually think we should pray all the time. Pray without ceasing. That means I just pray throughout the day. But I don't think that's a substitute for having set times to pray. I'll make a challenge to you this week. If you'll pray three times a day this week, I'll do it with you. I'll pray in the morning, I'll pray at noon, I'll pray in the evening, whatever your lunch break is. Maybe some of you work nights, whatever. God bless you for being here if you do. Then pray at your noon, whenever that is, at three in the morning, whatever that might be for you. Well, the second thing we see is, not only are we to be faithful praying, but we're to be watchful in our praying. Check this out, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it, being watchful. That modifies the word praying there. That means to be awake, to keep your eyes open. You're definitely a more effective prayer when you're not sleeping. My mom is a horrible movie watcher. I always tease her about that. No doubt she's watching online right now. And mom, I love you so much, but my mom's a horrible movie watcher, and I got it from her. My mom would always fall asleep in the movies. And it's so funny. I don't know how she had this ability, but we'd eventually go, oh, mom's falling asleep. And she'd open her eyes. I'm not sleeping. I'm praying. We'd always laugh about that. You know what? She probably was. Certainly we see an example of people praying in the garden with Jesus, or Jesus praying in the garden, and he asked Peter, James, and John to pray with him, to be watchful, actually, he says those very words, same word in the Greek. And so he asked them to be praying, and what did they do all three times? They were sleeping. Three different times they kept falling asleep. But I think the word watchful here has more to do with than just not falling asleep when you pray. I think it's more than just not falling asleep when you pray. I actually think this, that it's an alertness, not only in prayer, but it's an alertness from prayer. That we're more alert of the dangers around us when we're praying. I think that's exactly what Jesus was trying to share with them in the garden. Listen to what he says in Mark chapter 14, verse 38. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. I want you to catch this, same word. So being watchful, watch, there it is, keep alert, and pray that you might not fall into temptation. In other words, that you might be able to discern the spiritual attack that's coming. If you don't pray, he says, you will fall. You're going to fall into temptation because you didn't pray. So when we fail to pray, we're setting ourselves up for failure spiritually. We won't necessarily be able to identify the spiritual attack that's coming, the temptation that's all around us. Jesus actually gives the same word in an eschatological way when he says, therefore be alert, for you do not know the day in which your Lord is coming. So there's an awareness of the spiritual realities when we're praying. Like God opens our eyes. When we open our heart to him, he opens our eyes to what's going on around us. Not only in terms of temptation, but also in terms of his return. And really what's going on on the earth. And we start to see things through his eyes. It's interesting, but in Acts chapter 20, when the Apostle Paul is actually saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders, the shepherds and pastors of that church, he says this to them. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of God's flock which you bought with his own blood. What he's saying is don't just watch out for yourselves when you pray, and also by being in the word and being attentive to what's going on around you. We know that prayer's a key component of that, but watch out for your flock as well. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the home and how fathers are not to exasperate their children to anger and how parents are to lead their kids spiritually and what that looks like. But I can tell you this, there's nothing more important for you to do for your kids than pray for them. There is much importance to parenting and much importance to passing on the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. As I mentioned, it's a baton that you're passing and you have a very short lane to do that within and not be disqualified. But you never stop praying for your kids. I don't care how old they are or the situation they might find themselves in. Spurgeon once said, there's always hope for anyone who has a praying mom. He's right. And so I would challenge all of us today to see prayer not only as a way for us to be watchful of the threats in our own lives, but also watchful of the threats that would be in the lives of those that we shepherd and lead, whoever that might be. Thomas Brooks said this, a family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open and exposed to all the storms of heaven. Men, so many of us get caught up in the idea of I'm supposed to provide a roof over the head of my family, and God bless you for that. There is that call to provide, to work, to be diligent in that. Many of you women, you participate in that as well, we're just trying to keep the roof over our heads. But can I tell you, there's a roof that you need more than a physical roof over your family. It's a spiritual covering. And that comes when we pray. That's how we can remain watchful. Well, the third thing we see is thankful praying. Notice what he says there in verse two. to be watchful in it with thanksgiving. It's a second qualifier for the word prayer, so while we're praying, we're being watchful, but we're also giving thanks, we're showing gratitude to God. So many times, our prayers become prayers of accusation and not appreciation. God, why haven't you given me this? And they become demanding of God, instead of first acknowledging what he has already given us. 24 years ago, I was on the elder board of the church, 24, 25 years ago, of this church, And the church was struggling mightily and really behind financially and cutting off missionary support and all kinds of other issues and some pretty big debt and wondering how are we going to pay the staff. And it was a difficult struggle and a difficult time. Some of you are in this room, Al Taylor, and you were on the board at that time. And we started doing something at the elder board because every meeting was a little bit stressful. It wasn't fun. You know what it's like when a church is having financial challenges? It's like when a family's having financial challenges. You feel the stress and the strain of it. And a lot of times you can just get so caught up in that that pretty soon you're not even really focused on the Lord anymore. So here we are, a group of elders, like, are we really leading spiritually or are we just trying to stop the bleeding? Are we trying to plug a hole in a boat or are we really trying to walk in faith remembering that Jesus is on the boat? So we started doing something 25 years ago or so. We just started to sing the doxology after every meeting, no matter what. No matter what the giving was that month, no matter how far we were behind, no matter. So what we started to do is focus more on what the Lord had given instead of what we wanted him to give. We said, well God, this is what you've given us and I guess it's good you gave us less because it requires less stewardship. There's less for us to manage, so thank you for that. And we started just, God, thank you that you've done this, and thank you the ministry that's happening here. We just started to sing the doxology, and it's incredible what the Lord began to do. He began to turn our hearts more toward him as a collective group of leaders in the church. And I think he'll do the same thing as well. I think we should really incorporate gratitude and thanksgiving in all of our prayers. And sometimes, sometimes we wonder, what can I be thankful for? Philippians chapter two says this, do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. You know what our world needs right now? It needs grateful Christians. Christians that are full of joy. And have people ask you, what's the source of your joy? Even in the midst of maybe a personal trial you're going through, or even in the trials that this world is going through right now. Like, I don't know about you, But I'm starting to think Jesus is coming soon. I feel like, man, the birth pains are happening. I don't think they're Braxton Hicks either. I think they're the real deal. What could I be thankful for? Well, turn back in Colossians with me just for a minute to Colossians 1, verse 12. Here's something we could be thankful for, no matter what's going on around us. You could give thanks for this reality, look at it. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Did you catch that? That you have been qualified to go to heaven because of the work of Jesus. That your sins have been forgiven and you've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Can you imagine if you were a young person trying to qualify for the Olympics? Maybe an ice skating or whatever it might be. And then you get down to the final US competition, national competition to see who's going to the Olympics. And in that moment, you qualify. You're going to the Olympics. How much more so to hear those words, you're qualified for heaven? Like, you're in, you're in, you're in, you're in, you have a seat reserved. Your name is written in the lamest book of life. What else, honestly, in comparison to that, what else could you ask for from God? Yeah, there might be some trivial small things that I'd really like to get from him, but I've got that. Check this out. To share in the inheritance of the saints in light, we get so stressed out about our 401k. I'm like, man, we're rich, we're loaded. Everything else is nothing on this planet. And by the way, it's not volatile like Bitcoin. No, it's not. It's always, it's protected. Verse 13, check this out. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. So often when we think of our salvation, we kind of minimize it down to that moment that I believed. Let me tell you this. Salvation first and foremost, here it is, ready, is a miracle. It's a miracle. Like something happened, God acted. I don't know if you've ever experienced a physical miracle. I think I've seen a couple times where God just worked supernaturally and just healed somebody. Like I've witnessed that. But there's a greater miracle than a miracle of physical healing. It's the miracle of this rebirth, regeneration. And check this out, we've been transferred. In other words, we belonged to the dominion of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. He was our daddy. And this much better daddy, God himself came and said, I'm gonna pluck you out of that kingdom, and I'm gonna transfer you into my kingdom, and now I'll be your father forever, and you can come into my presence anytime you want to. Do you see that? Like, okay, that would be something to be thankful for, a little thing. Verse 14, in whom we have redemption, so we've been purchased the forgiveness of sins. So you might wonder today, well, what do I really have to be thankful for? Well, maybe what we should start our prayers by doing is just remembering who God is and what he's done for us. Well, that's not the only place that Paul reminds them to be thankful. Look at chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. He says this, No, it's overflowing with thanksgiving because you're rooted in Christ. You've been redeemed. I've got so much to be thankful for. And look at chapter 3, verse 17. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. What that tells me is this, is even the way that I live my life and I go about my work is a reflection of this gratitude. So what is Paul saying? Paul's saying, hey, don't forget to include gratitude as a part of your praying. And you might say, well, who is Paul to say that? Paul doesn't know what I'm going through in my life. Oh, really? Where was Paul at when he wrote this? He was in prison. Look at how the book of Colossians ends in verse 18 of chapter four. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace to you. So the apostle Paul, while he's in prison, says don't ever forget all that God's done for you. You might be in a temporary situation that you don't love or that is even incredibly painful, but don't forget this one thing. You belong to him. and your savior is gonna come back and fetch you so that you can be where he is also. He's preparing a house for you. You have this inheritance that can never be taken and you belong to me. I suppose really honestly my complaining in my life is pathetic because really what I'm saying is not only that God hasn't done enough for me but that he's not enough for me. God, I want more of your things. I don't want more of you. What you have is God himself. Philippians chapter four verse six says this, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Did you catch it there? So when you're really in a difficult situation that's taxing on your soul and you feel anxious, remember this, in everything by prayer and supplication, give it to God, but do it with what? With thanksgiving. You know what we could be thankful for if nothing else? Thank you that I can talk to you about my anxiety. Thank you that you listen, that you care, that you hear. your prayers are rising to the very throne of God. Remember the old hymn, oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Focus on the blessings, count your blessings. Well, number four, we see that our prayer is to be purposeful, and we pick this up in verses three and four of Colossians chapter four here. Notice he says, that I may make it, I'm sorry, verse three, at the same time pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison. It's crazy. that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." So Paul's prayers are purposeful. First of all, our prayers are purposeful. First of all, Paul says, would you pray specifically for us? It's not just general, God, I just pray for the spread of the gospel. It's saying, Paul's going, no, would you pray for me? Which I think is an incredible acknowledgement of his own weakness. Paul said he gloried in his weakness. For you to ask people to pray for you, what you're saying is this, you know what? I'm not enough. I need outside strength, outside help. And he relates that to evangelism. It's crazy, isn't it? Like the apostle Paul's praying that he would make the gospel clear. Isn't this the guy that wrote 13 books of the New Testament? Do you ever feel nervous? when an opportunity comes to share the gospel. Like, oh, I don't know if I'm the right person, I don't know if I'm gonna get it right, I don't wanna mess it up, I'm just gonna pray that God sends somebody else. I just pray that Pastor Chris would just come tripping down the sidewalk right now. No, the Apostle Paul apparently knew his own deficiency. And he prays this amazing prayer. What makes this prayer so amazing is that he's in prison, and he's in prison for sharing the gospel. He's in prison because he walked through the open doors that God had already opened. It's crazy, because really what he's praying for is God, give me more opportunities that landed me in prison. I might be praying, Lord, I pray that you never open a door like that ever again. He's like, no, I just pray that there would be an open door. It's metaphorical language for an opportunity. What's interesting, too, is this is what's known as the subjunctive mood, grammatically, and that means that, in this context, it's something only God can do. So I can preach, I can share, the Lord can even help me make it clear, but if there's not an open door, if there's not an open heart, it's going nowhere. We live in a time where people are fleeing, by the statistics anyhow, the church. I hear that, but I also see young people, 20-somethings, 30-somethings, all over our campus. Last night the 20-something group was packed, the college group was packed, I'm thankful. Still working and young people, but what we hear by statistics across America is that there's a new godlessness. There's a bunch of people that call themselves nuns and not the kind that are in a convent because those are emptying out as well. But people who just say, I don't believe in anything, I'm just a nun, I have no religious affiliation. I'm not an atheist, I'm just a nun. And you might think, well, man, the church needs to develop better strategies fast. We better get busy at getting good. And I'm not saying it's wrong to be creative and try to develop good strategies, but I think we better do something before we do that. I think we better just start praying a lot more. And maybe we should start praying a lot more for the young people in our families, for the people who are wandering, because God can open the door. He can. Are we praying? Do you have a prayer list? Do you have a prayer closet? Do you have a place of prayer, time of prayer? Do you have a list of people you're praying for, your nieces, your nephews, your children, your neighbors? Crazy thing is, Paul experienced this very open door in a very clear way. In fact, turn to Acts chapter 16. I want to show you how this worked itself out in the life of Paul. Acts chapter 16, you might remember the story of Paul and Silas. They're in Philippi. They're going around on this missionary journey. There's a slave girl who had the spirit of divination, it says, in verse 16 of chapter 16. It says that she would follow Paul around, in verse 17, crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. Sounds kind of interesting, right? Like there's this girl who's demon-possessed, or at least demon-controlled, demon-influenced at a minimum, and she's going around and she's saying, these men are going around and telling you about the way of salvation. And you think, well, that's not a bad thing. Yeah, but the Apostle Paul actually wasn't looking for an endorsement from the devil. It's not a great thing when a crazy woman's going around saying that. And so notice verse 18 of chapter 16, I love this. And this she kept doing for many days, Paul having become greatly annoyed, I love this, Paul's like, you know what, I've had just about enough of these interruptions. turned and said to the spirit, not to the lady, to the spirit within the lady, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, not his own power, to come out of her, and it came out of her that very hour. Don't you just picture the apostle Paul, I picture him being a little bit, you know, he's a visionary guy, he's always on the go, he's just like, you know what, I'm so tired of your distractions, you know, demon, just, in the name, just go. And then right now you read the story like, wow, this is such a great moment. This lady's just been delivered from a demon. This is so great. Everybody's gonna celebrate, right? I mean, she's gotten her life back. No, not right. Verse 19, and when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And so what happened for them is they lost their income. And by the way, I'm amazed at what people will do to other people to make money. But then look down at verse 23. Okay, okay, I just want you to put yourself in this situation. You've been going around sharing the gospel, you're building churches, churches are being planted, God's working in these great ways, this lady's delivered from a demon, and now the people that used to own her are mad at you because you've cut off their income. And now you get beaten for it, and you're put in stocks, and now you're in a terrible dungeon in stocks. What are you thinking right at that moment? You know, you're thinking the old camp song. Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, think I'm just gonna eat some worms. This is what I get, this is my reward. The Apostle Paul, Silas, they take a little different approach. Look at verse 25. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Because they knew their murmuring would be a bad testimony. So I think Paul basically said, hey Silas, you know what? The fact that we're in stalks and we're stuck in a dungeon, I think the Lord's given us the night off of evangelism, so let's have a worship service. and they just begin to sing and to worship the Lord. This Friday I'm doing a service for a man who I love dearly, Ed Cox, and his sweet wife shared with me videos that Ed was making on his deathbed, and he's sending out messages to all of his friends and people maybe who didn't know the gospel or whatever, and he's just like, I just want you to know I'm praising God, I'm good, you know, like encouraging them, send this video to him, send this video, It's remarkable, just praising the Lord all the way to the end. And then in verse 26, it says, and suddenly there was an earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. And you might remember how the story goes. The jailer who was there was going to take his own life. It says that in verse 27, he's going to kill himself, supposing the prisoners were going to all escape. which is what I would do if the prison doors opened. But Paul, verse 28, cried with a loud voice, don't harm yourself, for we're all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas, then brought them out and said, sirs, what must we do to be saved? You see, you see, Paul wasn't just praying for open prison doors, he was praying for open doors of hearts. And God's doing all of this to bring this man and, by the way, his family to the gospel, to Christ, to his salvation, verse 31. And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house and took them that same hour of the night and washed their wounds and he was baptized at once and he and his family. So this man is converted, clearly he's converted because he's washing the prisoner's wounds now. And he gets baptized that night with his family. And by the way, this isn't some kind of family plan to salvation. You notice the whole family listened to the gospel. They were saved and they were all baptized. You don't get saved under a family plan. But the whole household was saved. Now, here's what I want you to catch. We go back to Colossians chapter four and later Paul is in Rome in prison, not in Philippi any longer. And he's praying, just pray that a door would be opened for the gospel. I'm wondering if Paul's not reflecting back on that going, ah, you know, I've seen pretty good doors open before. Do you think Paul was more excited that the prison doors were open or that the jailer's heart was opened? You see, his prayers were purposeful, they were eternal. He set his mind on things above, not on earthly things. John Kitchen says this, don't presume doors will open to speak of Christ, pray them open. What doors should we be praying for? Asking the Lord to open. It's a door only he can open. Because the door he opens, no one can shut, and the door he shuts, no one can open. 2 Timothy 2.9 says this, and because I preach this good news, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal, but the word of God cannot be chained. In conclusion today, I wanna draw your attention to a John Piper quote. He said this, prayer is not an intercom to the butler to bring us what we want. It is a wartime walkie talkie to call down the power of God in the battle of lost souls. He's right. We're in warfare, and so we should be what? Faithful in our praying, and I think that means being intentional, habitual, having a place in times. Secondly, we need to be watchful in our praying. Like, Lord, make me alert to what are the threats around me and what are the threats around my family? Do you want pastors who are praying and asking God to help us watch and guard the flock that have been put under our care, that we're under shepherds? We're to be thankful in our praying that no matter what's going on around us, we have to have something to be thankful for, even the privilege of prayer itself. Thank you that I can pray that Jesus, you have made that possible. And to be purposeful in our prayers. There's a lot of pulpits that have caused disillusionment in the lives of people because they make promises that God hasn't made. And so they say things to you like, well, if you do this, you'll be healthy and wealthy and wise. And then when that doesn't come, we're mad at God. Don't be mad at God, be mad at the preacher who lied from behind the pulpit. God didn't say that. That isn't how we're even, I think, to focus our prayers. I think most of our prayers should be for eternal things. There's people at this church that are such an inspiration to me. There's a man at our church who I just love dearly. Such a humble man. And he just recently had to have a surgery, which meant that he would forever lose his voice. And it just, last night when he's sitting here, right in that seat right over there, moving his mouth, praising the Lord, nothing can come out. He has no vocal cords. But here he is, like within a week or two after the surgery, right back in church, singing praises from his heart. Do you think God can hear him? I do. What I'm trying to say to us today is this. is we have the greatest privilege in the history of the world. And you might know the Lord's Prayer well, but do you know the Lord of the Lord's Prayer? And do you talk to your dad, like, habitually all the time? Are you enjoying this sweet fellowship with him? And when we talk to him, do we talk to him about the things that he's most passionate about? And what is he most passionate about? Souls. Eternity. He's working a far bigger plan. He wants to get people home to heaven. That's what he's doing. And when we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done, we'll see doors like that opened. And by the way, we're seeing doors like that opened. We are. There was a young man last night that gave his life to Christ at Hume Lake. He said, I can't even tell you, I'm a different person. I'm a different person, it's incredible talking to him. And then I talked to another guy last night, he goes, I've never met you before, I'm newer to the church, but I wanted you to meet my friend, he goes, I'm in the Air Force, he's in the Air Force, we're in the Air Force together, and I gave my life to Christ recently, and God's using my testimony, and he gave his life to Christ, I was just sharing with him, he gave his life to Christ, and he actually wanted to come to you and ask you how could he be baptized. Like, I'm like, God's just opening doors. So we gotta get rid of the pessimism. The negativity, the, oh, woe is me. Could it be that some of the challenges we're gonna go through as a nation are actually to open doors for the gospel so that we won't be so comfortable and maybe we might seek him? When do you usually seek God? When times are rough. I don't know what the Lord might be doing. I don't presume to be a prophet. I'm a preacher. I proclaim what's in God's word, but I do know this much. We are called in the scriptures to steadfastly pray purposely for eternal things. When we do that, I believe this, we'll see God work. and do eternal things in our midst. Let me pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this sweet time to wrestle together, help us to be a people who habitually pray. Lord, so often we're too busy to pray, and the reality is is we're just too busy not to pray. We wanna operate in your power and your strength. Father, I pray that you would raise up men, particularly women, head of households, who would faithfully, consistently lift up their family before you. Lord, may they build a spiritual roof over their children and their homes through prayer. Father, we thank you today for the greatest privilege. We love you. It is a pleasure to call you dad. Thank you for the peace that just comes over my heart when I talk with you. Thank you, Lord, that I don't have to talk fancy to you. I can just talk like I talk to anyone else. Not to be disrespectful, but Lord, because you've told us to come with confidence, that we're talking to our Abba. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.