Ephesians 6:16-18,
Over the last few months we've been going through Ephesians in the Sunday school hour, the adult class, and it begins on a glorious note of salvation where Paul enumerates many of those blessings, not all of them, but many of the blessings that are found in Christ. He starts with election, we are made holy, we are adopted, we are forgiven, and we have a future inheritance. But when he comes to the back end of this epistle, he moves from the indicatives that you find in chapter one to the imperatives and the commandments in chapter four, right through into chapter six. And here in chapter six, we have an exposé of the devil and the battle we must gauge as the army of God. The picture here is not an individual, it's a corporate picture. It's a picture of the church, the church is waging this war. The whole church is fighting. And the devil has sometimes been called, I think it's right to say, the greatest adversary of the Christian.

Now, over the years, there are two extremes when it comes to the devil. Either you go the way of some of the charismatics where you see a devil behind every blade of grass, or you go to the other extreme and you don't even mention him at all. But he's always active. He can be on our doorstep, in our backyard; he can be visiting our own hearts at any moment, any time with his fiery darts. And Peter, in one of his letters, likens him to a lion on the prowl. Peter knew something of his power and his subtlety firsthand, didn't he? Jesus had warned him twice, and Peter knew there was a real devil.

And Paul spoke of the devil quite a few times, and he even attributes his thorn in the flesh as a messenger of Satan. The devil is actively involved, probably more than we realize in our suffering. In an excellent commentary, you've probably seen it, huge, huge, probably 20, 30, 40 sermons preached on this one text by William Gurnell, the Puritan pastor called The Christian in Full Armor. And towards the back end of that huge volume, he deals with the devil's attacks when it comes to prayer. How does he try to attack us with regard to our praying?

He seeks to keep us from praying. He doesn't want us to pray privately, he doesn't want us to pray publicly, and he can employ a whispering campaign just like he did with our first parents. And he can try and pull us away by way of all kinds of inducements, attractions, and other responsibilities. Plain and simple, he doesn't want us to pray.

He can take advantage of our own sin, our pride, our selfishness, our envy. We can be in danger of praying for the wrong things and for the wrong reasons. We can end up just praying for ourselves. There can be a selfishness with regard to our prayer. Not that we shouldn't pray for ourselves, but we can pray for things that we will consume upon our lusts. Isn't that the warning of James? James 4, “You ask and receive not because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.”

Another big strategy of the devil is the strategy of interruption or distraction, like the birds of the air. He's a great distractor. He doesn't want us to get focused when we read our Bibles. You may find it hard sometimes just to be focused when you read your Bible. He doesn't want us to be focused when we pray with regard to private praying or public praying.

Dr. Piper uses four little words to help us when we go to read our Bibles or when we begin to pray. I won't mention all four little words, but the very first word he uses is the word incline, that word is used by asking God to incline His ear towards our prayers, but also asking God to incline our hearts in the right direction towards God. David prays that kind of prayer, asking God to incline his heart toward God. We need to ask God (one person put it this way) to demagnetize our hearts from the preoccupation with this present world and from self; and to re-magnetize them towards God and towards spiritual realities.

The devil also wants to keep us from praying by trying to convince us that God doesn't hear our prayers or He doesn't care or He won't answer. But we have all kinds of promises in our Bibles with respect to God answering prayer and all kinds of examples, not just prayer promises, but we have examples. God never sits back passively. He's always caring, He's always answering. Maybe not in the timeframe that we would like, but He will answer one way or the other. Elijah prays, fire comes down from heaven; later on he prays and the rain falls down. And then you have Daniel when he's in that lion's den, he prays and he's preserved from the lion. Jonah in the belly of a fish, he's praying and he's released by God onto dry ground. Esther the queen, her faith prayers affect the deliverance of the Jewish people. Paul and Silas, remember they're in jail, they're singing and they're praying and an earthquake opens the door.

And all of us, all of us, if you think clearly, go back to years ago, months ago, you can all point to some specific answer to prayer. When it comes to our marriages, when it comes to our extended families, we often pray for our families in terms of conversion, our own children. When it comes to difficulties and trials at work, when it comes to health issues. That's why we continually have to persevere. We never, never know when God will answer those prayers. That's why he says what he says. Look again at Ephesians 6:18, “Praying at all times in the spirit,” and then he goes on to say, “with perseverance.” We must stay the course, keep on keeping on praying.

In Psalm 34, there are several verses in which we find a great encouragement for us as God's people, encouragement for us to come to God in prayer, to pray to Him in times when we are fearful or when we are in trouble.
 
Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” I think like most people, we all experience times in which we are fearful, things that come into our lives that cause us fear. It may be things that are known, current circumstances that we are facing in our life. It could also be things that we fear because they're in the future, they are the unknown. There's the uncertainty of what might happen. And so those things may cause us to fear. At times we fear for ourself, what might happen to me. But oftentimes we also fear for others. We fear for our family members, we fear for our loved ones, we fear for God's people, the church. We may even be fearful of our nation as we see the things that are taking place and we are fearful that the way of life that we have known for so long may be destroyed. Many things can cause fear; fear that can come from physical troubles; fear that can be caused by emotional or mental troubles; fear that at times is caused by spiritual trouble.

So what do we do in times of fear? Where do we turn to for help? The psalmist tells us that the way in which we are to respond to fear, as he faced these circumstances that created fear, he responded by going to the Lord. He says, “I sought the Lord.” He went to God in prayer seeking the Lord, seeking for His help, seeking for His comfort, seeking for His deliverance. And as he goes to the Lord, the Lord answers, it says, “and He answered me.” God is open to our cries. He hears and He answers our prayers and He delivered the psalmist from all of his fears. So we see this encouragement for us, do we not, to go to the Lord in times of fear.

But also this pattern of going to the Lord in prayer is a pattern that we see in other verses in the psalm, a pattern in which the Lord not only hears, but He answers prayer from His people. Verse 6, “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles.” Here we read of a man who's described as a poor man, perhaps someone who understands their desperate need, that they are weak and helpless in and of themselves, unable to do anything to get themselves and save themselves from the troubles that they face. And so in the midst of the troubles that they face, this poor man does what? He doesn't cry to others, he doesn't cry out looking to other sources for help. No, he cries out to the Lord, he calls out of his distress.

The word cry gives a sense, I think, of almost an urgency, a sense of fervency as he's pleading and coming to the Lord in prayer. And again, we see the same pattern. There is the prayer, there is the cry, there is the seeking, and then the response, “the Lord heard him.” God hears His people when they cry out to Him. And here we're told, “and He saved him.” He saved him out of all of his trouble. What a blessed, blessed truth this is that we have a God who hears and answers prayer.

But one further verse I'd like us to look at is found in Psalm 34:17, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all of their troubles.” Here it's not a poor man. Here it's not simply the psalmist, but here it is a person described as the righteous. The righteous, those who fear God. They fear God greater than they fear man. And they cry out, they cry out for help, the help that only God can give. They cry out and the Lord hears. I think it's interesting, we see earlier in verse 15, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry.” It almost gives a sense that we know that God is omniscient. He knows and He sees, He understands everything that is taking place in all of the world and even in each of our own individual lives. But here we have a sense that He sees us and sees specifically what is happening and the troubles that we're faced with. And it's almost as He is looking and watching and in a way waiting with His ear kind of leaning forward with His ear toward us, “Will they cry? Will they pray to Me? Will they come to Me for help?”

And so here we are encouraged to cry out for help, for the Lord will hear and the Lord will deliver them out of all of their troubles. Though we experience circumstances that cause fear, though we face many troubles and many afflictions, we can find encouragement and comfort even in this Psalm, knowing that we can come to God in prayer. That God is a God who hears and responds and answers to our prayers, and He's a God who delivers and saves us.

One final thing I would like us to not lose sight of is found in verse 22, “The Lord redeems the life or the soul of His servants, none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” And though we may suffer in this life, and though there will be evils that befall us, and though there will be pain and sorrows and even death, yet here we have this promise that we have this security, this eternal security. For those who have cried out to God, looking to Him, calling on Him as our Savior and our Lord, we know that our life, our soul has been redeemed, paid for by the precious blood of Christ. And we can have confidence knowing that we can take refuge in knowing this, find comfort in knowing this, for we will not be condemned. We do not fear. We do not fear the penalty for our sin, but we can have comfort and confidence knowing that God has saved us through the work of Christ. Spurgeon writes this,

As we come to pray, let us remember these encouragements for us to pray to the Lord, even if we're experiencing fear, even if we're in the midst of trouble or afflictions, as we need help to come to the Lord, for we know that He hears, He answers, He delivers, and He saves.

Matthew 14:25-33,
When you think of a man of prayer, you generally, at least I don't, think of Peter. Perhaps that's why he has only got two prayers in the New Testament, two small brief prayers compared to Paul. That’s not to say that he wasn't a man of prayer, but after this particular incident, I think we could argue that he understood the necessity and the importance of prayer in a way he didn't before. In all likelihood he was the spokesman who came to Jesus and said at one point, “Teach us how to pray,” back in Luke chapter 11.

But here he finds himself in big trouble in the midst of a storm and sinking. Now Peter finds himself in what you could call a life-death crisis. From an Old Testament perspective we have David on several occasions where he was also in what you could call a life-death crisis. Remember King Saul trying to kill him and sent his army after him in the wilderness. It was for months that he was always on the run, a fugitive. And I think to some degree, David was a man of prayer for that very reason. His life was constantly in jeopardy, threatened by King Saul. He could say in Psalm 18, “The cords of death surround me or close in upon me.”

But Peter also experienced, when you think about it, three occasions of death or close death crisis. The first storm on the Sea of Galilee back in chapter 4 when Jesus was asleep in the boat, and then three other times Peter was arrested, twice he was put in jail. And on that last occasion, you might recall the church prays for Peter and he's released and an angel comes and he's out of that jail house and he goes to that home of Mary. But this time, this time in Matthew 14, his own private prayer reaches the ears of Jesus when he's sinking, about to drown. We don't know how deep he was when he cries for help; maybe up to his knees, maybe up to his waist, maybe up to his neck. But three words, three simple words, three brief words, “Lord, save me.” No sooner does he say that than the hand of Jesus stretches out and rescues him.

And there's several things we could say about this particular prayer. Number one, it was a brief and simple prayer, that's pretty obvious. I think sometimes we get into a mindset that we have to pray long prayers. We don't. Short arrow prayers can be very effective, at least especially throughout the day. The second thing I think we can say about this prayer, it was a desperate prayer, a brief prayer but it was a desperate prayer. There's a place for desperate praying. I like what Spurgeon says about this prayer,

I remember my older brother Douglas was in a crisis death moment. He was crossing a lake in Manitoba during the wintertime. He was working for the RCMP, that’s the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. So he was on police business, but he was on a snowmobile. And when he got halfway across the ice, it went through the ice. It disappeared and there he was trying to get out and he couldn't get out. He reached once, he couldn't, the ice broke. He reached a second time, the ice broke, he couldn't pull himself out, and then he prayed. He said, “Lord, get me out of this and I will serve you for the rest of my life.” Well, the Lord got him out but he didn't serve the Lord. But God showed mercy to my brother. And later on, I do believe the Lord saved my brother. God saved him physically that day; just like Peter, Jesus saved him physically that day.

But here's a good prayer for all of us. When we find ourselves in desperate or seemingly hopeless situations, we never give up. Think of all those graces. Hope never gives up, faith never gives up, neither does love. Love endures. Love endures. Faith, hope, and love never give up. But the most important thing about Peter's prayer is this, he was convinced that Jesus could save, “Lord, save me.” He doesn't turn to his disciple friends; he doesn't rely upon his own strength and try to swim. No, he goes to the only person who could save him. He alone has infinite power, He alone has infinite wisdom, infinite grace and mercy. As one person put it,

And something else Peter had to learn, he got his eyes onto his circumstances, he was looking at the wind and the waves, he got his eyes off Jesus, but the prayer got his eyes back on to Jesus.

When we pray, think of the exclusivity of Jesus. Only Jesus can save. Jesus and only Jesus can rescue us, no matter how big the storm or the trial, no matter how big the sin or the temptation. Well, let's pray, brethren. We go to a three-person God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the only God who can rescue us from the devil, from the world, and from the storms and trials of life.

2 Chronicles 20:1-4,
King Jehoshaphat learns of an imminent attack which is about to occur involving three nations who had joined together as one with the sole purpose to defeat Judah in battle, vs 1. We are told in vs. 10 & 11, that these were Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir whom God had not allowed Israel to engage in battle when they came from the land of Egypt. In response to the report he received, we are told that Jehoshaphat was afraid, and prayed to the Lord, vs. 3 &4. We are told:

This is a Hebrew phrase to “set his face” that suggests he was resolved, determined, earnest … to seek the Lord. His first and foremost action was to call upon the name of the Lord. Matthew Henry suggests, in summary, “That in any circumstance, either small or great, our first action must be to call upon the name of the Lord.” James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” Proverbs 2:6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding…”

Jehoshaphat immediately sends messengers out to all the land informing everyone of what is transpiring and proclaiming a fast throughout all of Judah. Commentators suggest this fast was an expression to God of their sincerity, humility and penitence for sins, and that this fast was to help Jehoshaphat and the people to focus and be fervent in their prayers to God.

"And Judah assembled, from all the cities, to seek help from the LORD". Not only did the proclamation to fast go out to all of Judah, but many joined Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem and in the temple to unite their voices in prayer. In verses 5-12 we have recorded for us Jehoshaphat’s prayer. In summary he prays acknowledging God as sovereign over all, giving glory to the LORD, vs 5 & 6. He prays remembering God’s faithfulness to His promises, vs 7.  He prays remembering Solomon’s prayer at the Temple dedication, that should trouble (in any form) come against the people, “… we will stand before this house and before you— for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save,” vs 8 & 9.  He presents his plea to the Lord, vs 10 – 12.

Brethren, the reason we assemble for prayer is to bring our urgent petitions, our thanksgiving and praise to the Lord our God; who alone is able to bring resolution to our petitions and who alone is worthy of all praise! We assemble together to lift our voices in unity, that we might see the hand of God at work in our midst and in the midst of His church universal! At the end of verse 12 we are told that Jehoshaphat says, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” We cannot know the Lord’s mind, but we can, resolutely and earnestly, bring our petitions to the Lord and trust that He will hear and answer our prayers. As we begin our time of prayer, I encourage you, approach this time of prayer with a humble heart, trusting in the Lord for He promises to hear and answer prayer!

Hebrews 12:1-4,
I'd like to just share three key thoughts around this passage, which for every child of God seeking to live a life that is honoring and glorifying to God, that is looking forward to Christ, being with God, spotless, without sin, in heaven for eternity, and seeking to live this life by faith, like all the examples of the regular saints that have gone before us, regular men and women in chapter 11 that did extraordinary works of faith by the power of God. Using them in their time, in their place, in their role, we desire to be like them and like our Savior. And so the three points I'd like to bring up is: Christ is our joy as believers; and then Christ is our example on how to endure and to live and run this race and live this life; and Christ is our mediator, He's our help, He's who we run to for strength, for increase in faith, for help.

So Christ is our joy, you see it there and really the motivation. You see Christ Himself, “Who for the joy that was set before Him.” Turn with me to Philippians 3. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to put for us what should be every Christian's ultimate motivation. And this ultimate motivation, yes, we do not want to spend an eternity in hell. If I look back on my own salvation, that was a significant motivation, and it should be. The other motivation is we don't like to suffer for anything, let alone suffer for our mistakes in this life. And we often receive due and just punishment for that. But the key motivation, starting in verse 8, is for the love of Christ and the desire to be with Christ. He is our joy. “Indeed,” he says in Philippians chapter 3,


You see it there and the passage goes on about pressing on toward the goal of the prize, just like the running analogy in Hebrews chapter 12. And so Christ is the Christian's highest, highest joy and the prize for which we strive for, which we endure this race or the endurance required for this life. The motivation is to see Christ, be with Christ, that we would know Him as the apostle Paul states in Philippians, “knowing Christ.”

And then second, Christ is really our example on how to run this race. How do we run? How can we do it? We can't do it on our own strength, we know that, we try, we fail. We try again in our own strength, we fail again. That doesn't work. And so how did Christ Himself endure and live the life that He lived perfectly? See it in verse 2, He really is our example. In Hebrews chapter 12:2, the writer says, “Looking to Jesus, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.” And you can interpret this both ways, I think. He is our motivation because He is there to know Him. We look forward to being with Him. He is our example, but He's also our help, He is also our way. You see it there in verse 3 of Hebrews chapter 3, “Consider Him.” The writers of the Hebrews is writing to us and say, “Think about how He ran. Consider Him who endured. Consider Him. Consider His life, the actual life that Christ lived.” We have it laid out in the gospels for us who endured. He is our example. I think of this passage in 1 Peter 2, often. 1 Peter 2:19, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures,” same word, “one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” Just like Christ. There is nothing that He endured was justified. Verse 20, “For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?” Same word. Our race is about endurance and enduring suffering. “But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” And then he goes on to say, “For to this you have been called, (believers, this is our calling) because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps.” Christ is our joy, our prize, our goal. Christ is our example. That's how we look to Him.

And then Christ our mediator. If you go back to Hebrews chapter 12, He's our joy, He's our example. And then we actually go to God through Christ to get strength and help and guidance and wisdom and patience and endurance and everything we need to run this race like Christ did. And that is primarily done by prayer, by a prayer of faith that says to the Lord, “Christ is my mediator.” You see it there in Hebrews 12:22-24. He's my savior, He died for me and He is the one I pray to God through the mediator at the right hand of the Father, verse 22 of Hebrews chapter 12,


There is no misunderstanding. We are not going to live this Christian life or endure perfectly like Christ. But we have a mediator and His blood is sprinkled for us. And that blood is better than the blood of the murder of Abel. This is a blood that was shed by Christ to cleanse us of our sins.

And so that's my encouragement as we strive. Whatever role we're in in this life, we're a student, we're a mom seeking to raise up kids, we're a dad, a husband, a wife, a father, a worker, a laborer; wherever God has put us, we should strive to run this race with endurance, knowing that Christ is our joy, He's our example on how to run, and He is our mediator. He is the one that stands between us and the Father and is able to ask everything on our behalf.

Psalm 118:1-7,
This Psalm begins with a call to God's people, a call for us to give thanks, to give thanks to the Lord, to give thanks to the Lord for He is good. As one man wrote,

This is our God, this is who we are to give thanks to. And one of the aspects that we specifically see focused on here in the Psalm is God's goodness that is displayed by His steadfast love; or in some translations, His mercy. His mercy to us, His people. His mercy to us who do not deserve it. His mercy that overflows to us each and every day. And we're told here it is a mercy that endures forever. It is not but for a moment, it endures forever. It is forever, from everlasting to everlasting. There is no end to God's mercy. There's no exhaustion. We cannot exhaust it. We cannot use up His mercy. We can have confidence that the Lord's mercy for us is a mercy that will continue both now and into the future.

As we read this psalm, we see as the psalmist reflects upon this glorious truth of the mercy of God, he is reminded of God's mercy, His past mercy to him. The past mercy that the Lord showed to him when he was in the midst of his distress. In verse 5, he says, “Out of my distress, I called on the Lord.” His distress, which seems to be related to, as we read later in the Psalm in verses 10 and 11, seems to be related to him being surrounded by nations, not friendly nations, we can imagine, but enemies, those who sought to do him harm. He was surrounded by them, by adversaries, by enemies. This distress, it gives the sense of him being boxed in a straight or narrow place. Perhaps if you've ever been in a deep valley with rock walls on either side, you can at times feel trapped or restricted or confined.

And I found it interesting that the picture that he is portraying of his being surrounded, he says in verse 12, “They surrounded me like bees.” And I have had the experience of being near a beehive. I've had the experience of seeing bees dumped into a hive. And as those bees are being dumped into a new hive, these bees just fly up and they begin to surround you like a cloud around you in every place. There's nowhere you can turn, there are bees everywhere. And even though I was wearing protective equipment and a beekeeping suit, yet I have to admit it was unsettling because being surrounded by those bees, you can feel as though you're being engulfed, a feeling that would create distress and alarm and perhaps for many people cause fear.

The sense of being surrounded is also then likened in verse 12 to as though they went out like a fire among thorns. And it gives this picture of a fire that is overrunning a field of dry thorns, moving rapidly through the field, quickly setting ablaze all that is in front of it, consuming everything in its path. This is what the psalmist is experiencing. This is a sense of the distress that he is feeling of being surrounded by things such as nations that hated him, his enemies, of being surrounded by bees and experiencing a fire that is raging toward him. And all of these give a picture of distress, distress that would produce in most people fear.

So in the midst of his distress, where does the psalmist go for help? Returning back to verse 5, we read that ‘out of my distress,’ what did he do? He called on the Lord. He didn't look to himself for help, he didn't look to others for help, he looked to the Lord. He cries out to the Lord, the Lord who hears and answers his prayer for help. The Lord shows mercy. The Lord shows mercy. He says, “The Lord answered me and set me free.” It's like he's being freed from the place where he was surrounded by his enemies, freed from being engulfed by the swarm of bees, free from the raging fire that was coming toward him. Freedom, freedom from the distress. Distresses that we feel, I'm sure each of us, from various sources, from various afflictions, from various pressures that come to us in life. Free from the distress and the fear that is connected with it.

In the midst of situations that cause us distress, in midst of situations that lead us to fear, this Psalm reminds us that our best response is to pray. It is to pray to the Lord. Pray to the Lord who has been merciful to us in the past and He will be merciful to us in the future for He has a mercy that will endure forever. There's no end to His mercy for us. It's a mercy that will be forever and forever. It's a mercy that He showed to each of us when He saved us. Spurgeon writes,

So the Lord has been merciful to us in the past in saving us, and we can be certain, have confidence that the Lord will continue to have mercy to us in the future. And we can say with confidence, “We have no need to fear, the Lord is on our side. What can man do to us?” Man can only do what God allows. He can go no further than what God permits. At worse, he can kill the body, but he cannot kill the soul.

So therefore, no matter what our circumstances might be as God's people, we can always be thankful. We can give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His mercy to us as His people. For we know that the Lord is on our side, therefore we do not fear. We can call to Him in our times of distress, for He will hear and answer our prayers, for He is a God who is merciful. So may even this truth encourage us as we come to God in prayer.

Romans 12:1-2,
I think if you did a survey of all the letters written by the Apostle Paul, you would find that no one talked more about grace than he did. No one talked more about joy than he did. And no one talked more about thanksgiving than the Apostle Paul. But something else, Paul talked a lot about the mind and thinking. We were created to think, we are commanded to think. And if you did a quick survey of the book of Proverbs, you would find that there are a lot of words that have reference to the use of our mind, right? Wisdom, knowledge, discernment, understanding.

And there's even this word ‘repentance’ that we find in the New Testament. It has three different words that are translated repentance, but one of the words means change of mind, but it never stops there. If there has been a change of mind, there will be a change of life. In Romans 12, notice that it puts both of these things together side by side, right thinking and produces right living. It connects the renewal of the mind to the transformed life. And again, Christians are commanded to make good use of their minds. Let me give you a few texts of scripture.

• Philippians 2:5, “Have the mind of Christ.”
• Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind upon things above.”
• 2 Corinthians 10:5, “Take every thought captive.”
• 2 Timothy 2:7, “Think carefully or soberly.”

When I was in Bible college my first year, we had to take a philosophy course. It was called Philosophy 101, it was taught by Mr. Franklin. It was the one course I really didn't like. They didn't use a lot of Bible, but focused a lot on philosophers. There was one book that he recommended we had to buy for the course, it was by Dr. John Stott and it's titled Your Mind Matters. He warned of a mindless Christianity. When it comes to the back end of that book, he stresses the importance of the mind in terms of how it impacts the totality of the Christian life. He said,

But it's very clear when we read our Bibles, the Christian religion requires a diligent and constant use of the mind. This past Sunday, if you were listening carefully, there was mention of knowledge in the Sunday school hour and also in the morning worship hour. In the Sunday school hour, our brother Henry opened up that section of Ephesians 1:15-19, and mentioned the very first petition has to do with knowing God. Verses 16 and 17, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”

In the Sunday morning sermon I gave focus to our sufferings and our relationship to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul makes mention of his own desire to know Christ, that was his great ambition in life, to know Christ and to share in His sufferings and the power of His resurrection. If you have that book by Dr. Packard, Knowing God, in the very first section he quotes Spurgeon, a sermon that Spurgeon preached. I took a few sections of that sermon, and here's what he says about knowing God,

Then he says this,

That's a good prayer to pray before we come to church, after we leave church, “Whatever I heard Lord, may I grow in my understanding and knowledge of who you are, and who Christ is.” There is no greater way to renew your mind and transform your life. So that's what we should pray for. Let's be a people who continually are being transformed by the growing knowledge of God and Christ. And we could even pray for every sinner who hears the Word of God that they would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Didn't Jesus say, “This is eternal life, to know the true and living God.”

Acts 2:37-42,
The first snapshot we have of the early church is Acts chapter 2, and clearly it is a praying church. And that word pray, prayed, and praying are used up to 30 times in the book of Acts alone, underscoring the church was a praying church. Prayer was a big part of their lives as they lived together. And the Bible at the same time is very realistic when it comes to prayer. It rarely comes easy for any of us. Paul knew personally the struggle in terms of his whole life, in terms of fighting with sin. That's why he says what he says in Romans 7:19, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” So there was this ongoing battle with the flesh. And we also have to recognize that we battle with the devil; he's always active, he's always resisting. And the world, be not conformed to the world. The world is always trying to put pressure upon us to mold us, to shape us in one way or another, to pull us away from our prayer closet or corporate prayer meetings.

Plus, as Christians, we do grow weary in well-doing. But like everything else, we can major on the negatives, the struggles, the difficulties, and we lose sight of the blessings and the privileges, the encouragements and the promises when it comes to prayer. So I am going to use the word love. And let me give you several reasons why we should love to pray and get excited about praying.

It is not without significance that Jesus begins the Lord's Prayer with those words, “Hallowed be your name.” That's what we want, that's what we should want more than anything else, more than anything in terms of our own lives, but we want God's name to be hallowed in our lives, in the church and in the world at large. And prayer and answers to prayer glorify God. His all sufficiency, His generosity, His mercy, His grace, His power are manifested when He shows how He hears and answers the prayers of His people.

So the Lord's Prayer gives us three major perspectives in terms of what we can pray for, but it's always going to go back to God in terms of what He does for us. We need provision, He gives daily bread. We need pardon, He forgives our sins and we need protection, He delivers us from the evil one. And when God asks or when we ask God for bread or for deliverance, for forgiveness, and He gives us what we ask, He's glorified, He's magnified as the giver of givers.

Prayer gives us opportunity to exercise our graces. Why can a Christian pray and only a Christian pray? Well, when God saves us, He regenerates us. He implants His grace in our hearts and those graces are to be used to live the Christian life, but also to be used when we pray. The grace of faith, the grace of hope, the grace of perseverance, the grace of patience, the grace of repentance, the grace of humility; all of those graces are active, maybe not always at the same time, but they're active when we pray. And the more we pray, the more we utilize those graces, the stronger they get. Just like physical muscles, the more you use your muscles, you utilize them, the stronger they get.

Another reason why we should love to pray is to obey Jesus and show that we love Him. Jesus said, “If you love me, you keep my commandments.” And prayer is commanded. Men are to "always pray", Luke chapter 18. Colossians 4, “Continue steadfastly in prayer.” Ephesians 6, “Praying at all times.” When we pray, we are obeying God, we are obeying our Lord Jesus. So prayer gives us the opportunity to give witness to our love and devotion to our Lord and Savior.

Prayer brings us into fellowship with the three person God. We can come to the throne of grace and acknowledge God as our Father, Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our helper. And because of justification by faith and because of adoption, we come as those who have been declared righteous in the sight of God, no condemnation, and we also come as the children of His family. We can cry, “Abba Father.”

One more reason why we should love to pray is because of change. There are some wonderful changes that take place when we pray. We won't even realize how many changes took place until we're in heaven in terms of the changes. We won't know exactly how God specifically answered certain prayers and how they were answered in different ways, ways that we never thought they were going to be answered, but there are some wonderful changes that take place.

1. Conversion: Number one, there's a change of conversion, right? When you pray for unconverted people, maybe your children, maybe your friends, maybe your neighbors, and God answers those prayers, there's a change, a wonderful change that has transpired and it's because God has to save them, I realize that, but we pray. God answers our prayers.
2. Sanctification: But there's also the change of sanctification. As we pray for ourselves, pray for others, we pray for growth in grace, inward change, and we grow as a result of prayer.
3. Circumstances: And wonderful changes can also take place. This is what we often focus on, perhaps more than others just in terms of circumstances: health issues, job situations, trials, afflictions, just like Peter. Remember Peter in Acts chapter 12, his circumstances changed. He was in jail one day and the next day he was free because the church had prayed.

So there are many reasons, many more why we should love to pray or be encouraged to pray, and we have the privilege to pray. Do you think that Jesus loved to pray? Sure He did. He loved to go to the Father and we should love to go to our Father.

Jeremiah 9:23, 24, Jeremiah says, “But let him that boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord.”

Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

If I were to ask you the most important question you could ever ask, I think most of us would say, “The most important question is, ‘Who is God?’” If you don't have the answer to that question, you're in trouble. And thankfully, wonderfully, God has revealed Himself in two great ways. First, by the things that He has made, what we've often called general revelation. Psalm 19, for example, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And that revelation is found everywhere, it's inescapable. Romans 1 tells us that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen, clearly seen. God makes Himself clearly known to the whole world, and that means that all men know God. There's no such thing as a real atheist. They're pretend atheists. They're just suppressing the truth more and more, that's all they're doing. We don't live in an atheistic world, we live in a world that God made. His fingerprints are everywhere.

But general revelation is insufficient. It doesn't tell us everything about God, at least when it comes to what a sinner must do. And it does leave us without excuse, Romans 1, so no one can stand before God on judgment day and only have general revelation and God can't judge them because of their suppression of the truth. So it leaves men without excuse, but it doesn't allow men and women, boys and girls to see or have a high definition of God.

I don't know how else it is stated. I could put it this way, it doesn't let us see God through a gospel lens; it doesn't tell us how sinners can be reconciled. You can stare at the sun, the moon, the stars, you'll never learn how sinners can be reconciled by looking at stars. It doesn't tell us about Christ. It doesn't tell us about the God-man. It doesn't tell us about the cross. It doesn't tell us about the empty tomb. And that's why God wrote a book. You could say God wrote a book called the Bible, a God-breathed revelation, what we often call, to make the distinction, a special revelation. General revelation revealed to all men, but the special revelation.

And one of the great things we learned about God from our Bibles is that He is not just the creator God, but He is a savior God, a three-person God. We need three persons to save us, three in one, one in three. If you read through the New Testament Bible, it's saturated with Trinitarian language. And the more you go looking for the Trinity, you find it more and more. But the Bible is saturated. The New Testament is. The Apostle Paul is always talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And every one of his church letters either starts off or ends or interwoven throughout the epistle is Trinitarian language. For example, Romans is a book that has a lot to say about the Trinity, chapter 1, chapter 5, chapter 8, chapter 15. You go to Ephesians, three distinct major times in Ephesians, two times in Galatians, twice in Philippians.

And this last Sunday school hour, our brother John Polderman opened up that section from Ephesians 1:11-14 where the Holy Spirit comes into focus. But he reminded us of the Trinity. And if you go back to the early part of that chapter, those first 11 or so verses, we saw chapter 1:4, God the Father planned our salvation, starts with God the Father. He chose us before the foundation of the world, verse 5, the Father predestined us unto adoption. And then he uses that ‘in Christ’ language, it's because of Christ that we have redemption by His blood, verse 7. And where's the Holy Spirit? Well, we heard about it this past Sunday, verse 13, when you believed, you were sealed by the Spirit; verse 14, the Spirit is a deposit of our inheritance. So here's how it goes, the Father planned our salvation, the Son accomplished it, and the Holy Spirit applies it.

Now, we probably don't think of the practicality of the doctrine of the Trinity. We get lost in the mystery of it, it's an incomprehensible doctrine. We can understand it, but not completely, none of us ever will. But the doctrine of the Trinity should produce gratitude, confidence, assurance that our salvation does not depend upon us, but depends upon God. We need a three-person God to save us.

And the doctrine of the Trinity also promotes fellowship and communion with God. When you think of fellowshipping with God, we should be thinking of fellowshipping with the three-person God. Dr. John Stott was a British theologian. I was exposed to him in Bible college, he passed away about 15 years ago, he was sort of like a Dr. Packer. But he talked about the Holy Spirit and praying to the triune God. He would get up at five o'clock in the morning, get down at the side of his bed. This was a pattern that he did for decades of time, and he would begin with these words,

And then he would focus on each one in terms of their distinctive roles according to their work,

Now he would expand each one of those, but he would end his prayer on this note, 

I also find it significant that the very last words that Jesus spoke to His disciple friends in the upper room was about the Trinity. There's nowhere else to my knowledge in scripture where Jesus talks as clearly and as definitively and as intensely about the three-person God than in the upper room. It was the last great doctrine that He taught. Jesus knew. Why? He knows they're going to suffer. He knows that their whole world is going to be turned upside down. He has told them that He is going to be betrayed by one of them. He told them that Peter is going to deny Him. He has also told them about their desertion. It all sounded so bleak and so dark, but then He reminds them that they won't be alone. They will have the full support of the triune God.

John 14:16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper.” John 14:26, “The Father will send the Holy Spirit in My name.” He's saying, “My disciple friends, you don't have to be afraid, you don't have to be troubled, you have the three-person God on your side.” I think the doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most neglected doctrines in evangelicalism today. It's one of those doctrines that we need to treasure in our minds and often put on our lips when we pray. So we go to God, we go to a three-person God. Let's not forget who He is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I just want to begin by saying one thing about prayer. I think we could argue, could we not, that the second to one or second to two clearest mandates and activities in the book of Acts are preaching and praying. Preaching and praying. And when the church prays, if you look at the book of Acts, the church is growing and evangelizing. And someone has said this,

And that word prayer, praying is used, I think, 30 times in the book of Acts. But that has been called the two great pillars of the Christian faith, preaching and praying.

So we have that privilege tonight to pray. And as we prepare our hearts to pray, I want to turn your attention to these verses, all found in the book of Ephesians. I am simply going to refer to them and give you a little bit of a reference.

• Ephesians 1:22, 23: Christ is named the head and the church is introduced as His body, the fullness of Him. 
• Ephesians 2:16: Paul explains that Christ reconciles both Jews and Gentiles into one body to God through the cross. 
• Ephesians 3:6: We're told the mystery is revealed, that Gentiles are fellow heirs of the same body. 
• Ephesians 4:4: Paul reminds believers there is one body and one spirit. 
• Ephesians 4:15, 16: We see the growth of the body comes as every part properly functions, building itself up in love under Christ the head. 
• Ephesians 5:23, 30: Christ is the savior of the body, the church, and believers are members of His body.

You probably heard this expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. And you could say that the Bible is a picture book. That's not only what it is, but it is full of pictures, isn't it? Think of it, pictures of God: a refuge, a high tower, a warrior, an eagle, a father. Think of pictures of Christ: lamb, lion, shepherd, bridegroom, friend. Think of pictures of believers: sheep, servants, soldier, disciple, athlete, pilgrim.

And then think of the graphic pictures of the church. Some have counted up at least 20. I'm not convinced of that many, but there are at least seven major pictures in the New Testament of the church: the marriage image, Christ is the bridegroom, the church is His bride, Ephesians 5. There's the army or the military image of Ephesians 6, we are exhorted to put on the whole armor of God. And that's a corporate picture, uses plural pronouns there. Then there's the image of a temple, the image of the flock, the image of the vine.

But the church is likened to a body six times in the book of Ephesians alone. I think 12 times altogether in the New Testament, but Ephesians six times the church is likened to the body. I think that was the Apostle Paul's favorite image of the church. And when you think of Christ’s church, don't forget your own body. Your own body is fearfully and wonderfully made. The body is the most complex, marvelous creation of God. There's nothing, I don't think in the universe, that displays a greater complexity, diversity and functionality than the human body.

And the church functions like a body, it can do amazing things. One body, but many members. Then there's a wonderful diversity of gifts, mutual dependence, but there's a wonderful diversity of gifts. We need one another. And that's why you have all these one another commandments in your Bible;  no member can say, “I don't belong or I don't need you or I can't be used, I have no function in the body,” 1 Corinthians 12. "The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor can the head say to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

And when the body of Christ with its many members is involved in a major endeavor like VBS, a renovation church project, a ladies conference, a men's conference, the body concept comes to wonderful expression. You see the hands, you see the feet, you see the eyes, you see the ears, you see God's people doing things that you could never do on your own. We know that we could never do it on our own.

But we also witness the unity and diversity in wonderful ways. Things that you will see in a VBS or a men's conference or some other endeavor, gospel endeavor, church plant, whatever, that you will never see just sitting on the pew week after week. And over the years, we've seen that wonderful diversity of gifts. God has given us a lot of people with a lot of gifts, and I do believe a growing desire and willingness to use those gifts. But it really is a testimony to what a church can be and what it should be by the grace of God.

And so I just want to thank you, brethren, for your willingness to serve, your willingness to help, being a hand, maybe a toe, maybe a foot, maybe an ear, maybe an eye; I thank you for being a well-functioning, healthy body. It should help us to appreciate also the gifts of each other. You have gifts, I have gifts, nobody has the same gift, and we should appreciate the gifts we have, a wonderful diversity. So we should start out thanking God for the church and the local body, and for the use of gifts, ultimately for the glory of God and for the good of the church.

Ephesians 5:20,
Here in chapter 5 Paul talks about thanksgiving three times, his own thanksgiving at the very front end, then he tells them that they should be thankful, and then here at the back end, he again tells them to give thanks. I think you could argue that one of the greatest disciplines of the Christian life is prayer and thanksgiving, we are to pray with thanksgiving.

In the Sunday school hour, Pastor Bernard gave us a very helpful introduction to the epistle of Ephesians. He mentioned that it starts off with grace and peace and that it ends on grace and peace. I think that's true of all the prison epistles. They start on grace and peace, and then they conclude like bookends. He doesn't want us to forget peace and grace when it comes to living the Christian life. And don't forget, when he wrote these four letters, these prison letters or epistles, that's why they're called prison epistles, because he was sitting in a jail cell.

And don't forget, the first time we see the apostle Paul in a jail cell is in Acts chapter 16. Remember, he has been taken captive, him and Silas, and they are now sitting in a jail. They've been beaten and they are now in fetters or chains. And what are they doing? How do they respond? Remember, they're praising God, they're giving praises and singing to the Lord.

And we all know this when we come into trials and difficulties, it's far easier to complain and murmur than give thanks, and we often fall into self-pity as well. But as we grow in grace, hopefully, hopefully, thanksgiving will come from our lips with greater fervency and with greater joy. Remember the same apostle Paul could say to the Philippians, “Rejoice always, I say rejoice.” And I think a key or a major reason, why the apostle Paul was a thankful man and a joyful man was because he understood who he was in Christ. Again, just read through any of his epistles.

But even the first chapter, the very first chapter of Ephesians, eleven times he talks about being in Christ. Verse 3 of chapter 1, Verse 10, verse 12, verse 20, “In Him,” referring again to his union with Christ; verse 4, verse 7, verse 9, verse 11, verse 13, “In the beloved,” verse 6, “In whom,” verse 14. And Spurgeon said this, I know some people are going to have a problem with it, but I think he's right on, but I wonder how many have experienced this,

Sinclair Ferguson says,

The central truth of the Christian life. And I hope as we go through this great epistle in the Sunday school hour that our union with Christ will be increasingly precious to us.

John Piper, listen to what he says,

Here's what it means and he runs through about twenty texts of scripture,

1. Ephesians 1:4: In Christ, you are chosen by God before creation. "God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world.”
2. Romans 8:38-39: In Christ, you are loved by God with an inseparable or an invincible love. “Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will separate us from the love of God in Christ our Lord.”
3. Ephesians 1:7: “In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin.” 
4. 2 Corinthians 5:12, In Christ you are justified. "In Him we become the righteousness of God." 
5. 2 Corinthians 5:17: In Christ you have become a new creation. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
6. Galatians 3:26: “In Christ you are the sons of God through faith.”
7. 2 Corinthians 1:20: "In Christ all the promises of God find their Amen."
8. Philippians 4:7: In Christ, everything you really need will be supplied, according to Philippians 4. He said, “My God will supply every need of yours to His riches in glory in Jesus Christ”, and, “in Christ, the peace of God will guard your heart and mind."
9. Romans 6:23: “In Christ you have eternal life for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
10. 1 Corinthians 15:22: And here's the last one, in Christ you will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord, "for as in Adam we die, so also in Christ shall we be made alive."

I think that explains the Apostle Paul, his joy and his thanksgiving. He knew who he was. He knew who he was in Jesus Christ, he knew his identity. And I trust as we grow in grace, we will become more sure of who we are and what we have in Christ. And as a result, we will be more joyful and more thankful. Let’s pray that we would grow in Christ and realize how privileged we are in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 119:36, 37,
This psalm is written by a man who obviously loves his Bible. I think only five of the 176 verses doesn't explicitly mention the word of God; whether he uses the word statutes, commandments, precepts. But really, it's someone who has a love affair with his Bible, Psalm 119. If there are any negative verses here, these are probably the two verses that are somewhat negative.

I think most Christians would admit that one of the biggest struggles in life when it comes to prayer and when it comes to reading their Bible and when it comes to listening to sermons is keeping focus, not losing attention, becoming distracted. It's very easy to lose our focus when it comes to spiritual disciplines. And you get a sense of that even here in Psalm 119. Notice again what he says, “Incline my heart.” He wants his heart inclined towards God and the things of God. And “Turn my eyes,” he says, “from worthless things.” There's a propensity of heart and even the eyes to drift away, to lose focus. And what's the problem? Most often it's the problem that we focus on self. Someone has said this, 

It's easy to think about self. It's not as easy to think about God or to think about the church of God.

John Owen, perhaps the greatest theologian of all the Puritans, was convinced that the Church of Jesus Christ must be prayed for continually; corporately, not just individually but corporately, not just privately, but also universally. In other words, he didn't just want us to focus upon the local church, and I think he's right, but to focus upon the universal church. The emphasis in the Bible is upon the local church, but there are several texts that bring into focus the universal church. And he said,

But even the church, I would argue, shouldn't be the main focus.

The focus should be God, right? The focus should be God. God is the greatest attraction. God is the greatest treasure. God is the greatest joy, He should be. The greatest love, the greatest being in the universe. And I think it's very important that we need to focus upon the Triune God, not just the Father, not just the Son, not just the Holy Spirit, but the Triune God. Our worship should be Trinitarian, and our prayers should be, too. Let's start with the Father, remember who the Father is. Go to the Sermon on the Mount, you have 16 references to the Father by Jesus. He mentions the Father is a perfect Father, so He never makes mistakes, He never changes. He is also a Father who loves to give good gifts to His children, that's Matthew 7. And according to Ephesians 1, this is something that was sort of hammered into my head when I was in the academy by Pastor Nichols, I never saw it before. He said,

Think of it. Here's what Paul says in Ephesians 1, “The Father chooses us; the Father predestines us; the Father adopts us, and He blesses us in Christ.” But it's the Father, the Father who chooses us, He predestines us, adopts us, He justifies us and He blesses us in Christ.

That's the first person of the Trinity. Don't lose sight of Him when we pray.
The second person of the Trinity that we shouldn't lose sight of is the Son. Think of Hebrews 11, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” We want to keep Christ in the focus. We've been going through Philippians, and that's a great focus by Paul, the focus upon Christ. Think of Philippians 3:8, “I call everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

So we worship a perfect Heavenly Father, we worship a perfect loving Savior and thirdly we worship a perfect helping, comforting Holy Spirit. Have you ever sat in a group of religious people and maybe they were even praying to God. Some of them think they were: Hindus, Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses, and you listen to them pray. I've even been in some circles that I would have called reformed circles that had been somewhat troubling because they couldn't put this word on their lips, “Father.” They couldn't pray to God as their Father. They couldn't enjoy the intimacy or sense that they are a son of God.

And Christian, we are. We are the children, not by birth, but by rebirth. We are born again. That's why Romans 8 tells us by the Spirit of adoption, the Holy Spirit, we can cry, “Abba Father.” We can put the same “Abba Father” word on our lips as our Lord Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. And because of the adoption by the Spirit, we are also dependent upon the Spirit when it comes to living the Christian life, when it comes to fighting our sin, Romans 8:13, “Put sin to death.” And then it's also the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. So we can grow in grace. We can grow in those nine fruits of the Spirit by the help and power of the Holy Spirit.

But arguably the most important truth is the doctrine of the Trinity. We pray to the Father, we pray through the Son, and we pray by the Spirit. And the most important thing we should remember when we come to God, not only who He is, but who we are, the children of God. That's the greatest privilege, to be adopted, even you could say more privileged than even being justified, that is standing before a judge. But when you're adopted, you are now before God as your Father, “Behold what manner of love that we should be called the children of God.” But understanding who He is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and understanding who we are, the adopted children, should increase our reverence, confidence, and gratitude as we pray.

Matthew 7:24-27,
The Sermon on the Mount begins with those nine Beatitudes, and then comes to a close here. Jesus often closed off some of His parables, and this seems to be a parable on a very strong note of warning or exhortation. You probably know that the sermon as a whole is what you could call a highly discriminatory sermon, not a prejudice kind of discriminatory, Jesus was a discriminatory preacher. He never let people sit there and wonder as to what He was saying when it came to the great moral divide.

If you go through the sermon, He distinguished between false religion, true religion, the false righteousness of the Pharisees and also true righteousness. He distinguishes between true prophets and false prophets. And in chapter 7, He distinguishes between two gates, two ways and two destinies. So again, He is making discrimination between those who are true believers and those who are not. And He is addressing again and again the matter of religion, the false religion of that day was so rampant. But in the latter part of this chapter, verse 24, He makes another discriminatory application. This time again, it's a parable. Some think it is, some aren't quite sure, but He distinguishes between two builders and two foundations.

So here again, Jesus is making a discriminatory application here to people who hear the word of God. There are two hearers, both hear but one hears and does, he's a hearer and a doer. And you have that similar discrimination in terms of the righteous and the unrighteous, in terms of hearing the word of God or meditating upon the word of God. Psalm 1, I think that's another Psalm where you can see it as well, that great moral divide. Again, discriminatory preaching you could say, or teaching with regard to the moral distinction that separates mankind.

And in Psalm 1, we're introduced to the righteous man first by way of a negative and then by way of a positive, what he doesn't do and then what he does do, and so we're told, first of all, what he does not do. And what does he not do? Well, he doesn't listen to the counsel of the ungodly, he doesn't stand in the way of sinners, and he doesn't sit in the seat of the scorner. So you could say people know where he stands. They know he's a man of conviction, a man who will take a stand when it comes to holiness.

That's the negative. But as far as the positive, look at verse two, he's the man who meditates upon the word day and night and if he does, if he follows through with the negatives and follows through with the positive, his life will be significantly impacted. That's why He gives a beautiful illustration of a tree planted by rivers of water. It says its fruit will not perish or it will bear fruit in season. And then the durability, his leaf will not wither. So you have I think three things here about the righteous man:

1. His stability, he's planted by rivers of water. The guy is not going to go anywhere. He's sure in his convictions.
2. His fertility, he's a man who produces fruit in his life. He will bear fruit in season.
3. And then his durability, his leaf shall not wither.

But obviously, the word of God impacts his life. He's a doer, you could say that, could you not? He's building his house upon rock.

So as we go to prayer time, that's something we should want to keep in mind. I thought it'd be wise for us to think again what we heard. We can all hear the word of God, but are we going to put it into practice? And so we can even pray that we would put it into practice. The psalmist could say, “I have hid your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Jesus said, “Sanctify them by the truth.” We cannot live the Christian life, we cannot grow the way we should grow unless we regularly are feeding upon the word of God. It's like food, the best of food. What does Moses say in Deuteronomy 8, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

And one of the reasons, not the only reason, but one of the reasons why we come to a corporate prayer meeting is so we can pray together, pray in what we heard this past Sunday. And I trust that will help us to be doers, to be doers.

Mark 10:46-52,
Last Sunday morning, we dealt with blind Bartimaeus, the beggar who came to Jesus. And the main focus of the application was upon Jesus. Obviously, the miracles put into sharp focus was Jesus, He puts on display His mercy, grace, and power. But like the parables, the miracles also help us to understand ourselves; not always in a good light, but sometimes in a good light. And blind Bartimaeus helps us when it comes to prayer. In his commentary, Matthew Henry puts a great emphasis on the praying blind man. And what can we learn? What can blind Bartimaeus teach us about prayer? I have five things.

He prayed with faith. Faith always goes to Jesus. Faith has some knowledge of who Jesus is. Faith doesn't run to strangers. You wouldn't go to Jesus unless you believed certain things about Jesus and Bartimaeus goes to Jesus. So we could say he prays Christologically, or he prays with faith. And even that subsequent cry or that cry for mercy, is also evidence of faith. Blind Bartimaeus believes Jesus is merciful, that he can obtain mercy from Christ. And the Psalms are full of cries of faith for mercy. Psalm 4, “Be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” Psalm 6, Psalm 9, Psalm 25, “Redeem me and be merciful to me.”

It's a prayer of humility or dependency. Mercy assumes humility. Mercy assumes I can't fix it, I can't heal myself. And mercy means that you and I do not have the right to demand anything. We have to come asking, begging, and we have to throw ourselves upon God, upon His mercy and compassion. It's interesting when Jesus picks up that word beggar or the word for poor, which is the word used in the Sermon on the Mount, the very first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor.” It could be translated, “Blessed are the beggarly poor.” It's a word for those who are beggars and He wants us to come to Him as beggars, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It would be good for us to remind ourselves rather regularly who we are, we are spiritual beggars. So yes, blind Bartimaeus can help teach us how to pray. He prayed with faith, he prayed with humility.

He prayed with perseverance, he wouldn't give up. Despite the hindrances, despite the opposition from the crowd, he cried out all the louder. He didn't go quiet, he wouldn't back off one inch. And perseverance is a hallmark of the Christian faith. That comes through very clear in the book of Hebrews. You have that long, big chapter in Hebrews 11 about persevering faith, faith that overcomes. And that's where this faith shows up here. And even Jesus, remember that parable of the persevering widow, a parable about prayer, He wants us to know when it comes to prayer, we have to persevere.

You've heard the story about George Muller. He prayed for five different men for their conversion. The first one was converted five years after his praying. The second one was 10 years. And then two were 25 to 50 years, they don't give exact numbers here. So those four men were converted. One took five years, one took 10 years, two took between 25 to 50 years. But there's one, the fifth man he prayed for didn't come to the Lord until after he died. The point is, ‘never give up’. And sometimes our prayers will be answered, it could be, right after we're dead. Prayers we prayed for our children, our grandchildren, maybe for this person or that person, they could very well be answered after we die. So you never have to give up hope. Even on your deathbed, you can be praying for loved ones because God could answer that prayer after you die. So Bartimaeus teaches us how to pray by faith, humility, dependency, by perseverance.

He prays specifically, right? Not just in general terms. Remember when Jesus invites him, he comes to Jesus. He's still blind and Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do?” He doesn't shrug his shoulders, but very quickly comes back with the answer, “I want to see. I want to see. Give me sight.” When the Apostle Paul was praying to be delivered from his thorn in the flesh, again, very specific. We don't know what that thorn was, but he knew what it was. And he specifically asked to be delivered from that thorn.

And the last thing we can say about the prayer of this poor beggar, Bartimaeus, he prayed with thanksgiving. Now that's not here in Mark's gospel, go to Luke's gospel. But after Jesus heals him, he doesn't do what those nine lepers did. Remember those nine lepers; there's 10 of them, nine took off, they didn't come back to Jesus, one did, only one returned. But in Luke's gospel, he tells us that Bartimaeus walked and began to follow Jesus. He didn't run away from Jesus, he began to follow Jesus. And he also uses the term glorified God, he began to glorify God. I would argue one of the best ways we can glorify God is by giving thanks to God. And the more you give thanks to God, the more you glorify God. “In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks.”

So as you come to prayer let's not forget the blind beggar, we can learn from his example. Let's pray with faith, let's pray with humility, perseverance specifically and thankfully.

Isaiah 40:10-15,
Isaiah 40:21-26,
This is a chapter to comfort God's people, to remind them that there is no God like Him. And He is pictured both as great and gentle.

I think every Christian is aware that you can suffer from what you might call a perverse tendency to shrink or dwarf God. There was a book written by J.B. Phillips back in the 1950s titled, Your God Is Too Small. And Dr. Packer in the book, Knowing God, wrote in that book 50 years ago,

And again, that was 50 years ago. Ed Welch, a more modern writer, wrote a book titled When People Are Big and God Is Small. So every generation, every Christian, I think to some degree, will suffer from time to time of a small God mentality. In Psalm 50, God rebukes His people and says, “You thought that I was like you.” And I believe that all of us would say that a large percentage or maybe some percentage of our anxieties and fears can be traced back to a small God mentality. And the best way, the best way to fight (we obviously need to increase our faith so we can get a sense of how great God is, but we have to fight against a small God mentality), means we have to behold God through the perfect lens of our Bibles.

And that's really what Isaiah the prophet is doing here in chapter 40 of Isaiah. He calls upon them to behold your God, verse 9, and then he unfolds God's greatness, power, wisdom, sovereignty, holiness, and strength. And then Isaiah, you probably know this, more than any other prophet picks up on the theme of God's holiness. I think he uses that word holy some 35 times. And when we think of holiness, we tend to think more of God's purity, which is right. God is blameless, He is perfectly holy. But that word holy really has this idea of separation. Separation, God is far above us and beyond us. And you even see that with Isaiah. Remember, he has that close encounter with God back in chapter six. He sees the thrice holy God, and then he responds by acknowledging God's greatness. Isaiah 6:5, “My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

And what Isaiah is doing when he's writing this letter, he's also prophesying, he's telling these folk that there's a coming captivity. They are going to be taken captive by the Babylonians. So there's a very bleak future in front of them, dark, scary. And so he's trying to get them prepared and essentially he tells them, “Make good use of your faith, get your eyes on God.”

And to help them, if you read the whole chapter, he makes a contrast and a comparison between God and all the big things that make us feel small and we could say afraid or inadequate. He paints a number of pictures; big oceans, verse 12; powerful nations, verse 15 and 17; great rulers, verse 23. And then he also talks about giant stars in the heavens, a number that no one can number, verse 26. So those are things that when we think about them, they make us feel extremely small, puny, and weak and insignificant. But compared to God, they are dwarfed, they are minuscule. He even uses the word nothing, nothing before Him.

But you could ask the question, “But how does that help us? How does that help us with our problems when it comes to anxiety and fear about the future?” Well, our tendency is to look at newspaper headlines and present circumstances, like Peter. Remember Peter looked at the waves and began to sink? We are like those disciples in the boat in the midst of that storm. They weren't looking to Christ, they were looking at the waves and the wind, and they became afraid. And here's what we often do, we forget how gloriously big our God is and how gloriously good He is.

But if we're going to pray with a level of competence, boldness and faith, and successfully fight our anxiety, and everybody to some degree struggles with anxiety and fear, we can't forget who God is. John Newton once said,

So here's what we have to say,


Right? There's no loss that He cannot compensate, there's no trial that He cannot work out for our good. One man puts it this way, “He has the Midas touch.” Remember, Midas was a king, but everything he touched turned to gold. God has the Midas touch, He can turn all our problems into gold; and not the gold that we think of in terms of actual literal gold. I would add the gold of sanctification or the gold of Christ likeness.

So that's what we need to pray as we live the Christian life, that we would experience a growing knowledge of God as we face our struggles, difficulties, and sufferings in life. Remember Job. He went through massive trials and came through with a greater faith, you could say, in a greater God. God hadn't changed, but his faith grew. So that's why he could say at the back end, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You.” Now, remember, he was at one point pretty negative. He was struggling with some level of bitterness. But at the back end, he sees God in a way he hadn't seen God before. He was more humble and more aware of how good and great God is and able to sing and pray, “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.” So that's something we should pray. When we go through trials, we'll all go through trials, our vision of God should become greater and not smaller.

Jeremiah 29:10-14,
The context for this portion of Jeremiah is coming from a time in which God's people had been sent away in exile. The people had sinned, they had sinned repeatedly against God. God who had been patient with them. God who has been long-suffering. God who kept warning the people by the prophets that He sent. Yet the people did not listen. They turned away from God, and they turned to the worship of idols, false gods. And God punished His people for their sin. God sent Babylon to defeat the nation and to take away many into exile. And while they were in exile in Babylon, Jeremiah received the word of the Lord. It's a word of promise, which he writes in a letter that he sends to the exiles. Note in Jeremiah 29:1, he says,


In the letter, Jeremiah writes of a promise, a promise from the Lord, a promise that was sent to the exiles. In verse 10, we're told that “When seventy years are completed, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you My promise.” It's a promise to bring you back to this place. The Lord, He is in control. We see He is the one that will do this, “I will.” He is the one that is making this happen and He will bring back the exiles, including all those who had been exiled into all the nations, all the nations into which the Lord had driven them, all the places that God had sent the people into exile as punishment for their sin. The Lord will gather them out of all the nations, and they will be brought back to the land of Judah. It's a promise. It's a promise of the Lord. It's a promise of restoration. It's a promise of restoring the fortunes, perhaps referring to the blessings of returning to the land.

But I believe that a number of men have said this, and I believe that this is even more important, it's a promise of restoring fellowship with the Lord, “That I will visit you. I will hear you and I will be found by you.” Though God has punished His people, He has not forgotten them. For God is a God of mercy, He is a God who is forgiving. His promise, this promise that is given in Jeremiah is similar to the promise that was given to the people upon entering the land. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses told the people of a warning from the Lord, warning the people that if they did not obey His commands, if they acted corruptly, if they turned from God and turned to idols, if they did these things, that He would punish them and He would drive them out, He would scatter them among the nations.

But yet in this warning in Deuteronomy, He also gave them this promise; in Deuteronomy 4:29-31, the Lord gave them this promise,


So once again, as He did it as they were entering the land, once again the Lord gives the people a promise. This time it's a promise to them as they are in exile. It's a promise that will give them hope. It's a promise to encourage them.

And as we think of this promise, we note that it's a promise that has a connection to prayer. In verses 12 and 13, we read, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will hear.” When they call, they have hope of being heard by the Lord. And as they look to the Lord, instead of looking to false gods, they will find the Lord when they seek the Lord with all of their heart, with earnest, sincere, heartfelt prayers to the Lord. In answer to their prayer, the Lord will fulfill His promise. The Lord will gather the people, and He will bring them to the Promised Land. And the Lord will restore the privileged fellowship that they once had, fellowship with the Lord.

Well, I can only imagine upon reading this letter as it was sent to the exiles, that as they read these words, hearing the promise of the Lord, you would anticipate that this would encourage the people, that it would encourage the people to pray. And we find this to be the case, as seen in the life of Daniel, as recorded in Daniel chapter 9. In Daniel 9:2, we read,


Upon reading of the promise of the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, Daniel responds to this promise by praying. His prayer is given to us and described in Daniel 9:3-19. And while we don't have time to go through all the details of the prayer, it's a prayer that's marked by worship. It's a prayer that's marked by confession of sin. It's a prayer that's marked by a recognition of justice, the justice of God for their sin. And it's a prayer with a plea for mercy and forgiveness. But as the commentators write, this prayer of Daniel, it's a prayer that's also motivated by and grounded in the promises of God, promises that were written by Jeremiah in his letter to the exiles.

So let us then likewise find encouragement to pray as we call to mind the promises of God. Writing of the connection between the promises of the Lord and prayer, E.M. Bounds wrote this,

John Calvin described the promises as the foundation and anchor of prayer. C.H. Spurgeon likened the promises of God to the raw materials of prayer. John Owen said the promises are the essential fuel of all prayer. So tonight as we come to pray, let us remember the promises of God and may they serve as fuel for our prayers. Promises such as God's promise of care, that when we are experiencing anxiety or cares of this life, we can pray to God fueled by the promise that He cares for us.

So therefore we can cast all our anxiety, all our care upon Him. We can be fueled by the promise of mercy and help. When we struggle with weakness and temptation to sin, we can pray to our great high priest who is able to sympathize with us in our weakness and draw on that promise and pray fueled by the promise that as we draw near to the throne of grace, that we will receive mercy and find help in time of need. But also the promise of forgiveness, that when we sin, we can pray for forgiveness, fueled by the promise that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So the promises of God, let those promises enrich and enhance our prayers. Let those promises be a motivation for us to pray. And let those promises even increase our hope that the Lord will hear and answer our prayers even this night.

Matthew 5:1-11,
Sunday night, Pastor Walden dealt with the subject of sanctification. He used 1 Thessalonians 5:22, 23:


And then he mentioned the negative and the positive of sanctification set before us in those two verses. We have to put off and we have to put on; theologians have called the negative mortification, and sometimes the positive has been called vivification. But it's interesting, if you look back to the chapter previous to 1 Thessalonians 5, which is 1 Thessalonians 4, you have a similar emphasis. 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” And then if you look back to the third chapter, 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 13 he picks up that matter of sanctification again, “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.”

Now, it's very easy, I'm sure you know, to find the doctrine of sanctification in your Bible. Of all the blessings that we receive in Christ, it is probably the one that's developed the most and delineated the most in our Bibles; the doctrine of sanctification or living a holy life. And you can find that in Paul’s epistles, in Peter, and in John. And if you read again, the whole New Testament, even going to the Old Testament from beginning to end, you will find that sanctification is a critical issue. It's a critical issue. And we find commandments, warnings, encouragements, incentives, prayers, all having to do with sanctification. And I would argue that the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest. I think we could say it's the longest single discourse on practical holiness. He deals with the standard of holiness, God's moral law. He applies the 6th commandment and the 7th commandment. He deals with the heart sins of anger and lust. He deals with the wonderful influence of witness. Because we are holy, we are the light of the world, the salt of the earth.

And then he deals in that same sermon with the ultimate aim of holiness. Matthew 5:48, some think this is the climax of the sermon, “You therefore, be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” But notice how the sermon begins. Again, go back to those Beatitudes, it's the character of a sanctified person. What does a holy person look like? Matthew 5:3-11, those Beatitudes are nine descriptives of every true child of God. There's no Christian who can ever say that one of these blessings are not part of my experience. No, they belong to everybody, every Christian, if he's a Christian, and possesses a poverty of spirit, of humility. Every Christian mourns or grieves over sin. Every Christian should hunger and thirst after righteousness. Every Christian should have a purity of heart. Every Christian should be a peacemaker or should be actively engaged in making peace. Every Christian is going to be persecuted for righteousness' sake, we suffer because of Christ.

And when you think of the Beatitudes, I don't think we always think this way, at least I haven't, think of Jesus. He epitomizes and captures every one of those Beatitudes. I know there might be one or two where you have to qualify, I realize that. But He shows us what it means to be poor in spirit. Was there anyone more humble than Jesus? He mourned and grieved, not over His own sin, I realize that, but He was a man of sorrows. He put on a perfect display of meekness and gentleness. And no one hungered and thirsted after righteousness more than Jesus. “Blessed are the merciful.” Again, who was more merciful than Jesus? Every one of His miracles, you could say, characterized a deed of mercy. And He was pure in heart, perfectly pure in heart, in Him there was no sin. And He was the peacemaker of peacemakers, He's called the Prince of Peace. And He was persecuted for righteousness' sake, wasn't He? I think someone said this,

And brethren, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” what are we praying? Well, we're praying for holiness. We're praying for the world at large, I know that, but we're also praying that the kingdom would come in terms of our own experience, that King Jesus would reign and rule over our hearts and our lives more and more.

When you pray, “Thy kingdom come,” you could be praying for yourself. And it wouldn't be a bad idea when we pray for ourselves to take those nine Beatitudes and pray them in. Pray for a greater poverty of spirit. Pray for a greater mourning over sin. Pray for a greater hunger and thirst after righteousness. Pray to be a greater peacemaker in the church, at home. The Scottish Presbyterian, Murray McShane, I think he died at the age of 28, was known for his holiness. And here's what he said,

And so, yes, we can always grow in grace. We'll never, ever come to that place of perfection. We can always become more like Christ, 2 Peter 3, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus.” Ephesians 4, “We are to grow up in every which way into Him who is the head.” Well, that's what we should be praying. When we get up and pray for ourselves, but even when we pray for one another, that we would become more and more like Christ.

Matthew 6:9,
I heard Alistair Begg say,

That's true. Every Christian, every Christian can say, “God is my Father.” It's likened to the greatest blessing of soteriology. The greatest blessing, the highest blessing is adoption. We are the sons of God. We can call God ‘Abba,’ just like Jesus could, ‘Abba, Father,’ or ‘Dearest Father.’ And then Jesus, in this same sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, I think He develops the concept of Fatherhood. He tells us He’s a perfect Father and also that He loves to give good gifts to His children.

Every Christian believes that when they pray, they are praying to a real person; not a thing, not a force. That might be the greatest distinctive between Christianity and every other religion in the world. We believe in a face-to-face dealing with an infinite person by prayer who we know as Father. And so we can use that personal name, Father, with confidence and assurance. And to add to that personal dimension when it comes to prayer, we should remember that we pray to a three-person God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we use affectionate language. We know He loves us; He shows us His kindness, compassion every day of our lives, but we also can say we love Him.

And we pray to a God we know who is a living person, who thinks (a person to be a person has to be able to think), speaks and listens. And to help maintain and cultivate intimate prayer fellowship with God, the Bible uses what is called anthropomorphic language, which means we describe God in human terms. Does He have physical eyes? No, God is a spirit. Does He have physical ears? No. Does God have a physical face? No, God is spirit. But anthropomorphic language is used to help us think of God as a person who is near, dear, loving, caring. And let me just mention five divine body parts or specifics of anthropomorphic language that is applied to God.

The Bible says God has a face. Exodus 33, Moses spoke to God face to face, which emphasizes intimacy, transparency, a person to person relationship. It was even used as a friendship relationship, as a friend speaks to a friend, person to person, face to face. That's the first body image.

God has a mouth. We are told God speaks. Scripture is God breathed. It actually has been called the mouth of God. Isn't that why we come to church Sunday after Sunday to hear the voice of God?

He has ears. Psalm 34, “His ears are open to our cries.” Psalm 130, “Hear my voice, let your ears attend to my cry for mercy.” Now His ears are different from our ears. He always listens, He's a perfect listener, He's never deaf to our cries, He never ignores our sighs, He never forgets our prayers. But again, God, the God we worship, is a living person, as real as real can be. He's our Father. And again, He doesn't have a body like you and me, but that anthropomorphic language is used to help us understand just how real and personal God is.

He has eyes. Psalm 32, “My eyes are upon you.” Psalm 34, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous.” Psalm 139, “He knows my uprising, my down sitting; He knows my thoughts afar off.” Both His eyes and His ears tell us that God is everywhere present and He is what we call omnipresent. He sees everything, He hears everything.

The final body part God's Word uses to help us understand God is real, He's a person, He has an arm, a hand. 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.” John 10, “My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” Acts 11, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and the great number who believed turned to the Lord.” And we can say every day of our lives that God's hand of providence is controlling every situation, every event, from the least to the greatest.

And that should give us confidence, Brethren, when we come to prayer. We can go to God in terms of His ear, in terms of His eye, in terms of His hand. We could even ask God to speak to us in terms of His mouth. But we are coming to a God who is personal, real, and who's always, always willing to help us. He desires to bless us more than you desire to bless yourself. And He gives us what we need when we ask according to His will and ultimately for His glory and for our good. We can be confident that He will hear and answer those prayers.

Revelation 4:9-11,
Revelation 5:11-14,
I think we'd all agree that there are books in our Bible that are more attractive or more appealing than other books. And even preachers and pastors find themselves gravitating to certain books in the Bible. The book of Romans, for example, will always be a great magnet, I think, for many a preacher. But there's another great book that I do think people in general and pastors in particular gravitate towards, and that's the book of Revelation, and for good reasons. There's some bad reasons, but some good reasons. Two good reasons: Revelation has a dominant Christ focus, it also has a dominant church focus; a dominant Christ focus and a dominant church focus.

And it also has a dominant suffering motif and a dominant victory motif. Suffering and victory. One big reason why John wrote Revelation was to help churches to persevere in the midst of trials and difficulties. The word overcome, I'm sure you've seen it when you read through Revelation, it's used 17 times and almost every time there is a promise given to those who overcome. But the biggest way God encourages the Christian to persevere and overcome the world, the devil, and sin is by getting our hearts or our minds focused upon God's throne. That word throne is used 50 times, 50 times in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, we see the Lord God and the Lamb of God on the throne. It's actually called the throne of God or the throne of the Lamb. Just like the Word of God is called the Word of God or the Word of Christ.

And the concept of throne tells us that He is the King of kings, He's the Lord of lords, He's in control. Like when Jesus was on earth, there wasn't any question I don't think among His disciples, who controlled the demons. Who controlled the destruction in terms of the hurricane or who controlled disease and death? They were always convinced, I'm sure, that it was Jesus. And the same Jesus is sitting upon a throne, exercising his omnipotent power and authority. Everything is under His control, everything. And that's why we love that word or that verse, Romans 8:28, that He controls everything, “All things work out for our good.” That means nothing, nothing in your life or in the world at large has not been purposed and decreed by God. Someone has described divine sovereignty as the pillow to rest from anxiety and fear.

And what helps us, not only that God is sovereign, but we also know from our Bibles He is perfectly wise. That means He never makes mistakes. And this is also comforting, brethren, when we think that the sovereign God is the God who is love. The book of Revelation starts off with that very note, Revelation 1:5, “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.” And that's why we can be so sure that we will overcome, not because of our strength, but because of the power of the cross, the grace of God, the blood of the Lamb. You have Revelation 12, “We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb.” Jesus won and so shall we. That's a great comfort when you get up in the morning, when you have to face life in particular and also the world at large, that we worship a sovereign King.

Psalm 1,
Notice how Psalm 1 starts off, it starts off with that word blessed. It's generally a plural word, oh, the blessedness. And that word blessed can be translated. You could pick up a number of English translations and they would translate it with the word happy. I'm almost hesitant to use that word happy because it's been so misused and misapplied. But the Puritans and Reformers, if you read them, they had no problem using the word happy. But we want to be clear, it's not the superficial happiness, but a full-orbed happiness that doesn't depend upon circumstances. And I think you could argue that the happiest or the most joy-filled men in our Bibles were our Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul, and both of those men had suffered a lot. But how do you explain the blessed man from Psalm 1? Well, let me just point out three things very briefly.

The blessed man enjoys spiritual prosperity and blessing. His spiritual prosperity is likened to a tree that bears forth fruit in season, planted by rivers of water. In other words, it's not a wasted life. It's a life that will count and be rewarded for all eternity.
The second thing we can say about this man is his durability. Verse 3, “His leaf does not wither.” You could say he's a man of perseverance, steadfastness, true faith endures.
And then the third thing that explains him better than anything else is he's a man of piety. And if you want to explain his prosperity, his long-term durability, why is that even possible? Well, it's because of who he is, he's a man of piety.

And verses 1 and 2 capture his godliness or his piety by way of a negative and a positive. And he starts off with the negative. And we could put it into one word, this man practices or has a discipline of rejection. There's a rejection of evil in every form and in every way. He does not listen to the counsel of the ungodly; he does not stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers. He's countercultural, you could say. And Paul picks up this same concept, you could argue, in Romans 12 when he says he does not conform to the world.

And then you have the opposite of that, the positive of piety or the positive of holiness. And I think you could capture it here, at least from one perspective, by the one word meditation. And this is not the typical kind of meditation that the world often talks about, this is a biblical meditation. In other words, he makes good use of his Bible; he diligently is searching and applying his Bible to all of life.

Going back to the past Lord’s Day we were reminded in the Sunday School hour when Dr. Ferguson said,

And he gives that explanation of that figure of speech, 

He made this very point,

That is the same truth Paul echoes in Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

The point that Dr. Ferguson made, I thought it was very effective, he said,

He used the word anemic which means lacking in strength, energy, force and effectiveness. Anemic, that is the modern Christianity of our day and he compared it to the Christianity of the past. You could call it a robust Christianity that was amplified in the lives of the Puritans and the Reformers. Then he referenced John Bunyan; it was Spurgeon who said,

And Spurgeon knew what he was talking about, he read Pilgrim’s Progress a hundred times, he started when he was age six.

Going back to the blessed man of Psalm 1, all Christians should be growing, and that will require brethren, it will demand that we make good use and regular exposure to our Bibles privately and publicly. I trust every Christian wants to be a growing Christian. That is one of the things Paul would pray when he prayed for the churches. He was excited, he was thrilled when he found that they were growing in faith and in love. So we should pray for that in light of every time we hear the word of God, every time we pick up our Bibles, “Lord, help me to grow in greater likeness to your Son Jesus. Help me to put on Christ and put off the old man.”

Nehemiah 1:4-11,
We see that Nehemiah is a man of prayer. We read of his prayers once he has heard of the condition of the walls and the people in Jerusalem. So this is the prayer of Nehemiah. The prayer begins with acknowledgement of who God is, that God is a great and an awesome God. And as we pray to God, it is always good for us and right for us to remember who it is that we're coming before: God who is the God who is sovereign and in control. His greatness and His might and His power are beyond our understanding. And it is such a privilege that we have to come into His presence and to pray to Him. But He is also a God who is faithful.  Nehemiah says, “God who keeps covenant and steadfast love.” So here Nehemiah is reminded of the faithfulness and the promises of God. And so when we pray, it's always good for us to remember that our God is a faithful God who keeps covenant and who loves us with steadfast love. But then there's also the responsibility of the people of God to be faithful to our responsibilities to obey. He says, “For those who love Him and keep the commandments.”

So again, here he knows that he is responsible to be obedient to God's word, and he confesses his sin. And so part of our prayer should be confession of sin. So we see an acknowledgment of who God is, a reminder of the steadfastness and faithfulness of God, but also an acknowledgment of our sin.

And then just praying for a specific request. Here he is asking for the Lord that He might cause the king to be attentive and to give wisdom to the servant as he prays. Nehemiah prayed when he heard the problems of the people in Jerusalem. In Nehemiah 2, we read again of him praying when he is before the king. And then throughout the book of Nehemiah for those who are familiar with it, you know that he is a man that is constantly in prayer. This is a good reminder for us to be in prayer to our great and awesome God, a God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments. So maybe that would be encouraging to us as we come to pray.

1 Peter 2:2,
2 Peter 3:18,
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 

Peter reminds us, in a good way, that there are no perfect disciples. We are all imperfect and we always are in need to grow in grace. And I remember someone saying, 

And Peter needed to grow in grace. He writes these two short letters and he does put a strong emphasis upon suffering, but also upon growth. And Peter grew and he wants these new Christians to grow as well. I think he wants to let them know what he learned and that they also, like him, need to grow. But 1 Peter 2:2, notice the growth dynamic that Peter puts focus on here, “Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” And if you turn to 2 Peter 3, again, the same emphasis comes through, this growth dynamic. He wants these Christians to grow. The last thing Peter tells them, the last thing he could say, it's on his heart and mind, is that these Christians are suffering, but he wants them to grow in the midst of their suffering. 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

I think we would all agree that the two most influential and successful men in our Bible, at least from a New Testament perspective, would be Peter and Paul. Peter is mentioned some 50 times, maybe up to 60 times in the book of Acts; in those first 10 chapters Peter comes into focus again and again. In the latter part of Acts, Paul is mentioned, sometimes named Saul, at least 120 times. So both men are very prominent in the book of Acts. But no question, Paul and Peter were dominant preachers and leaders in the early church.

But going back to Peter and the original twelve, when you read through the gospels, whenever the twelve men are mentioned, Peter is always mentioned first. Which indicates again his unique leadership. But if you study the four gospels, just go through them, you would find that Peter, in many different places, stumbles, falls into sin. And you could come away thinking the man didn't really come to a place in his life where he was stable, a man of character, unless you had the book of Acts, and also the epistles that he wrote. I think they testify to the man's growth in grace. He grew, he was immature, at times impulsive, a kind of a no-it-all individual. Someone has described him as, (I think it was Ted Donnelly),

At least four times he argued, “Who's the greatest?” Remember? Even in the upper room the night that Jesus opened up His heart to them. He's the only apostle, to my knowledge, who is rebuked by Jesus both publicly and privately. But here's the wonderful part of his biography, the man grew. He became a useful, influential servant of God. And there's three areas, I think major areas, where he grew.

I think we can go back to what even transpired in John 21 to think of those two fish miracles. The one when he was first called to be a fisherman, Luke 5, and then John 21, when Jesus comes to him again and to the disciples out in the boat, and He fills that net full of fish. And I think it was for Peter as well, primarily. Peter needed to be reminded that Christ can fill the nets when he can't. Despite his human skill, his expertise, that fisherman couldn't catch fish, not until Christ came along and spoke and performed a miracle. And Jesus was showing Peter by those two fish miracles, “Without me, you can do nothing.” And Peter needed to know that in terms of future ministry, he needed to know he had to depend upon the Lord.

And when he preaches that first big sermon on the day of Pentecost, I'm sure he's thinking, praying, but has this in the back of his mind, “I can do nothing without Christ; without Christ, I can do nothing.” And Christ essentially fills the net with human fish, 3,000 people are saved on the day of Pentecost. But that's a good thing for Peter and all of us to remember; when you witness, when you teach, when you preach, even when we pray, we are in desperate need of the sufficient grace of Christ. “Without me, you can do nothing.” He says we cannot. It's a grace alone, Christ alone salvation.

Second great lesson Peter had to learn, he needed to put on the grace of humility. Jesus exposed his self-confidence in that upper room. He warned them about the rooster, it will crow, and as soon as it does you will have denied Me three times. So Peter foolishly trusted in the arm of flesh. It's interesting when Peter writes his two epistles, he deals with the pride issue. 1 Peter 5:5, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” And I guarantee you, Peter knew that by his own bitter experience that he fell into sin because of his own pride. God resists the proud. So Peter does become a changed man. He grows. We know that from his epistles. We know that even from some of the changes that took place in those gospels. But he learned about Christ's all-sufficiency by those two fish miracles. He learned about his pride and the need for humility by his fall.

There's something else Peter needed to learn. He needed to learn about the devil's power and the nature of spiritual warfare. Remember Jesus warned him, “The devil is going to sift you like wheat.” And the devil uses that little servant girl in front of that charcoal fire where he's standing and points him out and the guy caves, he implodes. Peter learns something about the devil's power and seduction. That explains why Peter, again, why in one of his letters, he warns about the devil. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert, sober-minded; your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

But again, as weak as Peter was, as many times as he stumbled and fell, he grew in grace. The proud fisherman became a humble shepherd. And it should encourage us, all of us, when we put our trust in Christ, we begin the Christian life, but we should always be growing. We should be praying that we would grow and pray for others that they would grow. What do we pray? We can pray that we grow more humble, that we grow more loving, that we grow more wise in terms of the devil's devices and stratagems.

Thankfully, Peter's sin failures did not totally negate or keep him from growing. But we need to pray that we grow in grace. That's a strong emphasis in Paul's letter. He's very encouraged when he sees God's people growing in grace, growing in faith, growing in love. So we should pray that even in light of Peter for stronger faith, greater love for our Lord, wiser, more alert when it comes to the devil and his tactics.

Philippians 4:8,
I think if we all did a careful check over people who were the most influential in our lives, we would find that they were Christians, and generally Christians whose lives have been distinguished by joy and thanksgiving. You could put it this way, a joyful, thankful Christian is the most attractive kind of Christian and the most influential. And I think an argument could be made from our Bibles that the happiest person or the most joyful person next to the Lord Jesus Christ was the Apostle Paul. And unquestionably, Paul was a thankful, joyful man. You go right to the back end of his life, reading again from the book of Philippians, “I have learned to be content in whatever state that I am in.” And if you read through his letters, they are suffused with thanksgiving and joy. He puts that matter of thanksgiving before us at least four or five times. Philippians 4:6, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17,18, “Pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks.” Colossians 2:7, and here he picks up the word abounding, he uses that word “abounding in thanksgiving.” What does that mean? It's not a drip, drip kind of leaky faucet kind of thanksgiving, but it's more like an outflow of a fountain, maybe like the Niagara Falls. It means it's pervasive. It should be. It was constant or it should be in our lives.

And then the matter of joy, just that word joy is used 16 times in the book of Philippians alone. That's why it's called the joy epistle, 16 times. Paul could rejoice when he knew Christians were praying for him, Philippians 1:18. In Philippians 1:25, just a few verses later, he rejoices that the gospel is being preached even by men who were doing it for the wrong reasons, but he's rejoicing because it's going out to the world. He's not happy necessarily with their motives, but he's happy or rejoicing because it's being spread. And he clearly wants us as Christians to rejoice always despite our personalities. “Well, that's not who I am.” No, we have to rejoice always despite our circumstances. Philippians 4:4, again, go to that last chapter, “Rejoice always, again I say rejoice.” Another good description or example of Paul, a man who was a joyful Christian, 2 Corinthians 7:4, just listen to what he says here, “I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” You hear that? “In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” No question, his life was wonderfully suffused and distinguished by joy and thanksgiving.

And what's again, quite amazing, is when you think of how difficult his life was. In 2 Corinthians 12, we get a thumbnail sketch of his suffering. He picks up that word danger eight times. Dangers everywhere, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers of his own countrymen, false brethren, dangers of robbers. And then he gives twelve or so different kinds of sufferings: beatings five times, 39 lashings, beaten with rods, stoned, often in prison, three shipwrecks, hungry, thirsty, cold, naked. He also had a heavy burden or a spiritual weight in terms of the churches, “I have the care of all the churches.” And then add to this one, if he hasn't had enough already, he has a thorn in the flesh, whatever it was. We don't know exactly what it was. It could have been physical, it could have been just relational, but it was chronic. That's why he uses the figure of thorn. It was a chronic problem, perhaps even debilitating.

And here's what we have to get a hold of. We never find Paul, never once complaining; never once, never once do you find him grumbling or complaining. Let's be honest, our trials and difficulties can elicit bad attitudes of worrying, fretting, and complaining. Plus, we live in a world that is full of sorrow and pain. The mass media constantly pours negativity into our ears 24/7.

But how then, how then as Christians, do we maintain and cultivate a joyful thanksgiving? That's a good question. Well, we can't do it on our own, but we need supernatural help. Even that word joy is a word used to describe one of the fruits of the spirit. So it's a supernatural joy. We don't have it by nature. We're not born with that joy. It's a Spirit given grace. But Paul also realized when he was suffering, he needed the grace of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ's grace, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”

But we can't think that we just sort of sit back and have Christ do everything. We have to be active, we're not passive. And there's a specific challenge he gives to all of us. Again, the back end of Philippians reminds me of the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones,

In the book of Philippians, Paul shares with us, I think you could even call it, the big secret to joy and thanksgiving as far as our responsibility and our duty. What is it? Think. Philippians 4:8, think, meditate. Here's what he wants us to do, call it mind strategy, this will help us swim against the powerful winds in the worldly currents of bitterness, anger, cynicism, suspicion, and mistrust. Think and meditate. Here's what he says, six of them.


If we practice that every day, you think we would enjoy at least a higher level of thanksgiving and joy?

 Just think of who you are and what you have in Christ. Just think of who you are. You are the most blessed person on planet earth. Jesus begins that Sermon on the Mount with nine Beatitudes. They all start off with that word blessed, some translate it happy or blessedness plural. We have that word used nine times. But here's just a little sampling of gospel blessings that should help us be more thankful to promote our own joy.

1. Christian, rejoice, be thankful that you are a Christian. Be joyful, thankful that you have Christ as your Savior.  
2. Be joyful and thankful that all your sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. That word justification that we've heard about recently. You are accepted in Christ. You have a perfect righteousness.
3. Be thankful and rejoice. You are adopted into the family of God, you are a child of God. “Behold what manner of love that we are the children of God.”
4. Be thankful, rejoice that there's no separation from Christ in this life or in the life to come. No separation, no condemnation, no separation. 
5. Be thankful, rejoice that one day you will have a perfect, glorified body and soul. Perfect, glorified body and soul. 
6. Be thankful, rejoice that during the whole Christian pilgrimage, you have a God who listens, a God who cares, a God who loves, a God who will protect you every step of the way. 
7. Be thankful and rejoice that you have a sovereign God who is working all things for your good. All things, not some things, all things for your good. He can even use the bad things, the negative things in our lives for our good. That's something to rejoice in. 
8. Be thankful and rejoice that you hear the word of God regularly and you have Bibles to read. 
9. This ties right back to what you heard this past Sunday here at Grace. Be thankful for what we heard this past Sunday by the ministry of the word of God and by His servants.

Colossians 2:6, 7,
As those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord, those that have been united to Christ, those who have been saved through faith in Christ, as we walk in Christ, we should always abound in thanksgiving. Of all the people in the world, we should be people marked by a spirit of thanksgiving. We should abound, we're told, in thanksgiving. The word ‘abound’ is indication that there are no boundaries to our thanksgiving, there are no limits to our thanksgiving. It should be something that just overflows from us. So I just wanted to reflect upon reasons, so many reasons we have for giving thanks to God. And I wanted to share a few that came to mind as I was reflecting upon this passage today.

First, we should give thanks to God for the person of God, for who He is. We should give thanks that He is a sovereign God who is in control over all things. That He is a faithful God. He never lies, He keeps His promises, He is a just God, He has a perfect righteousness, and He judges all the earth. And as we're told in Genesis, “Shall not the judge of all the world do right?” So we can be thankful for that. And we can also be thankful for His mercy, His care, His love, His comfort, His mercy to undeserving sinners.

And that brings us to our second main reason for giving thanks. We should give thanks for our salvation. Jesus Christ died for us unworthy sinners and by His death, we have been forgiven, forgiven of our sin. We no longer face the wrath of God. We have been reconciled to God. We have peace with God. We are no longer His enemies. But we have been adopted- think of it- we have been adopted into the family of God. We have access to God and so many privileges we have because of that, great and abounding privileges. And we also have the promise, the promise of an inheritance, the hope of heaven, eternal life.

Another reason for giving thanks, we should give thanks for what I call the general goodness of God. Just giving thanks for life, for breath. Each day that we wake up, it's just the mercy of God, is it not? We should give thanks for the health that He has given us, sustaining us. And even in times of sickness and affliction, He gives us grace, grace to endure. God is good and He provides us food and water. He provides for all of our needs. God gives us work. He gives us the ability to think clearly. He gives us gifts, gifts that we might be able to use for His good and for the glory of His kingdom. And He gives us relationships, the joys and the blessings of having families, parents, spouses, children. And He gives us friends, friends to help us and to strengthen us in our lives. So we should give thanks for the person of God, for who He is.

We should give thanks for our salvation. We should give thanks for the general goodness of God, but also we should give thanks for what I call the special goodness of God that we see in His answers to prayer; prayers that we raise up for big things in life, for the salvation of loved ones, for health or the healing of a loved one. But also we should give thanks for the little things. The little answers to prayer that God does. Just the simple things such as the sun shining on a given day; for success at an event that takes place in our lives. What goodness of God, even in these little things. And God's goodness we see in answering our prayers. There are answers that oftentimes rises above and beyond what we can ask or think.

But then also we should give thanks to God for the church, that we are a member of a church, God's people. And we can give thanks for the people of God, for those who are faithful, for those who serve one another and others. We can give thanks for the church where there's the ministry of the truth. For the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. It's the place where God's word is opened up and proclaimed week in and week out. It's proclaimed such that we can learn and so that we can be rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith. And we can give thanks for our brothers and sisters in Christ, those who encourage us, those who exhort us, those who stir us up to love and good works.

Well, these are just but a few of the many, many abounding reasons for us to give thanks to God. We should always, always be ready to give thanks to God, for God is good.

Romans 5:5-8,
Romans 8:38, 39,
Ephesians 3:17-19,
On Saturday, we had our Men's Conference, and the subject was a Christian worldview. And that's simply “How does a Christian think about all of life?” That language comes from Francis Schaeffer back in the 1970’s or 1980’s. But before anyone was talking about a Christian worldview, you could say that the Puritans were practicing it. Dr. Packer, in a book on the Puritans called A Quest for Godliness, (one of the best books overview in terms of what made the Puritans the Puritans), he says, 

And the Puritan Christian worldview began with the knowledge of God. The Christian Puritan worldview was shaped by the God we worship, the glory of God, the sovereignty of God, and the whole being of God. If we don't start there, if we don't start with a high view of God, then our Christian worldview is going to be rather shaky, like a kite in the wind. And it wasn't just an intellectual view of God, but a saving knowledge of God. So the Puritans always had a Christ-centered focus. A true knowledge of God necessitates the love of God, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son.” Romans 8, it's a love that predestines, calls, redeems, converts, sanctifies, and ultimately will glorify every true saint of God. Quoting from Packer,

Fully, unambiguously revealed at the cross.

And going back to the preaching of Pastor Bart Carlson Sunday morning, he dealt with this matter of loving Jesus. He started off with the fact that Jesus loves us. That's something we need to constantly be thinking about and meditating upon. Romans 5, (he referenced that), the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And we can be wonderfully sure and secure in that love, Romans 8:38, 39, “Nothing can separate us from that love of Christ.” Nothing in this world, nothing in the world to come. We never, ever have to worry that Christ will ever, ever stop loving us from the beginning to the end, from eternity to eternity.

And we should always be praying our love for Him, a felt sense of love for Him. I think that was what Pastor Carlson emphasized, he referred to a fresh, increasing love for our Savior. And let's be honest, that's probably where all of us can struggle, go astray. We can fall into a coldness, a lukewarmness, even a deadness. And you have that strong warning, I think he started the sermon off on that strong warning, in the last days where iniquity abounds, the love of many shall grow cold. Yes, you can have a full head, but you can have a cold heart, disaffected.

So to help us grow in our love for Christ, what do we do? Well, we meditate upon His love for us. That's where we have got to start, it starts with Him. He's the great initiator. We love him because He first loved us. And the more we see His love, the more that will refresh, energize, and compel our love. Why do we come to the Lord's table regularly? Well, to grow in our love for Christ as we contemplate His love for us. In that last text that was read earlier in Ephesians 3:17-19 where Paul talks about Christ's love, he talks about it from four different dimensions; its length, its breadth, its depth, and its height. And then he says, “It passes understanding.” In other words, no matter how much you study the love of Christ, no matter how much you meditate upon the love of Christ, no matter how many sermons you hear about the love of Christ, we will never, ever be able to exhaust its meaning or fully comprehend its breadth, height, depth, or width.

And as we come to prayer tonight, let's even pray for more love to Christ, more love to Christ. That wouldn't be a bad prayer to pray every time you pray, “Lord, give me more love for you, a felt sense of that love.”