Trusting God

It is a hard Sunday of goodbyes, as we've already said, and we will continue to experience the Dunham's, the Bowman's and Asher. Not quite yet, but but soon we will miss you all. We're also saying goodbye to our studying Colossians. I pray we've enjoyed hearing Christ and seeing how Christ is exalted as our head. The main focus of the book was that we are to have confidence in Christ. We're to put our confidence in him and who he is in all authority and what he's done for us without authority. All we need is Christ, we need to want nothing else. All we need is Christ, we need to want nothing else. That has been our theme throughout all of Colossians. He's all we need because he is God Almighty, he is the head of creation, he's preeminent over all of creation because he's the creator. He's all we need because he is the head of the church. He is our Savior. He is the mighty one. As God, we need no other mediator. He has accomplished all that we need. He has perfected us. He has given us the perfect forgiveness of sins. He has given us perfect peace and righteousness before the Father. We do not need anyone else to help us be in a right relationship with God. We don't need angels. Their power is less than Christ. We don't need human laws. We don't need to try to build up our own righteousness with regulations. We need Christ alone. He alone has transferred us from the domain of darkness and into kingdom. He alone has given us life when we were dead. We were dead in our sins. God's wrath was going to be against us. It was upon us. But then He died in our place. He gave us life. We need no other Savior. We need no other mediator. This led to the application that we need to stop seeking our own righteousness. We need to stop seeking works that help Christ. We need Christ alone. We also saw the application. We need to stop seeking sin. We need to start seeking the things that are above. We saw how this plays out in our marriages, families and our work. And as we end, we're going to get a some final words of exhortation. Concerning prayer, evangelism and then some greetings. Here's our theme for today, our message. Because Christ is all I need, I am called to be his faithful servant. Because Christ is all I need, I am called to be his faithful servant. And we see here that a faithful servant is committed to prayer and evangelism, and then we're going to look at the greetings and I'm going to hopefully show you that a faithful servant of Christ is also committed to his church. He's committed to friendship. We're committed to Christ to trust him through prayer. We're committed to Christ to share him in evangelism. We're committed to Christ as the head by being committed to the body. I'll read our passages in its entirety. And I may choose to stop after verse six. As we're thinking about prayer, we can all pray for wisdom in that regard. I'll read our passages in entirety. Chapter four of Colossians. Continues steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I'm in prison. That I may make it clear. Which is how I ought to speak. Walking wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time, though your speech always be gracious, reason was seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus, I was really looking forward to that one. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called Justice. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who was one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea and say to Archippus, See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this reading with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Well, our first point we want to look at here is that we are called to be faithful in prayer. We're called to trust Christ. We are called to continue in prayer. I lived in Louisville, Kentucky for 10 years and If you were to visit Louisville, Kentucky, you'd probably want to go to Churchill Downs. People travel from all over the world to go to Churchill Downs. I lived there for 10 years and never saw it. Because something was what do you think I could always do? I had no pressure to see it at any given time. I could do whatever I wanted to. And so I just took that for granted. And I've never seen Churchill Downs. My church was literally a mile from it. So I fear this is how we seek prayer sometimes. That door is always open. We can always go to the father and pray, but do we take advantage of it? Now, Churchill Downs, I don't know if I'll go see it when I visit Louisville again. But God, the father who's always bending an ear, we must always seek to take advantage. We take it for granted that he'll always listen. We take it for granted that he's always wanting to hear and that we can always speak to him. We need to see it as a great opportunity, a great privilege to go to the father in the name of the son. Paul says continues steadfastly in prayer, a better translation would really be persistent prayer, be devoted to prayer, be committed to prayer. You see, there's a volition, there's a choosing. There's a commitment there. It's a devotion. We see Paul tells us to pray regularly also in 1st Thessalonians 517 pray without ceasing. Continually seek God continually ask God. You are to continually be speaking and listening to God. Well, what keeps us from praying? If the command is to pray, always, continually, without ceasing, what keeps us from accomplishing that? As I thought about it, a few things keep me from praying unceasing, without ceasing. First, we get too busy. We have so many things to do, how can I have time to pray when I have so much to do? Really, the busier we are, the more we should be praying. The busier we are, the more we have to do, the more we need God's guidance and help and strength to do it. We need to be asking God's time, God's wisdom and guidance and direction for what we do and how we do it. But oftentimes being busy keeps us from prayer. Related to this, I think pride. There's so much we think we do on our own without God. There's so many things that we take for granted that God is actually helping us accomplish. We take for granted how much God blesses us with so many good gifts. There's a pride that says, I don't need God for every daily bread. Every gift, every action. We think we provide things for ourselves, we don't. Well, we take it for granted that God is always providing. And really, when we're not going to God and asking him to revive, we're robbing ourselves of a greater blessing. If we're doing the self-reliant work, if we're only enjoying what we can accomplish, we're robbing ourselves of what God is able to do with his greater strength and his ability to bless. Third, I think especially with our American get it done mentality. Prayer can be thought of. I don't think you would ever say this, but I think some may think of it as a lesser work. We need to get stuff done, we need to go out and speak and share and serve where really prayer is the greater work. Prayer is the greatest work. It's speaking to God and making requests to him. No other work is worth anything if it's not already empowered in prayer. I think we can be fearful. What if he's not listening? What if I ask for something and I don't get it? What will that do to my faith? There's a fear in prayer. There should be a reverence. There should be a great reverence. We're going to the Holy One, the great God who is wise and powerful. There should be a reverence. But I think too often that reverence and the unknown creates in us a fear. Ultimately, it comes down to this. The absolute reason why we do not pray, there's a lack of faith. There's a lack of faith. Will God be good and wise with our every request? We must pray. We must even pray for more faith as the apostles prayed in Luke. Give us more faith, increase our faith. We we have to ask God for more faith. As the great hymn says, he who trusts him wholly finds him wholly true. So one of the reasons I believe we do not continue in prayer, we are not committed always in prayer, it's a lack of faith and it's God who even will bless us with that faith. Governor Edwards said to avoid it in your prayer is to live as a brute and an atheist. Is there enough evidence of prayer in your life to not make you an atheist? Do you say, I believe in God, but that's that's not enough. Do you trust him? Do you know him? Do you speak to him? Not praying is not believing in God. So let's ask another question, how can I grow in prayer? If that's what keeps us from prayer, that's the diagnosis of the problem. Here is the prescription. How can I grow in prayer? First, pray from Scripture. There are a number of prayers in the Bible. Use them. Begin with the Lord's Prayer. His model prayer in Matthew. Start there. Make that a model and then look to Paul. Colossians 1, 3-14. There's a model prayer. You read each phrase by phrase and make it your own prayer. There's a book by D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reform. And he actually walks through the different prayers of Paul and will help us will help you to know how to pray the words of Paul. Go through the Psalms. There are songs for every occasion, a song for praise, a song for mourning, a song for asking for clarity and direction. Use God's word as a guide for prayer. Secondly, pray with a list. The church provides a list of things that the church is praying for every week in the evangel and every week on Wednesday night. Use that, make your own, have a clear purpose and focus and intentionality when you pray. If you just go to the Lord in prayer without the word, without a list, without focus and direction, well, then we we would get what we get distracted. Pray with the right posture. That's a third way we can grow in prayer. Pray with the right posture. I remember this still from C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters. You know, it's two demons talking about how to keep us from being fruitful and faithful and growing in Christ. And the demons were saying, make them think that their posture in prayer doesn't matter. That was one of the strategies. What is your posture in prayer? How you approach God says a lot about what you think of God. What is your posture? Is it humble? Yes, he's our loving father, but he's also the great and mighty king who is holy and glorious. Do we come to him with a humble posture? We must always remember that is the we get to call him father, but that's a privilege. Fourthly, pray with others. A healthy Christian diet of prayer is in the closet and in a community. It's with other people. It's with other close friends. We should be praying with one another, not just here on Sunday morning as I lead you in prayer and as Matthew did this morning, led you in prayer. Not just on Wednesday night as we gather corporately, but we need to gather in small groups, in our home groups. I hope that this church would be known as the church that has prayer groups all around town all throughout the week. We need to pray with others. And finally, pray regularly. Be committed to praying continuously. It's kind of like being a doctor. I like the doctors say I practice medicine. They've never perfected medicine. You never perfect prayer. You're always practicing. If you wish you were a better prayer, then you need to practice prayer or something that takes practice, it takes focus, it takes discipline. Need to recognize that prayer is the most important activity. Nothing else we do matters if God is not empowering it and we need to always be looking to pray. Now, as I've been thinking about this passage, I've been reflecting on my own prayer life and I think I know a lot about God. But then there's the question, do I go to him and trust him with everything? You see that we have to have that dynamic, correct? Yes, we need to know a lot about God. We need to know God and then we need to trust him. So confessing that God is sovereign over all things, that he's powerful to do all things, that he's ultimately wise and perfect. In all his ways, that's one thing. But actually taking every part of life. And entrusting it to him. That's what it means to pray without ceasing. That's what it means to continue and be committed to prayer. Do we just know about God or do we truly trust him? Something I'm always asking and wondering about is what is the reputation of Jefferson Park Baptist Church? What are we known for? And I'm very encouraged that oftentimes people say you're known for a church that's committed to the word and the gospel. I would like that modified slightly. We're a church known for the power of the gospel. See, we can be committed to protecting the gospel. for saying it, but actually experiencing the power of it that requires prayer. We can be committed to the doctrines and the right words and the right things to say. We can be committed to protecting the gospel. God doesn't need it to protect the gospel. Our posture shouldn't be one of standing, trying to protect. It should be one of humbly kneeling down, seeking the power that comes from the gospel alone. So we continue to continue in prayer, we need to identify those things that keep us from praying. We are seeking God's word, how we can grow in prayer, and we need to recognize that it is the power that God has given us. Our next phrase that Paul uses here, steadfast in prayer, being watchful in it, being watchful in prayer. He says something very similar in Ephesians 6. This is Ephesians 6, 18. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all of the Lord's people. There needs to be an alertness. There needs to be a watchfulness. And there's two ways that one can interpret what we're supposed to be watching for, alert about. The first one is just alert that Christ is coming. I don't think this is primarily what Paul is speaking to here. But there is a helpfulness, and as we pray, we're praying to the God, the Savior, the Christ, who is risen in power and is going to return with justice and power. So as we pray, we need to recognize that his kingdom will come. No, I think being watchful here is watchful against temptation. I think Paul is exhorting us to be watchful in prayer against temptation, and there's well, there's three primary temptations we need to be aware of. There's the devil. There's our own sinful flesh, and there is the world. Let's begin with the devil. The devil is fighting against us and our prayers. Because he knows that if we are committed to praying, we're inviting the power of God, which he cannot compete against. The devil can beat us. But if we're inviting God and his power into our lives, the devil doesn't stand a chance. He wants to keep us from praying because he knows that when we have the power of God, we will be able to kick in the gates of hell and spread his word and spread his kingdom. First Peter 5H be alert and be sober minded. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. The devil wants to. Destroy. Now, the way to destroy you is to keep you from praying. He's wanting to entice you. He's wanting to keep you so busy that you don't have time to pray and he wants you to keep you so busy with guilt. Now, you don't have the assurance and the confidence in Christ. See, Satan will continue to accuse you. Look at your sins. How could you possibly go to the God who is holy and righteous and good and great and mighty with your sin? He wants to keep you feeling guilty so that you do not go to the throne with confidence. That's when you say, well, Christ has died for all my sins. Those things no longer count against me. Yes, I have done those sinful things. I am that sinful. But it is Christ who gives me confidence. It is Christ who gives me confidence to go boldly into the throne of God. Other ways that Satan is trying to devour you. Well, he wants you to be judgmental of others. You're not going to pray for one another. We're not going to pray for another if we're judgmental of each other. We need to be showing grace to one another. If we're not gracious and forgiving to one another, we're not going to rightly pray for other. So Satan wants to make you think about what's wrong with each other. To keep you from praying graciously and boldly for one another. Satan wants to build up your pride and your self-worth. He wants you to think you're more important than you really are. That's one of the ways he keeps us from praying, because the more important we think we are, the less we think we need God. He also wants to make you think you have rights. How could God tell you not to do this or that? How could God tell you you have to do this? You have rights. Satan wants to remind you that you have a right to do certain things, whereas what Paul would say, no, we're slaves to Christ. See, there's a battleground for your soul. And it's won in prayer by being watchful for the devil and his temptations. Secondly, the second thing we need to be watchful for in prayer is the temptation that comes from our flesh. This is the old nature that's still hanging around. Yes, we are new creatures. We have a new identity as children of God. But that old flesh, it's still there. It's still creating sinful desires. It's still trying to keep a sinful pattern in life. The flesh wants to make you tired. Is it amazing how tired you get when you're you're seeking God in prayer? If you're trying to sustain a real commitment to a timely prayer, you're overwhelmed with exhaustion, you need to pray for your flesh to to stop, you pray for God to give you the energy to continue in prayer. The flesh wants to make you tired so that you lose focus and concentration. The flesh wants to make you confused. Well, you pray for this and got an answer, so so he tries to make doubt. The prayer wants to be selfish, he doesn't want to think he doesn't want you thinking about others, he wants you thinking about you. The prayer, the flesh wants us to be distracted, it's it's amazing what kind of to do list you come up with while praying. Wants to remind you of how busy you are. Now, we must seek God in our new nature, We need to be refreshed and secured in our new nature. We need to stop the sins of our flesh that keep us from having confidence in Christ. We need to know that we have security in the spirit and confidence in Christ as we go before the throne. Jonathan Edwards said this about prayer with regard to the sins of the flesh. Prayer is one of the greatest and most excellent means of nourishing the new nature and of causing the soul to flourish and prosper. It is an excellent means of keeping up an acquaintance with God and of growing a knowledge of God. It is a way to a life of communion with God. It is an excellent means of taking off the heart from the vanities of the world and of causing the mind to be conversant in heaven. It is an excellent preservative from sin and the wiles of the devil and a powerful anecdote against the poison of the old serpent. It is a duty whereby strength is derived from God against the lust and corruptions of the heart and the snares of the world. It has a great tendency to keep the soul in a wakeful frame to lead us to a strict walk with God into a life that shall be fruitful in such good works. As ten to to adorn the doctrine of Christ and to cause our light so to shine before others that they seeing our good works shall glorify our Father who is in heaven. Prayer is our access to the power that keeps us from being entangled in a snare and sin. And keeps us committed to Christ said simpler is John Bunyan. Prayer will make you. Prayer will make a man cease from sin or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. Prayer will make a man cease from sin or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. We can't be double minded. We're going to pray according to our desires, our actions, our behaviors and our attitude. And if we're committed to sin, we're not going to be committed to prayer. If we're committed to prayer, we will lose that commitment. To send. Another theologian said it this way, we must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts. For it is impossible to live one way and pray another. Do our lives Represent the way we pray. Are we praying to live according to the high standards of Scripture? Finally, we look at the world, the temptation of the world, and this is a business and distraction again. The world wants to tell you all the things that you could be doing and should be doing, but prayer is the most important thing. Finally, we look at our first verse. Continue steadfastly in prayer. being watchful in prayer with Thanksgiving. I challenge you to read the Psalms. All the Psalms are Thanksgiving songs at some level. Now, yeah, many of them start out, oh God, where are you? How could you let this happen to me? But they always end. Oh, thank you. for your goodness and your wisdom, and we wait upon your goodwill. The Psalms are full of Thanksgiving, no matter how honest they are about the trials and tribulations and sin God's people are facing, they are always focused on Thanksgiving. Prayer is a time to go to God and thank him. Prayer is not a wishing well. It's not a slot machine. It's not a puzzle. It's not just the time if we ask out of the right time, maybe he'll give us the good stuff, or if we just stay in the right way, then we'll get the good stuff. No, prayer is returning thanks for the good God has provided, and it's requesting continual goodness from God. We get back to the issue of trust. Many of us have things that we're praying for that look impossible. The salvation of friends. Salvation of family members, an impossible scenario with your spouse, your children. You're looking at an impossible situation. And I hear you. I hear it seems impossible. I want to pray to God. I want to trust God. But how can I? It seems impossible. Let me let me tell you, I think you can build up your trust in God. Learn to be thankful for everything. Recognize. that everything you eat and drink, every good gift comes down from the Father of Light. Learn to be thankful for everything God gives you and then you'll begin to see how powerful, how overwhelming, how full is the scope of God's goodness to us. And then we'll know when we commit our marriages, our children, We commit our our our friends and family who do not know Christ and reject Christ will know he's able and good to do it. Build your trust by constantly building up your thankfulness. Most of all, if you have a hard time building up your thankfulness, focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should not be able to hear the gospel, read about the gospel, think about the gospel, Without being thankful. Because ultimately it says we're dead. Without Christ, the wrath of God was against us. Without Christ, we have no hope. Without Christ, we have the judgment of God and that's it. So we think about Christ. Him coming to die in our place. taking our wrath upon himself, dying in our place, rising victorious in the resurrection, giving us a sure foundation with which we can have confidence in God. You can only be thankful. You can only be thankful for our Savior. As we conclude our prayer, I want to give us one exhortation. Pray for the church. If you remember Jefferson Park Baptist Church, be praying for us as a church. One of the things that has been driven throughout Colossians is that Christ is the head and we are the body. Pray that each member would find its function within the body and find its function underneath the head. That we would not try to claim our own authority, but that we would seek the one who has authority to gather in Christ. Pray for unity. There's a unity that the church should have that is so unique it can only be accomplished through prayer. It is only a gift from God, the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17. We need to be committed to that unity. We pray for wisdom to disagree. We need to pray for guidance and wisdom for our leaders and would-be leaders. Here's my request to you. I fail you. I'm a sinner. I'm young. I fail. I ask that you give me grace and pray for me instead of complaining about me. Pray for your leaders, don't complain about them, take your request to them, take your request to God and then to them. Don't talk about the failures to others, that's not helpful. Be committed to showing grace by praying for your leaders. Instead of complaining about them. We also be praying for a specific situation in our church. We brought up a young girl that we have been talking about removing from membership. Based upon what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 5. I appreciate the church speaking out in love, wanting to care for her, but we also want to make sure we're praying for her. Have we been praying for this young lady? My challenge to you this morning is to pray for her. Pray first for her conversion. Pray first for her reconciliation to Christ. And then pray for us to have wisdom and how to care for her. The second section that we'll look at. Today is faithful and evangelism, this is versus three to six, and I will stop after six. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Notice the prayers for evangelism at the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door. Are we faithful in praying for evangelism? Are we praying that God would use our words for his purpose? As I was reading about this, someone pointed out that George Mueller, he started praying for five friends at a very young age. One came to Christ a few months later, another came to Christ 10 years later, another 25 years later, another after that. One friend was still not a Christian when George Mueller died, but he prayed faithfully for 52 years. One by one, he saw them come to Christ. The fifth one came to Christ after his funeral. He believed God. He believed God had a good, good wisdom. He had good timing. He believed God would answer his prayer. Do we have that kind of faith that we're willing to persist in prayer for our children and our loved ones? He says to pray that we would have an open door so that we may declare. So that's our role. There's prayer and there's declaring and we leave everything else up to God. But those are our those are our two roles in evangelism. Speak the gospel clearly and pray for clarity. We can look at the open door. Luke talks about an open door in Acts 14, 27. And when they arrived, they gathered the church together and they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Wouldn't he be praying for open doors? Now, my how to discern the will of God, I'm not an open door policy person. But when it comes to evangelism, I am a pure open door policy person. Any open door you have for the gospel, you must take it. And we must pray for more. Every time God opens an opportunity to talk about him, we must seize that opportunity and we must pray for more. One way to be constantly thinking about open doors for evangelism is by getting in our missionaries. They have many open doors, they need prayer for more open doors. Now focus, let's look here and he's emphasizing the word of God. Pray that we would have an open door that God would allow us to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison. That I may make it clear. And this is this this rings very true to me. Because we have to make the gospel clear, we have to know what God has clearly said and say it as clearly as possible. The reason this rings true to me is I was a beginning my doctoral studies and. Well, I love being clever. I love reading theologians who are clever, I love reading philosophers, they weren't theologians, they were philosophers. And when the professor came and said, Keith, why are you trying to be so clever? Be faithful. It was it was an awakening. Why try to be clever? God's word is clear. He doesn't want us to be clever. He wants us to be clear and faithful. When Paul came into the church or came into the church or he came to the city of Corinth, he didn't come with wisdom. He didn't come with with power. He didn't come with persuasion. He came speaking clearly because he trusted God. The key thing there is, do we think it's our cleverness that will draw others to Christ? Or do we believe it's the power of the word and the spirit when the word is proclaimed clearly? We have to realize that this requires words from us. The gospel requires words. And you have to be able to articulate the gospel with great clarity. Now, do you know the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you know the gospel of Jesus Christ? I think many of you are probably saying, yes, I hope you hear it every Sunday. There are several ways of knowing the gospel. One, you identify it when you hear it, and two, you can articulate it. This one's easy, and I think this one we take for granted. Receiving the gospel and recognizing it, that's one way of knowing the gospel. But I pray that we be a church that knows the gospel and is able to articulate it. So here's my challenge to you. Articulate the gospel this week. Write it down. Should take five minutes. It can take an hour. But what does someone need to believe to be a Christian? If if you're a visitor and we go out to lunch, I'm going to ask you, when did you become a Christian? What is the gospel? That's the most that's the most important questions. What is the gospel? That's the most important question. Can someone articulate it? How well can you articulate it? Write it down. Mail it to me. I would love that. Or find a friend who you trust and let them correct and help and persuade and encourage you in how you articulate it. We need to know the gospel. Secondly, as we pray for open doors, let's talk about praying for revival. We can see revivals happening throughout the Christian age. We can see revivals and really a revival is a restart. It's reviving. We need to realize that if we want revival, which means the word of God is being spread throughout Charlottesville and non-Christians are coming to know Christ for the first time. Revival begins here. It's the spirit coming down on the church and the fruit of which is more holiness and correction to us in the way we live. Mueller says there has never been a revival that did not begin with united prayer. We need to be committed to praying for revival and know this when we pray for revival, it begins here. It begins with us. There are four keys to seeking revival in your holy walk, and so these are things that we can be praying for. First, we must confess all sins and seek reconciliation. See, it's about us. If we want revival, we need to let the spirit begin to do a good work in us. We need to be confessing all sins. Secondly, we need to remove all questionable habits. Is there anything in your conscience that you're allowing, but you you feel the spirit pressing. But you figured out how to continually quench. We need to remove all questionable habits. Thirdly, we need to obey the Spirit's leading. We need to let the Spirit lead and guide us in all wisdom. And fourthly, we must confess Christ publicly. Do you see the trajectory there? Repent of sin. Make yourself as pure as possible. Trust the Spirit and then go out and proclaim. A revival doesn't start with us starting outside. It goes from inside out. We'll finish at another time, faithful and friendship. Let me challenge you with this. Do you trust the gospel? Do you trust the God who has given us the gospel? Is there evidence in your regular routine prayer life? I know that doesn't mean you're not a Christian that you're not always praying. My challenge to you is this. Build up a life of prayer, learn to practice regular prayer. And you will see the benefits in your own life of being able to fight sin. You'll see the benefits in the life of other believers as you're united and praying for one another. We pray that we'll see the glory of God shine down as his gospel is clear and the power of his spirit anoints our proclamation. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, help us increase our faith. Increase our trust in you. Help us to seek you and your wisdom and your guidance. Help us, Lord, to see how you have been faithful for so many years by reading your Word. Help us, Lord, to be faithful as we hear reports from one another and how you are faithful and good to us. Help us, Lord, to grow in our faith and our trust in you by making our requests known and seeing the fruit of your power. Lord, I pray that we would be a praying church. Increase our faith to trust you in all that we do. Forgive us, Lord, for leading in our own power, for seeking to do things in our own will. Help us to submit to you. We praise you, our great head. We thank you that you have given, that you have used your authority to bless us and to love us and to care for us. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.