I am going to raise a matter for prayer that I've mentioned before in the prayer meeting, and it concerns the churches in Ulster. There's a lot to be grateful for what the Lord is doing over there. Various churches are really doing well, seeing a good number of people come to Christ and a good interest in the work of God. various parts of the work are doing very well. But between now and March, Northern Ireland is going to be going through constant upheaval and turmoil. It's very difficult to explain that to foreigners, for the very good reason that even the locals don't really understand what's going on. To try and put it into a nutshell, the British government, which is the This is not an exact parallel. You've got to understand, there's no exact parallel. Britain is a constitutional monarchy. You are a republic. You'll catch up to us someday, but, you know, we're not going to do that either. But the Westminster government would be more or less, in fact much more, in charge than the federal government would be here over all the states. Much more than that even. The Westminster government, which rules Northern Ireland directly without any local parliament intervening, long ago decreed that the only government for local affairs that it would countenance would be what they call a power-sharing executive, a power-sharing government. That would be a cabinet made up of the various political parties. And they think that's the best way to go forward. so that it guarantees whatever actual electoral support guarantees cabinet positions for these various parties. Now, as things have turned out, the two biggest parties are on the loyalist or Protestant or British side, Dr. Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and on the other side, the Roman Catholic Nationalist Republican, different meaning of the word Republican, by the way, side Gerry Adams Sinn Féin party, which is the party of the IRA. Both Gerry Adams and his number two were in their day the active commanders of the IRA, personally ordering and presiding over the murder of hundreds and thousands of people. So that's the background, but now they've got to have their place in government. In a national referendum, the people of Ulster by about 75% agreed to accept power sharing. So the politicians are locked in that that's what has to be done. Now comes the difficult part. Following talks at St. Andrews in Scotland, the pressure is on from the British and Irish governments to get this thing going by March. Dr. Paisley's party asked for certain guarantees. One would be that not only Sinn Féin, IRA would say that their, and prove that their arms were now decommissioned out of use, they say they have done that, how true that is I'm not sure, but they say they've done that, that they would also cease from criminal activity because the terrorists are now big time drug lords and running drugs. and into crime of various kinds. And the big sticking point that they would recognize the police and the courts of the land. It's crazy to think that these people were in government. They were running government departments and they didn't even recognize the police force or the courts of the land. So that's now what the IRA party is going to be dealing with in Dublin. later this month, and they're going to find out whether they're willing to support the police and the courts. If they do, then the pressure is on Dr. Paisley's party to go into government with them. Now that causes very, very grave concerns. It causes many people deep, deep distress. They think that it's never going to be right to cooperate with people whose hands are stained by blood. On the other hand, there are those who think, well, the violence has now stopped, the arms are put out of the way, these people are supposedly now giving up all that and they're sticking to democratic methods, political methods, and since they have been democratically elected by the Roman Catholic community to serve them and represent them and they're the only ones who can deliver peace from the IRA they must be worked with division of opinion now I'm not here to ask you to believe one thing's right or wrong the political thing it's none of your business and wouldn't do you any good to give it any thought but you can see if I could put this into something of an American perspective the kind of passion that this raises in people would be similar to if you could identify as you have identify the people who planned and executed the attacks on 9-11 and extract from them that If they're accepted as having guaranteed seats in the US government, they would stop attacking you. And if Mr. Bush was to come along and say, that's the deal we have done, and your vice president is going to be the Muslim who murdered your people, you can see what kind of emotion that would stir. in most Americans and that's the kind of emotion that this stirs in a lot of Ulster people. It's very difficult and yet you've got to figure what's the alternative. Politics is the art of the possible and so there's the difficulty. It's not the political thing I want you to be particularly worried about but I do want you to pray for the whole work of God because people who have different opinions on these things yet have to work together for a greater kingdom than the United Kingdom. That is the kingdom of God and of his Christ. The free church is in existence to preach Christ and to stand against ecumenical and rationalistic apostasy. That's why we exist. And so do pray for the churches there. Dr. Paisley needs a whole lot of wisdom, as do all the other ministers. And I trust that you'll pray for them, pray for the church, that the Lord will overrule in this and indeed give His direction and grant that the churches will be more equipped, not less, than ever before to stand for Christ and to see a good work done for God. So do pray for that, that the Lord will in His own wisdom overrule in these things. Now let's turn to the Gospel of Matthew 16. I've read this passage before in prayer meeting and preached on it on Sabbath days, but I'm going to come to it again tonight for a very, very brief word. I'm not going to be preaching in any way tonight, but just to make this a launching pad for our prayer meeting for the churches. The burden of the prayer meeting tonight is to pray for these works. There's other things to pray for. Mention people. Mention the church in Ulster. The burdens are there to pray for. But specifically tonight, we're here to pray for the churches here in North America and the work of God and the various prayer requests that have been set before you in the current. that you have in your possession. That's why we're here tonight. So make sure to pray for these churches. They have specific needs. And now is the time to lay hold. Really pray, even if you're praying generally. And it's not so general that it's useless. That it's praying that every church will effectively reach its community. Every church will effectively touch the hearts of men and women, that its members will be given access to men and women, to bring them in unto the sound of the Word of God, and to bring them to Christ. That's the key to the work of the free church. It has to have a visitation of God in the saving of souls. It's got to be used in reaching people, not just for recycling disgruntled people. but for reaching people. There is a recycling aspect to every church because if people are hurting, then get them in. And certainly, if people are in apostate churches, get them separated and get them in. That's good. But once that happens, the command of Christ is you go and make disciples of all nations. And you teach them to do what? To go and make disciples of others. who teach them to go and make... That's how the church of Christ operates. And so that's what our churches have got to be doing to make sure that that's the burden of our praying this evening. Matthew 16, verse 13, When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Let me stop there. In some ways, you know, this is an invidious thing to say, an invidious comparison to make, I suppose. In some ways, in days like those, it may have been a little easier. People at least, even if they were full of enmity and bitterness, people at least were asking about Christ and giving sometimes an aggressively hateful interest, but nonetheless an interest, who He is. Nowadays, unfortunately, what we're having to deal with is almost universal apathy. Whom do men say that I am? Most people don't give it a second thought. Even those who think they know the answer to it. There's so much spiritual apathy. And that's a difficulty to overcome. In any branch of the work, but especially in a church planting work, it is a difficulty to overcome. One way or another, we have got to be able to introduce men to Jesus Christ. And only the Lord can stir that interest. Only the Lord can cause people to be asking about the Lord Jesus. So whom do they say that I am? Verse 14, they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Here's another difficulty. Almost everybody's opinion about Christ is wrong. This was an orthodox jury. They were altogether wrong. Some of these answers were so off the wall, you'd think they were coming from a bunch of Spiritists, not Orthodox Jews at all. They were wrong. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. Most of the opinions that are given about Christ today are just plain wrong, even when you get out there into the churches. So, generally there is apathy. Then there is widespread ignorance among those who ought to know better. So he said unto them, verse 15, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Mark that, Matthew 16, 16. For Peter there was honored by God to utter one of the greatest sentences any human mouth has ever uttered. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said, Unto him, blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." As we go to prayer tonight, it is that promise of Christ that I want you to take as your warrant for prayer, as your guarantee in prayer. You see, if we ask anything according to God's will, He heareth us. 1 John 5. And if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. The key to praying is to pray in the will of God. Now, knowing the will of God can be difficult because we have so many preconceptions, so many personal desires, so many prejudices that would lead us astray so that we can jump to conclusions in utmost sincerity as to what the will of God is when all the time it is just a projection of our own will. That is a difficulty. Now, don't be in any way discouraged from seeking God's will because of what I've said, because the will of God is accessible to people who are submitted to the mind of the Spirit as revealed in and by His Word. But there are things upon which we need never have a doubt. Because the Lord has declared His will. And I would put it to you that Matthew 16 verse 18 is a declaration of Jesus Christ regarding His will and His church. He says, I will build my church. That's a flat statement of promise. It's a statement of purpose. And nothing can change it. I will build my church. I'd be very tempted to go back in my Word and start picking out points here and preaching them. My church. What a theme that is. My church. That church of the called out ones. That church of those chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Purchased by Christ by the shedding of His blood at Calvary. United to Christ by the regenerating action of the Holy Spirit. One with Christ in all the blessings of the covenant of grace. My church. This church is something that He says He is constructing. I will build it. This is a divine construction. And what a building it is. It's described in various parts of Scripture. But what a building it is, built with living stones, all put into place by the hand of the Christ of God. I will build my church. That's Christ's statement. Now that means, I'm going to save souls. That's the only way He can build His church. I am going to save souls. And unlike the Old Testament people of the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, who started to build and then gave up for a while, this is a work of continuance on the part of the Lord Jesus. There has never been a minute in history that He has not been building His church. We sometimes think of the centuries before the Reformation as the Dark Ages. And they were so dark, you know, that there was no work for God. Don't you believe it? There was a work for God. The church of Rome did corrupt the most of Europe. And the Eastern Orthodox churches did corrupt the most of the Eastern part of Christendom. But still, God was doing a work. He had individuals in the established church. He had others outside of it. And they were standing for God and they were preaching the Gospel. I know that historians disagree on this, but I personally like and believe the truthfulness of the historical scenario painted by Wiley in his History of Protestantism that sees the history of the Waldensians go back into perhaps the 6th, 7th, 8th centuries in Europe. That there was even from that time, If we only had the record going all the way back, there always was a vital work for God. Christ was building His church, saving souls. To me, one of the most interesting, yet least understood, least investigated, for a very good reason, probably there's very, very little, nowadays, very little primary evidence, But one of the most interesting segments of early church history is the planting of the church in Britain. Charlie, you'd be delighted. Britain in those days was Wales. They were the original British. Well, the British were pushed in there. They've been pushing back ever since. But some people believe I don't think they can prove it, but there is this tradition, and there's nothing to prove it wrong, that when Paul said he was going west all the way to Spain, that he not only... and the scripture actually leaves us to know that he did get there, but it doesn't follow him there. Picks him up just before he's martyred in Rome, after he had got there. It doesn't follow him there. There is a tradition that he made it all the way to Britain, But certainly from just about apostolic times, in that outpost of the world, and it was an outpost, God established the church. And He's kept it going ever since. He's kept it going ever since. Christ says, I will build my church. I will build my church. I'm going to save souls. I'm going to put them together cohesively into a church and I'm going to maintain them. He recognizes that that church will be constructed in the midst of conflict. The gates of hell. The powers of hell. There is opposition. There is hatred. There is a virulent attempt to overcome. this church and wipe it out of existence. That's the story of church history, the building of Christ and the battle against the devil. But Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That's his promise. Now, here we are in 21st century America. As I've said, we have the difficulty of general apathy. We have the difficulty of widespread ignorance. I think you can add to it that we have the difficulty of a very, very deep discouragement among God's people who feel these other difficulties and think, who is sufficient? What can we do? Oh, it's all so terrible. The situation is so bleak. What can we do? When we lose sight of the fact that the building of the church does not depend on our presbytery, it does not depend on our finances, it does not depend on our committees, it does not depend on our plans, it does not depend on our brilliance, it does not depend on our ability, it depends on the word and work of Jesus Christ. I will build my church. On the basis of that, I believe we have a warrant to come to God and hold that up as Moses held up the rod of God and say, Lord, there is your word. It's not an option as to whether these churches be built. I'm not saying that every place we have somebody say, I want to open a door. That is God's will. We've got to prove God's will in those individual cases, but we know that this church is here at the behest of the Savior. And therefore, we know that we have a warrant to come and say, Lord, here's your word. Now build your church. We will give ourselves to prayer. We will give ourselves to labor. We will give ourselves to giving and to serving. But only Christ can build the church. Lord, build your church, whatever the opposition. Let it not overcome us. There is a promise implicit in that. The church will overcome the gates of hell. God's church will, by definition, be victorious. We must prevail. And by Christ's promise, we shall So let's take these issues before the Lord in prayer, let's take these promises, let's take these petitions that have been set before us, these particular requests for prayer, let's lift them up before the Lord and really let's lay hold of God in prayer for the churches here in Canada and the United States.