I was reading a daily devotion there. I don't usually do this, but I happened to read yesterday's daily devotion and the one who wrote the devotion said before me, if you like, personally, three great commands. And I thought the outline was powerful, so I'm gonna steal his outline. I'm confessing that right now, I'm not stealing it, I'm just taking it by faith and letting you know. But I've, I put the bones, I put the meat in the bones. So I've got to take credit for that at least. So we're going to think about these three commands that we have here in the word of God from Christ himself, from Jesus himself. Now the first is found there in Matthew chapter six and verse nine. Familiar verses that we have looked at before, we've preached a series on the Lord's Prayer, but look at what it says there in verse nine of Matthew chapter six. This is the first command, the first great command given by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what it says. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Okay. So Jesus commands us to pray at the Lord's throne. That's the man's outline. He commands us to pray at the Lord's throne. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. You can see that prayer as a command, it's not an option. And the command is clear and the command is very concise. There's nothing confusing about the command that Jesus has given to us. In fact, prayer is the key to every other part of the Christian life and service. Now, when you think about the Lord's Prayer, and I'm not going to preach in the Lord's Prayer, but just by way of introduction, There's three simple things to keep in mind. We learn who God is, our Father. Okay, He's our Father. When our children come to us as parents, come to Dad or Mom, they usually come with requests. Sometimes the things that they ask for will not be good for them and we know that. And other times, the things that they ask for, we think, well, you need that. So it's agreeable with our mindset and our thinking. So we grant those things to them, and other times we have to say no. So the picture is, it's a wonderful picture. And tonight, we're coming to our Father, who knows what's best for us. Father knows best, is a famous saying. And then, there's something else we learn who God is. He's our Father, which art, So God exists. God is alive and well. He's not panicking tonight up in heaven. He's in control of every situation under heaven throughout the whole world. He's in charge. He's in control. Then we learn where God is, our Father which art in heaven. And this is mentioned a couple of times here in these verses. And then we also read, thy will be done on earth. So heaven is mentioned at least a couple of times here, and then earth is mentioned. He's in heaven, and we're on the earth. So as Father, He is our sovereign, and we are His servants, and we are on the earth. We've got to be submissive to Him. We've got to yield to our Father, because Father knows best. He knows what's best for us. And then we learn what God is. Well, we know that God is a spirit and so on, but that's not the way I'm looking at it here. We learn that God is gracious. What do I mean by that? Well, when you read through the Lord's Prayer, he gives us our daily bread, he forgives us our transgressions, he leads us in the paths of righteousness, and then he delivers us. So that's what I'm saying here, we learn what God is, he's gracious, he gives us, he forgives us, he leads us, and he delivers us. Father knows best, you see, that's the point. Our heavenly Father knows what's best. Now, some of you may have read some works by a man called Sidlow Baxter. He was a very famous English preacher. He was over here at different times. He did a series of meetings in the Iron Hall many years ago, and a very nice spoken man, and a very droll kind of character, but did some very good teaching. And this is what he said, men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but," he says, they are helpless against our prayers. That's a powerful thought. They're helpless against our prayers. Now this morning, as I was reading, I read quite a bit in different places, different portions. I always do. But I was reading there in Mark chapter 135, and we're told there about Jesus rising up early, a great while before day, to pray. So he's praying in the morning time. And then later on, I happen to turn to Mark chapter 6, verses 46 and 47, and there we're told that it was the even time, and again he's praying. So the point is this, the beloved Son of God was praying in the morning. and then he was praying in the evening time. Now why did he do that? Well he prayed at other times as well, but he prayed morning and night to maintain communion with God. And that's the way it is, child of God. If we want to maintain our fellowship and communion with God, we need a time to pray in the morning as we face a new day, and then as we close the day out in the evening time, get alone with God and seek His face. I've told you this before, but it'll not do any harm hearing it again. You've probably forgotten about it. You may remember when I start telling it to you. The early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular. in their private devotions. They didn't have the luxury of having homes like ourselves, different rooms and so on. And each one had a separate place out there in the thicket to get alone with God. And over the passing of time, the paths to these places became well-worn. You know what it would be like And as a result, if one of the believers began to neglect prayer, it soon became apparent to others. And they would remind the negligent one, brother, the grass grows on your path. Is the grass growing on your path to the place of prayer? Oh, we're coming to a time of gospel mission. We want to have clean hands and pure hearts in the sight of God. It's crucial, it's vitally important. We need, as we prepare the way for the mission, that nothing stands in the way, that nothing grieves the Holy Spirit of God. This is a responsibility placed upon us. Here's a good place to begin dealing with that, a place of prayer. Seeking the face of the Lord. Brother, is the grass growing on your path? I trust not, I pray not, as I often do when I pray for this congregation. I pray that the congregation will be men and women of prayer. I'm thankful that you're here tonight. I appreciate your prayers. Keep at it. Crucial time in the history of our church. John Bunyan, you've all heard about John Bunyan. This is what he said about prayer. Prayer will make a man cease from sin. He's not teaching sinless perfection, by the way. or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. Now, I read again, I had it marked in a book at some point of time and it was the story about a small town and it had been historically dry, no pubs there, no pubs at all. And then a businessman, he decided that he would build a tavern And when the group of believers and the local congregation heard this, they were concerned and so they decided to have a full night of prayer. It's hard going to have a full night of prayer. I can remember attending quite a number of them, maybe getting home at six o'clock or half six in the morning. Praying all night long is hard. You get tired, you get weary. But then I can remember somebody maybe opening up the Word at half two in the morning and bringing a message, reviving the hearts and back down to prayer again. It's hard to spend the night in prayer. But we had many a long night in prayer in the Balaamina congregation. So they meant to pray that God would intervene. Now it so happened that shortly after this particular prayer meeting, lightning struck the bar. and it burned to the ground. Now the owner of the tavern, he sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible for his bar being burned to the ground as a result of lightning. But the church then hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. And so the judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that no matter, and I quote, no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. Listen to it now. It's an amusing thing, but it's very serious. He said the tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians don't. You see that? That's actually happened. That's a lesson for us to learn. That's the case. Now, I did a lot of reading today, by the way. I'm not glorying in it. I'm just encouraging you to do the same thing. I came to 2 Corinthians 1 verse 11, and I was confronted with a verse that I'd forgotten about. Maybe I didn't even know it. I've read through Corinthians a lot over the years. In chapter 1, verse 11, Paul talks about helping together in prayer. Now, I did a little study on that then and discovered it's one word, helping together is one word in the Greek, one word of 11 letters. I'm not going to try to pronounce it in the original. It's only used here, by the way, as a compound word consisting of three individual words. That's what a compound word is, consisting of two or three different words in itself. The first word means work, the second word means with, and the third word means under. Now, are you with me now? Putting it together, it means working with underneath, like an underground weapon. It pictures the laborers under the burden, working together to get the job done or accomplished. And the thought is of cooperation, assistance. So by joining and helping Paul, they did so through their prayers. So they were under one another, submissive to one another. They were with each other in prayer. And as they prayed together, they were assisting the apostle in declaring the gospel of Christ. That's what a church ought to be. Praying together, working together, laboring together. for Christ, for the glory of God. This is not my church, and not your church either. It's God's church. And we need to be careful how we operate in God's church. We need to get to the place of prayer. The Spirit also helped with our infirmities. So he commands us to pray at the Lord's throne, but there's something more, second command. Now, if you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11, well, you know where I'm going now. And this is what the Holy Word of God says. This is what Christ says to this congregation tonight. Look at it, what it says. And when he had given thanks, he breaketh, that is the bread, and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Listen to it. This do in remembrance of me. Here's the second command of Christ to his church. He commands us to remember him at the Lord's table. So we are to pray at the Lord's throne, Matthew 6, and here, according to this, we are to remember him at the Lord's table. This do in remembrance of me. Now, obviously, the Lord's Table is very important. In 1 Corinthians 10, 21, it is called the Lord's Table. In chapter 11, verse 20, it's called the Lord's Supper. First Corinthians 10, 16, it's called communion. And over in the book of Acts chapter 2, 42, it's called the breaking of bread. So you understand what we're talking about here. The table, supper, the communion, the breaking of bread. Now the Lord's supper is a reminder of three things especially. It's a reminder of what Jesus did in the past for us. It's a symbol of our present relationship with Him. And thirdly, it is a promise of what He will yet do for us in the future. That's why it's important. And sometimes we sing, when we do come to the communion, lead me to Calvary. That's what happens when we have communion. We come to get our eyes focused on the man of sorrows acquainted with grief, the Lamb of God for sinners slain, our Savior, because of Calvary. So it is something that we are to do to remember him at the Lord's table. Dr. Kearns, this is where I got the outline from, 29th of January, and one of those books that he did. This is what he said. Communion at the Lord's table is the heartbeat of the church's worship. I quote again, it is done in commemoration of Christ's finished work, amen. In celebration of his successful work, he triumphed, hallelujah. And in consecration to his continuing work, he's still working on me, and he's still working on all of God's people. So we have a lot to be thankful for when we get to the table, get a sight of the glory of Christ, the altogether lovely one, hallelujah. He's precious to every child of God. And he says, when you come unto the table, remember me. You come to remember me. You come to focus on me. You come to draw your attention from everything and everybody else, and you focus on me. Yes, he's altogether lovely. So it is to commemorate the death of Christ, to signify and to seal and to apply to believers the benefits of the new covenant, the benefits of redemption. It's for our strengthening, it's for our benefit that we come to the table to dwell upon his glories. And it's this way that Christ ratifies his promises to his people. He's reliable, he's dependable. And in response to that, we solemnly consecrate ourselves to him and say, Lord, here am I, send me. I want to be thy servant. I want to love thee more and more. I want to serve thee more and more. I just want the Lord to control my life every single day. It is to indicate and to promote the communion of believers with Christ. to represent the mutual communion of believers with each other. It's all about Christ, yes, but at the same time, it's all about the other believers who are celebrating the supper in the Lord's house at the same time. If a person is not in communion with a fellow believer or whatever, that person is not in communion with Christ. That's a solemn, sobering thought, but that's it. I think of a hymn by Henry Light, and I'm going to quote it here now, that really expresses our approach, the way we ought to approach the table. Listen to it. Dwell on the sight, my stony heart, till every pulse within shall into contrite sorrow start and hate the thought of sin. Didst thou for me, my Saviour, brave the scorn, and scourge, and gall, and eels, the thorns, the spear, the grave, while I deserved them all? That's it. And when we sit down there at the table, and when we see the elements pass around, we see the bread, we're reminded of that broken body. We get the little glass and we're thinking again about the blood that is shed, and we think what took place behind all that, if you like. the agonies and the blood and the suffering of the dear Son of God. So the Lord's Supper is provided to help us to retain and rekindle our humble indebtedness to Him by causing us to reflect on Calvary and the Lord's sufferings for us. And when we dwell upon that, it brings us to grieve afresh over our sins and to repent and causes us to commit ourselves once more to him. That's what it's all about. It's a sober time. It's a serious time when we get before God in his divine presence. It's all because of Calvary. The focus is upon Calvary and the work of Christ on the cross and the shedding of his blood. That's what it's all about. And above all, it gives us a fresh realization of the amazing, warm, personal love of Christ for each of his children. and of the great lengths to which he was prepared to go to express that love. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all, where? At the cross, at Calvary, typified when we gather as a people together. I'm reminded again of Fergus Ferguson. That's a good name, Fergus Ferguson. This is what he said. He loved me and gave himself for me, and surely I myself to him will give. None, Jesus, will I ever love like thee, and to thy glory only will I live." There it is. There it is. Now, community members of this congregation, When we decided, or when you decided to become a member of this church, as a Communicum member, you were given a responsibility to attend faithfully the means of grace, the preaching of the word, seasons of prayer, but the communion, the Lord's table, and the Lord's supper. You made a promise before God, that's it. That's it. Before Almighty God. That's what you said you would do. And the believer who neglects being at the table does so at his own peril or her own peril. It's an insult to Christ. It's like spitting in his face the way the soldiers did. It's an insult to the work of Calvary, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus says, let's do. Let's do in remembrance of me. It's a practice. Let's do! That's his command, let's do! Let's do. I could say more, but I've got to move on to my last point. So we thought about two things. He commands us to pray at the Lord's throne. He commands us to remember him at the Lord's table, and then he commands us to be active in the Lord's task. Where do I get that? Well, turn with me to Mark chapter 16. God is here tonight with us, as he always is. He's got a word and season for us all here tonight. Mark 16, verse 15. This is the third command, the third great command. Notice what it says in Mark 16, verse 15. And he said, here we find the Lord speaking again, he said unto them, what did he say? Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So what's the outline here? That's a very nice one as well. I couldn't have thought about it myself, He commands us to be active in the Lord's task. So we're at the Lord's throne, we're at the Lord's table, and then we're involved in the Lord's task. These are the words of the Great Commission. You know that, in a way. Given to the church by the great commander of his people. And it's the foundation of evangelism. This is something that our brother James would have at his heart, of his calling, and people like Peter, when they go to open the air, and others, Jimmy, and others who get involved. This is the commission that they're following, the things that they're doing, and others in the congregation. Praise God for those who do this kind of labor in the service of God. Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1, verse 8, you'll find it all there. And the Lord is saying, he's commanding us to be active in the Lord's task. Think about the gospel mission coming up, leaflets, leaflet drops, door-to-door witnessing, inviting people in. This is evangelism. We have the command to do it. Just as we have the command, remember me, this is the command to do it. Think about the size of Coleraine. I don't know all the states, I drive usually past it and down the center of it, but oh, I'm sure there's thousands and thousands of homes. Somebody near you may need salvation. If you can't speak to them, give them the gospel, try and give them an invitation. You don't have to speak to them, just give them a leaflet. If you can't talk to them on the doorstep, put it through the letterbox. Nobody's putting you under any pressure. Do it for the glory of God, do what you can. If you don't feel comfortable about doing that, write them a letter, send a letter to them, cost you 75p, but if they come to the mission and get saved, well, worth it, wouldn't it? Do whatever you can, that's it, that's the point. Children's work, you can help there. Sunday school work, bringing people in, whatever. We need to be busy in the Lord's work. getting out there among the people, doing evangelism for the glory of God. It started very small with a group of 12 and it increased and a persecuted group, but now across the world, millions. are in the family of God. And it started very small, the persecution. The Great Commission turned the first century upside down. And of course, it's still relevant for us today. Every day a new generation is born that needs to know God. Think about the people who have passed today into eternity. But think about those who have been born into a sin-cursed world. Now the Bible does say, he that winneth souls is wise, Proverbs chapter 11 verse 30. That word win, he that winneth, that's an interesting word. It's used in a military sense in a couple of places in the Bible where the word winneth found here in Proverbs 30 verse 20 is translated carried away. You get the picture of the army or the soldiers in olden times. They come to a town, they come to a city, they triumph over the city or the town, and then they carry away the captives. Do you get the picture now of what it means to win souls? We go into a territory, into a housing estate with the gospel of Christ, and our aim is to carry them away for Jesus' sake, to win them through the power of the gospel. Now, in both passages in 1 Samuel 30 and 2 Chronicles, it's a military conflict or struggle. That's what is pictured. And so the soldier speaks of winning ground, of winning the city or winning the battle, whatever. There are difficulties, of course. The enemy is strong. The city is heavily fortified. The governor is a very severe, strong ruler who rules and drives his people unmercifully. They must be set free. They must be set free. Apply that to us in the gospel. That word winneth can also be taken in another sense. showing that the soul winner must be a lover. The word translated winneth has been translated by the word married in Genesis 19, Noah's married daughters or daughter. I can't remember for sure, but there's the word married there. Numbers 12, verse 1, and also in 1 Chronicles 2, 21. So we have this picture of Mariette. And you have a wonderful picture. Personally, evangelism must therefore be likened to wooing or winning a bride. Now, what did John say? Or what did the Lord say about John? The bridegroom wins the bride by taking an interest in her, by being affectionate to her, and wooing her. John the Baptist, he was the friend of the bridegroom. He says, I'm not the bridegroom. I'm the friend of the bridegroom. That's the church. That's the believer. We're the friends of Christ. And we are to seek to win a people for the glory of God. We need to woo them with the gospel, with love and compassion. and bring them, by the grace of God, into the family of God. Just the way that Abraham's servant went away into that far country, some distance away, to woo a bride for Isaac, the beloved son. That's the picture of evangelism. That's the picture of you and me, friends of the bridegroom. seeking to win them for Christ. Now witnessing is not something that we do for God, though that might surprise you. It is something that God does through us, that's it, if we're filled with the Holy Spirit. There's a difference between sales talk and a spirit-filled witness. A salesman will say, well, I see that car there, that's one of the best cars I've ever had in here, and it's got all the miles just on it, it's a great car. He knows how to tug up a good bit of business. You take it down the road and the engine blows up or something that happens, you know, that's the way it sometimes happens. I bought a car, oh this is a great car, had only out a couple of days and the battery went. My father, now, he went back to the salesman, and I wouldn't repeat in a meeting like this what he said to the man, but he got the battery and it was replaced. There's a difference between sales talk and a spirit-filled witness. People do not come to Christ. At the end of an argument, says Vance Havner, an American evangelist, Simon Peter came to Jesus because Andrew went after him with a testimony. He had a testimony. Oh, we've found a Messiah. And Peter was greatly impressed by the testimony of his brother. We go forth in the name of Jesus as a lover of souls to woo men to the gospel of grace. Thomas Alexander, with this I close, was influenced by the great Robert Murray McShane. McShane never thought himself to be great, but he was a great man. He died in his 30th year. And this young man was greatly impressed with him and influenced by him. He became a minister of an English congregation. And one time, while he was visiting on the Isle of Man, I don't know if he met up with Brother Madole there or not, but you never know. But he was there on the Isle of Man. And he met with a woman described as an idiot woman. An idiot woman, that was the way she was described. He took time to explain to her the gospel of grace. A short time after that, she fell ill, and one night he was called to her home to see her. She was dying. She was dying, and he sat all night with her. As the morning was dawning, she pulled herself up on her bed. She had a rope in front of her. That enabled her to pull herself up on the bed And she pointed to her heart, crying out, as only she could, Christ there, Christ there. Then she pointed to her heart again and cried, Christ there. And all of a sudden, she let go of the rope, she fell back, and she died. And she left the testimony, Christ there. He was a man who took time, you see. In a compassionate way, he took time, he read with her, he explained the gospel, and there as a concerned man, he sat by the bedside until he had the assurance that that idiot woman had been instructed and knew the gospel and trusted in Jesus Christ. Christ there. That's what we're aiming for in this mission. We've got a responsibility, folks, the three commands from Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory himself, and this is what he says to us. He says, remember to pray at the Lord's throne. Remember him at the Lord's table. And then he says, be active. in the Lord's task. For time will soon be over. Eternity beckons us all. Only what's done for Jesus will last. That's what it's all about at the end of the day. We'll bow for prayer. Eternal Father, as we get down to our time of prayer tonight, shut us in with thyself and give us grace to focus on the business to hand, the business of prayer. We pray that it will be easy for thy children to join in tonight. They'll not feel intimidated. They'll not feel it hard to pray. It will be the most rewarding thing of all for them to venture forth in prayer tonight. They may say a few lines. That doesn't really matter to the Lord. He can interpret a few lines. We may stumble and start and stop during the short prayer, but he can decipher it all. He knows exactly what's in the heart. And so teach us how to pray. And as we think about the need of the work here, God visit us. We need to pray as never before. Need to be much in prayer, even inviting people in under the means of grace. All these leaflets about the church for boys and girls, let's get them into the homes of the people. Even if we just go around the doors putting every leaflet we have available through the letterbox, may God be pleased to bless it in the Savior's name. And then as we think about the mission itself, a more concentrated effort, we pray that the Lord will send us plenty of labors, and oh God, may it be steeped in prayer. Lord, we plead the power and the virtue of the precious blood of Christ, protect us in these times because we know the devil's going to be busy. He's going to be bombarding left, right, and center this way and that way and another way. But, oh God, we pray for thy divine protection. Bless Mr. Macrae as he prepares for these meetings, and the singers who will come, and others who will be involved in any way. Oh God, send us a time of refreshment from the presence of the Lord. Hear us, oh God, and visit us again. And may we be praying together, laboring together, working together. for the furtherance of the gospel of Christ. Hear us as we pray and may the next one who prays, may they get in right away. May we surround the throne of grace with these earnest simple prayers for Christ's sake we pray. Amen.