There is coming a day when no heartache shall come, no more clouds in the sky. No more tears to nimbly eye. Always peace forevermore, On that happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day, that will be. What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand And leads me to the Promised Land What a day, glorious day that will be There'll be no sorrow there No more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there. And forever I will be with the one who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. That will truly be a sweet day. to see each one of you. I really enjoyed lifting up our praises, trying to worship our God. The best that we could do so far was far short of what he's worthy of. It is a delight to be here. I would ask to remember Shane's sister Mindy, They were in a pretty rough car accident yesterday, and so they are going to get some x-rays and check them out. They're in a lot of pain. Remember them. Henry, my brother Mike, and his surgery recovery. It's good to see you. It's a pleasure to be here. Sister Wanda, I want to just remember her. She's up with Leslie visiting the family this weekend. That's where her and Will are. If there was anything else I was supposed to say, I can't remember. If you will, remember my Aunt Libby. We have not been able to get in touch with her this morning. And we've told the Sheriff's Department to go by and do a weapons check on her. The friend of Tanner, Gabby, and Jesse, passed away that night due to COVID-19. That night, Tanner died. He and his family. His name was Darby, or Matthew Darby. Matthew Darby. Good young man. Good to have her in the crew. This is Jessica Lewis this morning. I don't do other things on my life. Praise the Lord for that. Sit, Gloria. I wasn't feeling good this morning. Thank you. Remember Brother Ron? Do you have a prayer request you need to mention this morning? I'd like to suggest that you're glad you have the DuFamily back in the state. Are you happy to have the DuFamily with us this morning? I understand that he was taken back to the hospital Friday night. And then as of Saturday morning, we talked to Sister Wanda. He has still not gotten out of the ER. So hopefully he has been admitted by now, but I don't have an update on it. But he is not doing better with COVID, so remember that. And then Joyce has it. She seems to be improving somewhat, and he has it. So they're just a household beat up with it. So remember all the asking. I haven't heard anything. She already had it once, so she may be OK. Can I do a praise report? Yes, please. I start work at 8 o'clock in the morning. Thank God for all kinds. Lord bless that. They give me a two hour leave right here. I have a prayer question you need to remember before we go to prayer. grateful to have so many men in the church are willing to share what they've been studying on that opportunity this afternoon after lunch this Sunday. Regular time for that, so we're praying for them. All minds are at peace. Brother Randy, in my leadership career, I remember as many of these questions as you can. Lord, we thank you for all of them. You're wonderful. Many blessings still call us, Father. But sometimes we get our power from the Lord. And what it means, Lord, to have faith in you. Lord, we thank you for the faith you give us. And we ask that you forgive us when we don't do the way we should. We pray for more, Lord. And at this time, there are so many sicknesses. There's so much we went over that we don't understand. We know you are proud of us all. We ask Lord that you would be with us in every situation, that we would see your body wherever you go. Lord, we thank you for all this assembly is for you. We pray that your Holy Spirit will be here with us for the week we leave this place. Thank you for what you are, and who you are, and all the things that you've done in our lives, and you will do. Just forgive us one moment of failure. Continue to watch over Brother Jonathan and his studies. And we pray that he will bring the message through you this morning that we can use in our everyday lives. In Christ's name I ask, amen. If you have your Bibles, we'll be picking up in 1 Thessalonians. I hope our study in Thessalonians has not gotten to the point where it's tedious and you just want me to move on to something. I know sometimes a preacher can be enjoying something a whole lot more than the congregation. So we've been zooming in pretty close into Thessalonians, right? We looked at suffering over two sermons last week, but I want to pull back out just for a minute and kind of recap where we come from in this. We started looking at the background of the Thessalonian letter by looking at Acts as Paul came to that church and was running out of town, right? And then we looked at the whole letter at one time as an overview of it, right? And big pieces we pulled out of that with the focuses on works of faith, labors of love, and patience of hope in Jesus Christ. And if you go read Paul's other letters, you'll find those three themes explicitly throughout all of them, okay? And we looked at, it's written under a church, right? We looked at the definition of the church and it being a called out assembly, right? And then we went a little deeper into the works of faith, and we went really deep into labors of love about pastors caring for the flock, about the flock caring for the flock, and about building each other up, and about comforting each other. And yes, these are about the sermon titles for all these sermons. We've been doing this since May 2nd, in case y'all didn't remember. Then we looked at the patience and the hope of Jesus Christ, about waiting for that coming day and seeing what Scripture tells us about that day. Then we looked about God's election, and his elect and predestination. And then we looked at the scriptures to talk about Paul's godly example as he is there preaching and teaching to these Thessalonians and about the example he set while he was there and how he tried to be holy and clean and just set a very high bar for himself and for those to follow. We discussed what was the purpose of the gospel, about revealing the good news of what Jesus had done for you. And then we looked at some more painful things about what hinders us in our walk with God. right? Those lusts of the flesh that we are admonished to flee from, right? And then last week we looked at suffering, okay? And that theme we traced throughout the two letters to the Thessalonians. And this morning I want to look at another theme that's laced throughout, and that would be the theme of prayer, okay? Theme of prayer. I did some counting. In Thessalonians the first and second letter. I found nine prayers where Paul is actively praying for them in the letter itself. I found another six examples of him describing how he has been praying for them and will continue to pray for them. And then I found two other requests for prayer for them to pray for him and pray for something. These are short letters, mind you. That's 17 total references to prayer. Is prayer important? You better believe it. Do we often under-appreciate it? Yeah. Sometimes we'll use the expression, all I can do is pray for you, as if that's a small thing. If we're thinking it's that such of a small thing, maybe we're not really practicing prayer the way we ought to and recognizing who we're going to and who has the ability to answer those prayers. Through these two letters, Paul prays for various things. He prays for grace four times. He prays for peace for the Thessalonians. Grace for them, four times. Peace, three times. He prays that they be able to meet together in person, see each other. He prays for their growth in love. He prays for comfort of their hearts. He prays that they be established in good work and in the good word. He prays for their sanctification. He prays that their hearts will be directed into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Those are the things that he's actively praying for in the prayers that are within the letters. And then he tells them what he has been praying for them. He's been giving thanks for them quite frequently. He's giving thanks for their faithfulness. He's giving thanks for their sanctification and their spiritual growth. He's giving thanks for their faith in the Word. He says he has been praying for an opportunity to meet with them in person so that he can teach them more. And he's thanking the Lord for God's election of them and their growth and sanctification. So those he's actively praying for or has been praying for. And then the third one is the prayer requests within there. One's just a general prayer request. Y'all pray for us. That's acceptable. Another is very specific. Y'all pray that the word of the Lord has free course. that the word could flow freely, that it could be unhindered as he's teaching, and also that they would be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men. All those are just within these two short little letters. So I don't know how far we're going to get today, but I want to look at them all. And I'm going to throw in Uh, one tangent. Y'all forgive me on it, but I feel like I need to address it. So there we go. So you can be looking for a tangent. So first Thessalonians chapter one, how far do you have to look for the first prayer? First verse. All right. It says, who's it from? Who's it to? And then there's a prayer. Grace be unto you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. What is he asking for? Starting with grace. Remember, he's asked this four different times in these two letters, the beginning and the end of each one. He's asking for grace. And I love Strong's definition for grace. The divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life. Divine being God. His influence into your heart and its reflection in your life. Who here needs more grace? I'm sorry, I didn't see every hand go up. Who here needs more grace? We need God's influence in our heart every day. And we need his grace to reflect that in what we do. It's one thing to say, well, I've got God in my heart, but my life sure don't look like it. or I say that I've got it, and he's not really there, or I don't really care, or I'm so cold and callous to the spiritual world because I'm so engrossed in the things of this world, right? We need God's grace, his graciousness, his merit, his favor. All the things that you and I can't rightfully take, it has to be given, and he gives it freely. Okay, so he's praying that these people have grace. Remember, they're undergoing terrible suffering, right? They need grace. They need the continued influence of God on their hearts, and they need to continue to reflect that in their life. They need grace. They also need peace. OK? Literal definition of the word peace is one. OK, that's a little strange. It also gives quietness. It gives rest. It gives to set at one again. OK? So as I'm thinking about this one concept, and this peace concept, it reminds me of John chapter 17, right? Jesus' high prayer as he's praying for his disciples right before he's going to be arrested, he's praying for you and for me. He says that explicitly, he's praying for you and me in verse 20. John 17 verse 20 says, neither pray I for these alone, referring to the disciples that are there with him. but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." That includes y'all. And every saint down through time, that's who he's praying for. Here's what he's praying. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, and they also may be one in us. That the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. Now, here's just a brief aside. That's not the tangent I was going for. But that and the glory which thou gave us me, I have given them. We talked about that Wednesday night at our look at Psalm 21. Right. About the glory that was being bestowed upon that child or that king there that is given by the Father. Here's an example of Christ praying for it. The glory which thou has given me, I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and thou in me and they may be perfect in one that the world may know that thou has sent me and has loved them as thou has loved me. The peace that we have in our life is the restoration between us and God the Father and His Son and the Holy Spirit, that there is no friction, there is no animosity anymore. When you're dead in trespasses and sins, your carnal state, all there is is enmity between you and your holy God. But that has been removed. That barrier that was between us was broken down in a new way, was paved forward in the body of Jesus Christ and by His blood and washed away your sin, that you now have a peace with your God. that you can be with Him in glory for eternity with Him. Okay? You can have peace. All right? Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians and look closely about who is he praying to? What is the source? Right? He's praying to both God, the Father, God our Father. That's even better. From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Whose Father? Our Father. Your Father. You can say that. God, my Father. You are not just praying to the Creator God, the God of all the universe. That's not who you're praying to. You're praying to that God, the Creator, but He's also your Father. How is He your Father? Because He adopted you. He brought you into His family. He cleaned you up by putting all the consequences for your sins onto His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. And by that, He adopted you into His family. That's what we looked at recently over there in Romans 8. Let's just flip back and read it again. Romans 8 verse 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Abba just means Father. That's why we cry, Father, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffered with him, that we may be also glorified We looked at that suffering aspect last time, but you are the children of God, not just because He created you. That's one aspect, but you are the child in that He bought you. He adopted you into His family. He's made you a joint heir with Christ. You have an inheritance as an heir. Heir means someone who takes under the will, right? Someone who gets an inheritance, right? Well, you have an inheritance. The inheritance is to be with God by His work. He is your Father. So as you are praying, you're not just praying to some far-off, distant God who created all things, set up the world once, set it spinning, and is now hands-off. You're praying to someone who has a close, intimate relationship with a great love for you. And our relationships with our human fathers obviously are not perfect. You've got two sinners in the relationship. It won't be perfect. But the way that you go and talk to your physical earthly father, right, should be somewhat similar to how you talk to your heavenly father in that you know the love he has for you. You know that he desires you to be a good man or a good woman, a good follower of Christ, right? You know that there is a relationship there that cannot be changed or broken, right? Now, as fathers, we know that we mess up. As sons and children, we know that we mess up. And so that relationship can be tense and uncomfortable at times. And we get that. And we can talk about ways we can deal with that and help that later. But the point is the very model of that. When we're doing it the best, it's still just a small reflection of how perfectly God does it. It's our perfect Heavenly Father. That's who you're praying to, OK? You're not having to sign up to be on the guest list to try it. You ever tried to meet the president? Right? Or the governor. Right? They don't have time to talk to you, much less shake your hand. And you've got to be clear, and you've got to have background checks, and all this other rigmarole, because there's a lot of keep away. Right? I ain't got time for you common folk. Your father is there and available for you all the time. Right? There's no office hours. There's no busy signal. There's no, I'm sorry, you've exceeded your limit for the week. Call back next week. Right? That's who you're praying to, your Father. Oh God, my Father, our Father. Recognize that. That's who you're calling upon. So here Paul is asking his Father and their Father for grace, for grace and for peace. But not only that, he's also praying from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, that's a title. That means the supreme authority. God's put everything under His feet. We don't see it that way yet, but it is. The supreme authority, the master, the controller, the boss. Basically, I'm praying to God, the Creator, and my Father, and the Lord, the one who's put over all creation. By the way, He made everything. He was there. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord, the supreme authority. the master. And Jesus obviously means God saved, God who saves, referring back to his completed work. And then the Christ is another title. It's the Messiah, the anointed, the one who is set forth by God for a particular holy purpose. He was the chosen one for this office to be the mediator of the new covenant. Right. You're praying to God, your father. And you're praying to a successful Savior who is overall now and is a mediator on your behalf. That's who you're praying to. So in English class, you have to ask the question, the who, what, when, where, what? Well, the who is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who you're praying for. The what here was you're praying for grace and peace. Here's our side. Here's the tangent. This is the one that's bothered me a little bit throughout this week. This may not be the best time, but Lord, forgive me if this is not. You will often see, particularly on social media, when someone is going through trouble, a kind of generic request. Y'all send prayers or thoughts or good vibes, as if they're all the same. Vibes, this is short for the word vibration. It is as if you are a two-way radio, both emitting some form of waves and able to receive waves. And your emotional reaction to somebody else's waves can tell you whether or not their aura is good or bad. This is a language and verbiage from the New Age movement. The New Age movement is largely based on Hinduism. Their basic tenant It's really just a modernization. They put some modern words on it. But their basic tenet is that all religions are fine because they all say the same thing. Except for Christianity because they teach exclusive things. Because all is really one. And so this is going to be a distorting of this concept of being one with God, at peace with God. Their belief is that one, there's going to become of a new age, new age isn't, there's going to be a new age of mass enlightenment and peace, okay? I call it the age of Aquarius, all right? Until that time, you have to go through multiple lives, and based on whether you're good or bad, you'll have this kind of cosmic checking account called karma, and if you're going the right direction, life will get better, and if you're going the wrong direction, life will get worse, and you keep repeating the cycle until eventually you get absorbed back into the universe. OK? And their idea is that all is God. Everything is God. God's in the this, and that, and the building, and in you. That it's all God. That God is not a person. He's impersonal. He's kind of like this force that's out there in the universe. OK? Taking that to the logical conclusion, well, if God's everywhere and God's in everything, Including me then you know what I can say I'm God and If you go look at the New Age movement, you'll see people who are boldly declaring. I'm God Okay You say why are you going off on this tangent? Because these little things will slip into our vocabulary and we may not have thought about them But they become little seeds and little things where we've got to check everything that we do to make sure we are truly a Modeling Christ in every aspect of our life because this stuff is sneaky All right. Here's an example of how this religion Form of idolatry really has flipped into popular culture. You may not even thought about it best example I can think of is Star Wars Okay that movie franchise Epitomizes this this monotheism that all is one and all is God you've got this force, right? It's both good and evil. Is your God evil? No, there's nothing about him that's evil. But in this thing, everything is God. Anybody can channel it. It's both good and evil, right? When you die, you can come back a little glowing guy, and you can talk to people. You can channel them. That's necromancy, right? That's speaking to the dead. There are those who advocate for this who say, well, I can channel somebody from so and so years ago. Whether they're lying or whether it's true, neither one is good. In the initial Star Wars, it was a little veiled. But then as you got into the newer editions, then old Anakin Skywalker, he had an immaculate conception. He was born by the force. He had no daddy. Who are they mocking? Jesus. The only one to be born without a father. But they're saying that this guy, and he turns out to be evil. So I won't go any farther than that. In this most recent iteration, it gets even more blatant that there's this monk character who's going around chanting as he's fighting. I'm one with the force, and the force is one with me. This gets into their mantras and yoga and all these other things as they're trying to have their own spiritual enlightenment absent of God of the Bible. So all that being said, when you're praying, you're not praying to some force out in the universe. They'll use that expression. Well, the universe wanted me to have such and such. That's not who you're praying to. You're praying to specific, real, personal, I don't want to say people, but you're praying to God, God the Father, and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who you're praying to. So I'll leave my side alone in there. Just be careful when we pick up the vernacular, the words of our culture. Because not all words lead to good things. You may not mean them anything bad at all. But in our ignorance, we can be causing stumbling blocks for other people, or thinking other people, allowing them to think things are OK. My kids, am I saying you can't watch Star Wars? No. But I am saying that you need to be mindful of what people are trying to teach you. Everything has messages. in all forms, and the vast majority of it does not further the truth of the gospel of the word. So we need to be on our guard to be able to refute those. Okay, so that was the first example. I'll get off my tangent there. That was the first example of Paul praying, actively praying in the letter, right? The next time he prays in the letter is in chapter 3, starting in verse 11. First Thessalonians 3 verse 11, Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. So the first thing is he identifies who's he praying to? God himself. not his agent, not Mary, not somebody else. Now God Himself and our Father, gives you a reminder of that close relationship, and our Lord, He's our Master, He's our Authority, Jesus the Christ, direct our way unto you. He's asking for something. He's asking for something specific. The what? I want to be directed unto you. He hasn't been able to get back to them because of the persecution. He wants to come back. Why? Just to say, how you doing? No. Back in verse 10, it says that he might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Okay. Direct our way unto you. And verse 12 says, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and toward all men, even as we do towards you. So he's asking for specific things, right? I want to be with you. The Lord direct my steps there, to make my way, that word direct, make it straight, right? Straighten my paths to be with you and in the meantime, the Lord make you to increase and abound in love. Now he's already complimented them on their great love, right? He wants it to abound. He's praying that the Lord will cause it to abound, right? Abound more and more and more towards each other inside the church and toward all men. That includes everybody outside the church. Those who don't believe the way that you do, the ones who don't like you, the ones who don't treat you well, you're to love them too, right? We've spent quite a bit of time in our laboring and love about talking internally in the church, but that applies. It's not the same standard. You don't have to love them to the same standard that Jesus loves you, but you do have to love them as much as you love yourself. And everybody in here loves yourself, right? That's just true. And so even our worst enemies, we still have to love. And that's the prayer. And that one can be a struggle for us, that we've got to get over our carnal selves of those who hate us, despitefully use us, would kill us if they had a chance. We're still to love them. That's what we're called to be. That's radical, right? Our carnal nature says, no, let me hate my enemies. It feels good. It feels right. But it's not righteous. Your wrath doesn't work the righteousness of God. Who's he praying to? God himself and our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. For what? Direct our way unto you. Make you to increase in love inside and outside the church, even as we do towards you. He says we've modeled that behavior and we're still doing it. For how long and for what reason? What's he praying this for? Just so y'all be awesome? To the end, to the end purpose, to the goal that he, God, may establish you, set you fast, put you in a path in his direction. set you fast in your hearts, to establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, when all the way to the coming of our Lord Jesus with His saints. How long do I want Him to keep doing this? Until Christ comes back. This ain't no short-term prayer. This isn't, let me get through the day. No, this is, I'm praying for you, the Lord will grow you your entire life, unless Christ comes back first, and then He'll be growing you right up until He comes. And you hear that trumpet. That's what he's praying for. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, again reminding our relationship, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. And we looked at that pretty explicitly before, so we won't go any farther. Going over to chapter 5. Chapter 5. I found the next one in verse 23. So he's given these wonderful list of things that you need to be doing in the midst of persecution, up to 22. And then 23, it says, and 23, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right. The very God of peace. I like that. I like that title. Who are you praying for to give you peace? I'm praying for the universe to give me peace. I'm praying for you to direct peaceful thoughts to me. No, you're praying to the very God of peace, the one who can give peace beyond measure. You're going to the source who can actually do something about it. That's who you're praying to. And so when we're asking things, asking with a mind of faith that we believe He can actually do it. Not only has the ability that we will if it's pleasing unto Him, and yet in all that we're being submissive that whatever His will would be done that we would be submissive thereto. And the very God of peace, I'm praying the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, to make you wholly, to make you more wholly. And wholly means complete or maturity. So this preacher has gone to this town. He's only able to be there three weeks. He was able to set his assistant Timothy to check on him once. That's all the human interactions he had. So who is he largely having to depend upon to grow this little body in their faith? God himself. He's got a pretty good person to depend upon. The very God of peace sanctify you wholly, completely, make you holy in totality. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And here you may be wondering what's the difference between the spirit and the soul and the body be preserved blameless. All right, body, I think we understand that. That's our physical self, right? Here when you look up the soul, Strong's that word that Greek word soul can apply to Both humans and animals that refers to our ability to breathe as opposed to mere vitality a living plant is alive There's a different Greek word for that, but this refers to our our breathing our life. All right, and then the whole spirit That's the one that's referring to your immortal soul the thing that is unique to humans. That's what that word is referring to He's praying that your whole package Everything about you that God made, He's praying that all of it will be preserved, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this is not a short-term prayer. This isn't, Lord, get me through this week, or get y'all through this next trial. It's, I am praying this for your whole life and existence, all the way until Christ returns. Okay? So those are the first... Nope, we got one more. Jump down to 28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Right? Got to repeat, started with grace, ending with grace. Have that divine influence on your heart and reflect it in your life. The grace of our Lord, our Master, our Authority, Jesus Christ, the Anointed One of God, be with you. And that with could also be amid, among you. Have that grace just churning about within you. That's a good thought, right? You want the grace of God to be with you, alright? Amen, alright? Second Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 2. This is the continuation of the sentence from verse 1. It says, Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Almost word for word. I won't go any farther than that. Just note that that's how it's there and that's how it starts, right? He's continuing to pray. I already prayed for it once. Lord, do I need to pray for it again? Yeah, you probably do. Do I need to say it over and over and over and over and over and over? Eh, no. Jesus warned us about vain repetitions of those who are speaking just to be heard. But if you are praying earnestly, desiring it each time, it's fine. Don't feel like you have to have a unique prayer every time. So there's two ditches, right? There's I can never say the same thing twice, and then I've got to say the same thing over and over again. Find the road somewhere in the middle. How about down in chapter 2, verse 16. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work, every good word and work. So here, not only is He giving, who are you praying to? You're praying to our Lord, our Master Jesus Christ Himself, individually, the Mediator, and God, our Father, don't forget, even our Father, Abba Father, He says what He's done. He reminds you about the power and the work of those who have already gone before, right? Which hath loved us, hath loved us. How long has the Lord God been loving you? before the foundation of the world, back when He gave you to Christ in the covenant of grace. That's how long He's loved you, which hath loved you. Has there been a pause or a break or anything in that? No, it's a God who doesn't change. He's bestowed His love upon you and it's there, it's permanent. Why do you think He needs to remind these Thessalonian saints? Because sometimes you and I need to be reminded that God loves us, which hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation or comfort. Is the comfort that God has given you ever going to go away? No. That eternal comfort that you will be with Him and that the work is done and that there is peace between you and God the Father, right? There can be a unity, not a oneness so close that you are God, but oneness that you can be with God, right? Which has given us everlasting consolation, comfort, and good hope. through grace, through His own grace. He's saying, this is who we're praying to, our Lord Jesus, our Father God, who's done these wonderful things, loved us, everlasting, given us eternal or everlasting consolation and good hope. Here's what I'm asking for. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work. Is He who's given you an everlasting consolation able to comfort you now? You better believe it! Yeah! He's capable of comforting you now. Comfort your hearts. And establish you in every good work. To set you on His path. To put you in the direction that channels His work. Going after His work. His good word. His good work. He can do that. Okay? Is this a good prayer? Can you all pray this for yourself? Can you pray this for your brothers and sisters? Can you pray this for your pastor? If you can, please do. I don't know what to pray. Guys, the Bible is full of good examples. Go dig them out. Let's go down to chapter 3, verses 3 through 5. But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you." Right up there, he'd been asking for him to be established. He said, the Lord is faithful. He shall establish you and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you or concerning you that you both do and will do the things which we command you. He said, we're confident that you'll continue to walk in the path that we've directed you to. Verse 5, and the Lord direct, set your path towards Him, direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting of Christ. It's an ongoing prayer that the Lord would direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Now, if He's praying for this, that they would be in the love of Christ and in the patient waiting, what do you think that means sometimes in your life? You won't feel like you're in the love of God or you're not patiently waiting. for Christ, right? Anybody here perfect? Good. Nobody raise their hand. We want to start over there. But your Christian walk will not be a steady ascent. The Lord can make an exception for you, but that has not been what pattern I've seen in Scripture. That's not been the pattern in my life or anyone else that I know that we tend to have just kind of up and down. We get a little closer to the Lord, and we get a little big headed, and whoo! Right? The Lord chastens us. We humble ourselves and we start to get closer and getting closer to doing what He needs us to do. And so we can be continually praying that the Lord would direct our own hearts into the love of God, or back into the love of God, or keep it in the love of God, and that we would be patiently waiting for Christ. If you're patiently waiting for Christ, what are you thinking about throughout the course of your day? Christ return! In the concept of Christ's return, is there anything in your day that's really that big of a deal, that distressing, that awful, that upsetting? No. It's hard for us in our carnal cells to stay in that mindset. Be praying about it. Praying it for yourself, praying it for others. Encourage them. How about down in verse 16? Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. Earlier we had the very God of peace, God the Father. Here's the Lord. The Lord's the title, catches to Jesus. So we've got God the Father of peace and the Lord of peace. You're praying both God the Father and the Son for peace. The Lord of peace. He's the controller. He's the master even of peace. His disciples were a little shocked when he was able to calm the winds and seas. What man is this? Even the winds and waves obey him. Even peace. obeys Him. Comfort obeys Him. Now the Lord of peace Himself, again Himself, give you peace always by all means. I like that by all means. Do sometimes you and I try to tell God what manner He needs to do something for us? Lord, here's my request or more like it's going to the restaurant and you want to give Him your order, right? I will take this and I'd like this to be served first and this to come afterwards and this, this, this, this, this, this. Right? God's not a waiter. But we can come before Him asking for these things, things that He's told us that are good, that are good for us, that are more in line with our sanctification than not. We can ask for these things, but then give God, say flexibility if you will, don't try to constrain God. His ways and thoughts are so much higher than yours, you can't even pick the best path. Even if you had them all lined up, you still couldn't pick them, right? And if you saw the one He picked for you, you probably wouldn't go because you'd be terrified. But through that process, he can grow you and sanctify you because he's God. And so here Paul is saying now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means in whatever way it pleases him. Let God bring you that peace by all means. The Lord be with you. The Lord Jesus be with you and among you. Y'all, I hope every time we come together that the Lord is here with us, right? We're not just talking about someone that's far off, but that he's here, he's present, and that's who you're actively worshiping, right? Last one down in 318, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Some of you Let's keep going. So those are the prayers. Those are just the prayers within the letters. These are short letters. But we know Paul sets a real good example for praying. Jesus model, real good example for praying frequently and earnestly and how to pray. You've got nine, nine prayers for these people in just these two short little letters, right? All right, let's go back. to 1 Thessalonians and look at some of the prayers that he has been praying for them. This is 1 Thessalonians 1, 2 through 4. We give thanks. We're thanking God. That's a theme. We thank God to God. We give thanks to God always, without ceasing, always. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing. Alright, tie that in to chapter 5, verse 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Verse 17, pray without ceasing. They're connected, right? You're praying without ceasing, you're rejoicing without ceasing, you're giving thanksgiving without ceasing. So, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing. What's he remembering? He's remembering the influence of God's grace being reflected in their life. their works of faith, their labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God." Why is he thanking God? He's thanking God because God is revealing that He's working in these people. Who gets the glory in that? God! But I can sure thank God that He's doing it in these people. That's great. Pray for it. Thank the Lord for the work that He's doing in your brothers and sisters. Okay? Chapter 2, verse 13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing." Another opportunity to thank God without ceasing. Because when you receive the Word of God, which you've heard from us, you received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Another opportunity to thank Him of how is that grace being reflected in their life is that when they heard the Word of God, they believed it to be the Word of God, not the Word of men, but of the Word of God in truth. It is the truth, the Word of God, which works in them. It's effective in working in them, right? It's another opportunity to thank God that when they heard the gospel, that you could see fruit being born. They believed it. Thank God for that. OK, so we've got two opportunities for thanking the Lord for specific people because of what God is doing in them. Who gets the credit in that? God. That's who you're thanking. OK. Chapter 3, 9 and 10. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? He's already been rendering it, right? What thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before God? They're already joying before God for the sakes of this Thessalonians because they've got works of faith and labors of love and patience in the hope of the Lord Jesus Christ. If these are young baby church and believers who are following God in the midst of persecution, he's rejoicing in that. He's thanking God for it and he's joying for it. He says, what else can we do? How else can we joy before God? And what are we asking there? Verse 10, night and day, praying exceedingly, occasionally, if I feel like it, on the off chance, when I remember it, no, praying exceedingly. What? That we might see your face, just say, hey, how you doing? No, but that we might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Do we all have room for improvement? Yes. Do I have room for improvement? Yes. Right? That's why we come together. That's one of the reasons we come together. We come together to worship God. We come together to hear the preaching of the gospel, to be convicted of where the areas where we have not improved yet, and then to go forth and just stay the same and be content and muddle on to improve. Right? It's not hard. Hard to do. Not hard to say. Not hard to understand. Direct our way unto you, right? Might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. So there is room for improvement where he's praying Night and day. I glossed over that, sorry. Night and day praying exceedingly. So you've got not only the time period, he's praying frequently, but the manner in which he's praying is urgent, it's fervent, it's not lackadaisical, it's not half-heartedly. Y'all, when I read how Paul prays, I feel so inept. So can my faith there improve? Yes. Am I going to be so pharisaical to be like, okay, I've got my prayer life in order now? No, because as soon as I do that, guess what? I'm going to have to be humbled because my heart is now in the wrong place. I'm now drawing to the Lord with lips only instead of with a heart. And so we're not to do this so we can brag about how awesome our prayer life is. It's so we can improve in our relationship of how we talk to our Father and how we talk to our Lord, our mediator, who's there on His right hand, interceding on our behalf. You and I can't pray perfectly. That's great. We've got the Holy Spirit advocating for us. We've got the Son interceding on our behalf as a mediator. And then we've got our loving Father who's listening to it all and seeing us already through the completed work of Jesus Christ and His blood. He already sees you as perfect through Jesus. Okay? That's a good thing to pray about. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 3. We are bound to thank God always for you. Wow, there's a lot of thanking God. Do y'all thank God enough? Short answer, no. Do I thank God enough? No. Do I have plenty of things to thank Him for? Yes. We are bound. That bound means obligated. We're owed. There is so much that God has done that I just really owe time to thank Him. We're bound to thank God always, without ceasing, for you, brethren, as it is meet, as it is right, as it is fit or appropriate. It's right for us to be thanking God always for you. Because why? Because of what God's doing in their life. Because your faith groweth exceedingly. I wish my garden would grow exceedingly, instead just the weeds grew exceedingly. Right? But their faith is growing exceedingly. And the charity of every one of you towards each other aboundeth." Wait, he was just praying about that in the first letter. They were already doing good, right? They had great love one for another. He's praying that it would be more. And guess what? God's answering it, and they're abounding more. You think he's going to stop praying? Bet not. But he continues to abound even more and more. I don't think you can get to a cap on the charity or love you have, everyone, for ourselves. For each other. Excuse me. All right. Keep breathing. Let's go down to verse 11. Wherefore, also, we pray always for you. And you say, man, you're just jumping around a lot. You're not really giving context. I think in the past three months, we've given context. And so I think y'all can follow with me. But read it. I don't think anything I'm saying is going to break with the context. But y'all go read both letters, and you can check me. Verse 11, wherefore also we pray always for you. How frequently? Always. Wherefore also we pray always for you. Now, we were already thanking God for what he's doing through you. Now we're praying always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling to deem it worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." What's he praying? He's praying that they'll continue to stand fast, that they'll continue to be soldiers of the cross of Christ, that you won't slip away, that you won't fade, all the way until Christ comes back. Why? That Christ can be glorified in you and ye in Him. He can put glory upon you. But ultimately, it's for His glory, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. How is all that happening? The grace of God. We don't take credit in any of this. I love it how Brother Zach expresses that anything good and right in my life, I give all the credit to God, 100%. Anything that I do wrong and mess up, I take 100% of the blame. It's me, not God. I cannot put myself low enough and him high enough. Because no matter how I've got it, it's still far askew of the reality of how great our God is, that high and lifted up, the mighty one of Israel. Okay? Let's go over chapter 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks always. A second obligation. Bound. We're obligated to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of God. Man, that's a good title. That applies to you. Brethren. You're brothers and sisters. Beloved of God. You are dearly beloved of God. Always have been. Bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved of God, because why am I obligated to give this thanks to God? Because God hath from the beginning, chosen you, the election, right? Chosen you to salvation through sanctification of spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto? He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he has called you to a life of following Christ. He elected you before the foundation of the world. He is now giving you the truth through the knowledge of his gospel. And now you get to follow after him through the rest of your whole life. Obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to the obtaining of the glory. When does that happen? It happens. Well when you're dead or Christ that comes back That's when you obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in its fullness, right? But he's called you to a life-long work who gets credit for that God Thank God for your brothers and sisters, right? It's his work every time you see them and you see how God's working in them. It's for his glory. I You're seeing what he's done for them and through them and to them. Okay? All right. We're cooking right along. We're going to go to the third category. All right, that was six more references. Those are all discussing Paul's, how he's been praying for them and how he continues to pray for them. The last category is request for prayer. It is okay to request prayers, right? It is okay. Here's an example. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 25. Brethren, pray for us. Right? It's pretty generic, pretty open-ended. Y'all can take that and run with it. Does Paul want the prayers of these saints? You better believe it. Now, we've learned elsewhere that he's going through trials and affliction too. We want the prayers of those we love. We sing a beautiful song about that. Brethren, pray for us. Now, in order for brothers and sisters to know how to pray for us, we've got to let them in to see, what are we struggling with? If we have got these walls up or these facades where everything just looks perfect, what do they need to pray for? You've already got it figured out. Just keep trucking. Anybody at that point here where you've got it all figured out? I hope not, because that's what is coming. So it is OK. to pray. It's okay to ask for prayers. Brethren, pray for us. General prayer requests, all right? And then it's also okay to give very specific prayer requests. I'll be praying for this. This is 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 1-2. Finally, brethren, brothers and sisters, pray for us. There's another general, but why? That the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. even as it is with you, okay? I think the whys are often important, and why are we praying? Are we praying just to have escape from a hardship, relief from a trial, physical help? Are we just praying for those things that, if that's all it is, okay, we can pray for that, but is that our primary focus? Or is our focus on how are we serving God and his kingdom? How are we furthering the gospel? How are we sharing the good news in our lives? In all aspects, how are we doing that? And so here he's praying, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. And that brings in the second thing is that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith. These unreasonable and wicked men are hindering his efforts or trying to hinder his efforts to preach the gospel. It's not, they're just really picking on me and it's annoying and I want them to stop, but I want to be able to preach the gospel and have it flow freely, have it be unhindered, and that it would be glorified, that God himself would be glorified, even as it is where it was there in Thessalonians, even as it was with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith. All this is being said is the why that we're praying is significant. So remember who we're praying to. Praying to God the Father, our Father, and the Lord, the Master, the Controller of the whole universe, our Lord Jesus Christ who saved us, God saves. I mean, His name reminds you what He did for you every time you say it, or it should not be a curse word, right? That's who you're praying to. And what are you praying for? You're praying for the things that you need or the things that others need. And you're spending a lot of time thanking him for what he's already done, not just in the temporal blessings, but also in how his grace is moving in your brothers and sisters and your family and whoever. Giving thanks for that, acknowledging what he's done. Honor is due to him. How often do we skip that? And just come with our laundry list of these are the things that we prefer, and please do it in this way. But Lord, bless us by all means, whatever is pleasing unto you, because Lord, we trust you. We know that you loved us. You've got an everlasting love. You've given us an everlasting consolation. And so I trust you to get me through this trial and to sustain me, and Lord, continue to grow me, even if it hurts. That's hard to pray that. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed. That's a wonderful list, but it all starts back with tribulation. Any of y'all asking for tribulation? How many of y'all asking for patience lately? What may you have been praying to receive, right? The Lord, by all means, now He can give you more patience. Sometimes I pray, Lord, let me use the patience that you've already given me, right? But all that being said, it is okay. It is okay to pray to your Heavenly Father. It is okay to pray to your Lord and Master, praying that His will would be done in whatever the situation is, and ultimately that He would be glorified in it. We want to be more conformed to His Son. That's what predestinates you, to be conformed to the image of the Son. We'll get there perfectly in glory. Y'all, that's what we're moving towards today. And so here he's praying that the Word of the Lord may have three-course and be glorified, even as it is with you. What are you praying for today, and how does that tie in to the Kingdom of Heaven? How does that tie in to the sharing of God's Word? How does that tie in of, Lord, make me more holy? Well, how often do we have prayers that really just sound like genie wish lists? And maybe we're not asking for that Corvette, It's those kind of carnally minded things that are our focus, right? Remember who you're praying to. Remember what you're praying for. Remember to give thanks. Remember that He's worthy of your thanks and your gratitude and trust Him with the means, that He can do it however He pleases Him and with the end result. So, pray for one another. Pray for me. Love y'all. You might have a number you'd like to send me closing. I don't know the number, but I need the prayers for those I love. OK. That would be 111. If I could just stand and say number 111, I'm going to have the doors of the church open for any way we're authorized to authorize or receive members. If I can make that known while I'm standing, saying number 111. I need the prayers of those I love While traveling or life's rugged way That I may true and thankful be And live for Jesus every day I want my friends to pray for me To bear my tempted soul above and intercede with God for me. I need the prayers of those I love. I need the prayers of those I love. To help me in each trying hour, To bear my tempted soul to Him, That He may keep me by His power. I want my friends to pray for me, to bear my tempted soul above. and intercede with God for me. I need the prayers of those I love. I want my friends to pray for me, to hold me upon wings of faith, that I may walk the narrow way. Dead by our Father's glorious grace, I want my friends to pray for me. Prepare my tempted soul above, and in cursing with God for me, I need the prayers of those I love.