do do Amen. Well, as we get to prayer, we do have a special prayer request this evening. We want to pray for the Reverend Gary Goodes. Our brother is a minister in the Randallstown congregation, and our brother is in Antrim Hospital, very seriously ill with COVID. and the next 48 hours are critical. And so let's pray for God's servant as we go to the throne of grace and prayer. His wife has requested for prayer publicly, and so let's lift God's servant now up before the throne of heavenly grace in prayer. Our loving and eternal Father, we draw nigh to thee as thy believing people and as thy children. We come, Lord, to one who loves us dearly and one, O God, upon whose thoughts and upon whose mind we are this very evening. We rejoice, Lord, that we are loved by thee, Lord, not with a temporary love, Lord, not with a love that is here today and gone tomorrow, but with an everlasting love from eternity past, thou didst love a people. And Lord, we belong to that number. We belong to the elect of God. We rejoice, Lord, that thou didst die for a people, thou didst secure salvation for a people. We thank thee that the cross and the work of Christ is not some half work It's not some work, O God, that is efficient for some and inefficient for others, but all that have come to trust in Him and all that shall trust in Him, we thank Thee that the work that Christ has undertaken has been sufficient for the putting away of their sin and the reconciling of the sinner unto God. We are the redeemed of God, loved by Thee, and Lord, kept by thy power. We come, Lord, and draw nigh into thy sacred presence, desiring, O God, for thy blessing upon this public service and upon the preaching of the word. We pray that every heart might be blessed and challenged and helped along the journey of life. We pray, dear Father, that we might understand the great blessings that thou hast purchased for us and what Christ has done for us And God has done for us in the gospel, in the persons of his sacred trinity. Lord, we often focus on the Son's work, and rightly so. But we thank Thee for the Father and His work. We thank Thee that He predestinated us on to life eternal. We rejoice, O God, in the electing purposes of our God. We thank thee, dear Father, that he sent his Son. He willingly gave his Son. He gave up his Son to death and, Lord, to the cross and to life here on earth. He spared not his Son, but he gave him freely he freely give him up for us all and how shall he not much more then freely give us all things we rejoice that he did not withhold his son just as abram did not withhold isaac from the altar so infinitely in an infinitely greater manner so the father withheld not his son but lord he let him come And we rejoice in the Son's work, His life, His death, His resurrection, and the Spirit's work, working in these souls of ours, doing the miracle that is beyond any human being. And therefore, Lord, how blessed we are. Count your many blessings, the hymn writer said, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Lord, we come unitedly. Lord, to lift thy dear servant, the Reverend Goodes, up before thee at the throne of heavenly grace. Thou dost know his great need, and this is hour of trial and trouble. Lord, we lift him up before thee and the congregation there in Randallstown. as they will meet together for public prayer. Lord, we pray that prayer might be answered on behalf of thy servant. We pray, Lord, that even at this moment and at this juncture, as it was said concerning the centurion's servant, that from that hour Lord, from that hour, O God, there was that change and there was that healing. Lord, may it be said of this hour, Lord, that it was from this moment that there was a turning of the whole situation around. We pray thou wilt, Lord, spare his life and give him a long and fruitful ministry in coming days. Bless his dear wife and his girls, we ask of thee, and lord the grandchildren and the in-laws as well we commit lord thy servant into thy care and into thy keeping thou art the great physician thou art the one who heals lord grant healing we pray and use oh god the medical attention and care and that which is being given to him Lord to the recovery of his health we pray Lord as it was said of Gaius that his soul or he would be in health as his soul was prospering Lord grant dear father that for thy servant and we pray for the Reverend Fitzsimons as well in his great need Lord grant Lord again the touch of heaven upon him, and the Reverend Wilson there in Castle Derg. Again, Lord, these brethren out of their pulpits, Lord, and grant, dear Father, the soon return to the pulpit that they might be enabled to preach the everlasting gospel. Lord, hide us in the hollow fine hand in these days. Grant, Lord, thy blessing upon my work, and may dear father there be the sound of the abundance of rain and so answer now these are petitions bless the millers as they now travel across the irish sea and help lord even on their journey to Devon tomorrow. Give them safety and good speed and may dear Father, the blessing of God meet them there. We offer prayer in the Savior's holy name. Amen. We're turning to Colossians chapter 1 this evening. The book of Colossians, we welcome you in our Savior's holy name. Thank you for joining with us, those who are here in the church and those who join with us online and in the church car park. Colossians chapter 1 and the verse number 1. The word of God says Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since a day ye heard it, and knew the grace of God in truth. As ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who for you, a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the spirit, For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patients and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Amen. And we'll end our reading there at the 14th verse of the chapter. Let's briefly pray. Father, again, we cry for the help of thy Holy Spirit. We pray for him to give understanding to the simple. Oh, Lord, that's what we are. We're simple, and we need, Lord, understanding, enlightenment, and the ministry of the Spirit of God. Therefore, come, fill me, and every here we pray with thy Spirit that we might understand rightly that which is before us Lord, now come in answer to prayer and fill this house with thy glory. We pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Commencing at the beginning of January 2017 and finishing or terminating in October of the same year was a series of messages that I preached on the prayers of the Apostle Paul. I wonder, can you remember any of them, never mind the series? In those messages, we really considered the intercessions and the supplications of the Apostle Paul for churches and for individual Christians that he came to know during his years of public ministry. Now, it was always my intention to complete that series of messages. However, I didn't think it would be a four-year hiatus that would elapse before taking up the series again. However, as I began seeking the Lord over the summer months, the Lord brought to my attention that unfinished series of messages. And so we want to finish them. I don't know how long it will take, but I want to pick up from where I left off four years ago and look at a number of other prayers that the Apostle Paul offered up to God for the churches and the individuals he wrote his letters and his epistles to because those prayers, they give us a pattern, they give us a template of how we should pray, how we should pray one for another as believers and how we should pray for the church of Jesus Christ in these days. For these prayers are divinely inspired and so therefore there is profit and there is learning for us from these prayers of the great apostle Paul. Now you'll recall from your reading of the Acts of the Apostles that it was Saul or Paul's praying that convinced Ananias of the genuineness of Saul's conversion experience. Reluctant initially to visit Saul of Tarsus there at the street straight, that hesitancy on the part of God's servant was put to bed when God would utter to Ananias the following words concerning the persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ. For God told Ananias, Behold, he prayeth. And he was convinced at that that Saul's conversion experience was genuine, was real, and was most certainly its origin was from God himself. And from that moment onwards, we find that the apostle Paul believed in the power of prayer. Prayer was essential to the success of Paul's public ministry he would ask me on many occasions that the brethren would pray for him and he himself prayed and therefore he believed in prayer he was a man of prayer he believed in prayer and he desired that others would pray for him and every successful minister and ministry always can be traced back to the power of prayer we know this story well of Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle and those visitors who came and Spurgeon showed them around the great building, the great church that it was, 6,000 people every week crammed into the Metropolitan Tabernacle. visitors down to the key showing them the key to success why it was so successful and he opened a little small room a boiler house I believe it was under the main sanctuary and there were men and women seeking God for God's blessing upon the ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. And it was there that his success was to be found. The last message that I preach from this series of messages really centered on the words that we have there in the verse 11 of Colossians chapter one. Paul prays that these individuals would be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power onto all patients and long suffering with Joyfulness well tonight. We consider them this verse 12 and then in diverse 13 and verse 14 of this particular chapter because it really continues this prayer of the Apostle Paul because you notice they are in the verse number 9 for this cause we also since the day we heard of it do not cease to pray for you and to desire and then he commences his petitions and that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins what we find here is that paul's prayer for these saints ends in praise it ends on a note of praise now there's a lesson for us when we come to pray we certainly want to pray we certainly want to be honest in our praying We don't want to be, as it were, pretending in our praying, and we certainly want to be very honest and frank before God in prayer. But often our prayers end on a low note, but Paul's prayers ended on a high note, the note of praise. You see, there is such a thing as praying ground, and then there is another, as it were, level in prayer, and that is praising ground. And oft times we only ever get to praying ground and we never get to praising ground. Praising God for the answer that is on the way. Well the Apostle Paul is now on praising ground. Prayer and praise often are found going hand in hand together with each other in scripture. We find that in both the exhortation and the experience of the Apostle Paul. You'll know the verse well, Philippians 4 verse 6, be careful for nothing, Paul wrote, Philippian saints, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. I just wonder, as I thought of that verse and who Paul was writing that verse to, I just thought to myself, whenever Paul sat down to write those words to the Philippian saints, I wonder did he think back to his time in the city? Remember when he went to Philippi's jail with Silas, imprisoned there for preaching the gospel? What do we read in Acts 16 and verse 25? And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners I heard them, prayer and praise going hand in hand in the experience of the Apostle Paul's life. And so there is a very basic truth that I've mentioned many times that we learn from these words in Colossians 1. We learn that when we approach the throne of grace and prayer, petitions and praises should accompany each other when we go to God in prayer. One Christian writer said this, there should be the thanksgiving, well speaking of prayer, there should be the thanksgiving of grateful love for mercies already received, of confident faith in God's promises, I and of joyous expectation of the things which he has prepared for us on high. And so when we come to pray, when you come to pray, yes, ask God for those things that he places upon your heart, but don't, child of God, forget to adore him, and don't forget to praise him. You know, in prayer there always ought to be this balance between prayer and praise, petitions and praise. You know, Paul, he speaks of this giving of thanks or this thankful spirit over and over again in this book of Colossians. Let me point out the verses to you. Colossians 2 and the verse 6 and 7. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Look at Colossians 3 verse 15. to which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Look at the verse 17 of the same chapter. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. And then verse number two of chapter four, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. And so here we have Paul in chapter number one speaks about him praying and how he encouraged these people to give thanks unto God the Father in verse 12. And then he reiterates this once again in chapter four, verse two, continuing prayer and watching the same with thanksgiving. You know, thanksgiving should be that which should set apart the believer from the unthankful and the ungrateful society in which we now live. We read as the last days approach that men and women and others will be unthankful. It will be one of the marks. And we're living in an unthankful generation, unthankful. And this manner or this characteristic, this Christian virtue of thankfulness should set us apart, should set us apart from those who are so unthankful in the world. No, folks, you may not have many things in this world, but you've got Christ. And surely that's enough to be thankful to God for this evening, to be thankful that God has saved you from your sins. We should be thankful, thankful for His common mercies. What do I mean by that? I speak of common mercies. I speak of those mercies that the unsaved they receive from God, health, strength, and food, safety, and the weather, the sun and shining, and the rain falling upon the ground in order to produce crops. These are common mercies received by all of mankind. And so we should thank God for His common mercies, and we should be thankful to God for His covenant mercies. We are in covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, Christ in the covenant of redemption, the covenant of grace, Christ engaged and executed all the terms of that covenant and thereby having done so successfully purchased benefits and blessings for the child of God. Thereby we should be thankful to God that we are reconciled to God. No longer are we strangers, but we've been brought nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. We should be thankful that the Spirit of God has regenerated our hearts, that we've been justified freely by His grace, that we are adopted into the family of God. Aye, and someday we will be glorified. And so Paul encourages the saints of God in Colossae to be thankful, to give thanks, to give thanks unto the Father. You know, I was thinking about an example of what we should be thankful to God the Father for. It was something that really the Lord impressed upon my heart when we were holidaying over there in England in the month of August. You know, folks, we should be thankful for a gospel-preaching church. We should be thankful for a gospel-preaching church. And I say that for this reason, whenever I was on holidays, I had the opportunity to preach. You should never do that on holidays, but I had the opportunity to preach. It was at a Christian youth camp. There were about 185 teenagers there and then about 60 other leaders and attendees. And after the meeting had concluded, I got speaking to a young man. I think he was around about 18 or 19 years of age. And he told me his story. He told me that in his lifetime he had been, he and his family had been to 12 different churches. And only now, at the age of 18, 19, was he now sitting under faithful gospel preaching. You think of how many churches you have been to, how many churches you have attended in your lifetime, 12? in 18 years of his life, and now they're only attending a gospel, faithful gospel preaching church. Not only that, but then he told me about what his Sunday consisted of. They don't live five minutes from that church. They don't live 30 minutes from that church, or 45 minutes. They live at least an hour from that church. And so they get up, they make their way to church, They have their service that lasts for about two hours. They then have their packed lunch every Sunday. Not a roast beef dinner, but a packed lunch. And then they finish that, and then they have Sunday school in the afternoon. And then after Sunday school is concluded, then they have the gospel evening service. And then after that service is concluded, they go home, an hour's drive from that church. Here we are. How long did it take you to get to church tonight? Some 20 minutes. You're a bit farther. Some only five. Some only 30 seconds. That's Woolsey and Marion. Depending who's driving, Marion or Woolsey. But you know, it didn't take you very long, did it? You didn't have to think about where I could go to church to hear the word of God preached. And if you fall out with this church and decide to go somewhere else, well, you don't have to go too far to find another faithful preaching church in this local vicinity. But there was an 18-year-old young man, had been in 12 different churches, and had only now been under the faithful preaching of God's precious Word. I wonder how thankful we are for this place, how thankful Are we that the Word of God is opened and the Word of God is expounded here? How thankful are we that the minister and visiting preachers are saved and redeemed? How thankful are we that we can send our children to Sunday school, not to learn crafts, but to learn catechisms, to learn the Word of God? That our young people can come on a Friday night and be exposed to the preaching of God's Word on a weekly basis? How thankful are we truly for this place, for the house of God, and for the men and women who came here initially and sacrificed so much to see to the establishment of this particular fellowship of believers. How thankful are we? We should be thankful. We should be thankful that we're not like that 18-year-old young man who has had to wait 18 years until he is set under faithful Bible preaching. Notice that Paul states that he, in verse 12, that we ought to give thanks to the Father. Now, that's not to say that God the Father is to be the only person within the Godhead that is to receive our thanks. God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are also worthy recipients of our thanksgiving. But Paul emphasizes here that it is God the Father that we are to offer our thanks to. And then he enumerates three reasons why they should give thanks onto God the Father. And we want to very quickly consider them. First of all, we should give thanks to God the Father because of our inheritance. Apostle Paul, under inspiration, writes that it is God the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now we need to look at that particular statement at the end of verse 12 to understand what it means because it is the first reason why we ought to give thanks to God the Father. I want you to look at the word there at the end of verse 12 or near the end, sorry, near the middle of verse 12, the word meet, made us meet. be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." The word meet can be translated enabled, or it is another translation, and it is the word qualify, qualified. God the Father has qualified us for such an inheritance, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." When God the Father qualifies us for such an inheritance, it means that He gives us the right, or He gives us the title, or He gives us the privilege to inherit such a blessing. You see, brethren and sisters, our sin disqualifies us from this inheritance, but God the Father qualifies us. And that's a blessing. You know, that word, meet, it really highlights to us how inadequate we are of ourselves in securing this inheritance. We cannot do anything of ourselves that enables or qualifies us to become the partakers of this inheritance of the saints in light. This is something that must be done for us. Notice it is God the Father. He hath made us, not ourselves, This does away with the thought of merit. This does away with the thought of works. This does away with the thought of good deeds, whereby an individual on doing such things or attaining to such Things will then, as a result of their doing, receive this inheritance. Know this, this verse does away with all of that time of thinking, and it brings us to an understanding that we are only ever qualified by the Father. by the work of the Father, and by the work of the Son, and by the work of the Holy Spirit. But it is the Father who qualifies us, who enables us, who makes us meet, who makes us suitable to become partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. You see, whenever God saves a person, He instantly qualifies that person for heaven. On the grounds of what? the grounds of Christ's righteousness and Christ's blood or His work. Nothing that we do can improve on that. Not even a lifelong or a long life of obedience or service on earth can make a person more fit for heaven than the day they were saved. Think of that. A lifelong or a long life of service for Christ does not make you a millimeter or a little bit more fit or qualified for heaven. Christ's merit is enough. That's why whenever the dying thief died, he had been already qualified for paradise. He did not work within the church. He did not minister. He did not preach. He did not witness. He did not give into the church by way of tithe and offering, but he found himself in paradise. Why? The Father qualified him. The Son had died for him, and thereby, brethren and sisters, we're closed then to grace. Grace the unmerited favor of God. And thereby, through grace, we are qualified for heaven. You know, you may not have many qualifications to your name tonight. You may not have any qualifications to your name. But if you're a Christian, you have this qualification. God the Father has qualified you. He's fitted you. for heaven. And so we could put it this way, it is through His merit that we inherit. It is through His merit that we inherit. And what do we inherit? Well, it goes on to say that we are partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Every Christian has a share in this inheritance. Now, what is it? Well, for God's covenant people in the Old Testament, their inheritance was the land of Canaan. That was their inheritance. It was laid up for them. But for us who are saved, we have a more enduring inheritance than a mere parcel of land on this earth. Our inheritance, as Peter describes it there in 1 Peter 4, is an inheritance that is incorruptible. It's undefiled. that fadeth not away, and it is reserved in heaven for us." You know, the amazing thing about our inheritance is that it is both present and future. We possess it now. Because the tense of the verse is in the present tense. He has made us meet. He has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance. And so, yes, it is ours, legally ours. This inheritance that is laid out for us, it is legally ours. And we do enjoy some of the blessings, some of the benefits of that inheritance. But we'll only ever enter into the full experience of it at our death. We enjoy parts of the inheritance presently, but the fullness will only be realized when we leave this world behind and we enter into the joy of the Lord. Now, what is incorporated in this inheritance, that's hard to express. However, we do know that we will inherit Christ. Paul spoke about gaining Christ. To gain Christ, that is the greatest inheritance. I, yes, and will gain and will inherit heaven, our eternal home, and will inherit eternal, everlasting life. That life has begun when we trust in Jesus Christ. We become possessors of eternal life, but the fullness of it, oh, the fullness of it will be experienced Whenever we leave this world behind and we enter into heaven itself, and thereby these at least three elements of this inheritance, Christ, heaven, eternal life, should be enough to set us off thanking God this evening. In the second instance, we should give thanks to God the Father because of our deliverance. Continuing to speak about God the Father, Paul writes in verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. The word delivered means rescued. Rescued. And we're rescued from the power of darkness through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that word power in verse 13 does not refer to strength or force. It's not the word dunamis, where we get the English word dynamite. It is another Greek word which speaks of authority. or jurisdiction. It is the same word that's used in 1 John, as many as receive him to them, give he power, authority, the right to become, to be called the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. And so it is from the authority or from the jurisdiction of darkness that we are delivered when Christ in grace triumphs in our lives. God in the gospel. He comes and he delivers us from the jurisdiction and the authority of the prince of darkness, the devil himself. Now being delivered from that jurisdiction does not mean then that we can do as we please, but having been delivered from Satan's jurisdiction and authority, then we're brought under God's authority and under God's jurisdiction. Now can you remember, brother, sister, can you remember tonight? When do you go back to the night you were saved? When do you think back about the moment, the day, the time? When Christ entered in, and you were born again, I want you to think about your life prior to that moment of time. I want you to think of the sin, and I want you to think of the bondage, and I want you to think of the fear. I want you to think of the condemnation, and the guilt, and the conviction, and the hopelessness, and the despair that plagued your life before you were delivered by God. And surely, whenever you remember your deliverance, you should give thanks to God the Father. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul." And you think of others who were in your Sunday school class and who were in your church and who sat with you and showed more potential of ever becoming a Christian than you ever showed potential of becoming a Christian. And God has to this moment passed them by, but he has set his electing love upon you and delivered you from a life of mayhem and misery and madness. Oh, the mercy. and all the thanks that should rise from our hearts and from this place tonight, when we remember that we were delivered from the power of darkness. And then thirdly, finally, they were to thank God the Father for their inheritance, for their deliverance, and also for their translation. Having been delivered from the power of darkness, God's work doesn't stop. Because the text goes on to say, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. The word translated can be looked at using different metaphors, let me give you two. The word is often used in the sense of removing or deporting people from one country to the other, just like we've been seeing happening in Afghanistan. There has been a translating taking place. a movement from one country to another. And we who are Christians have been translated from one kingdom to another. Through the new birth, we've become subjects of a new kingdom. We now live under different laws. We belong to a different community. The word translated can also mean transplanting. And those who are gardeners know what it is to transplant a plant or a shrub or a flower. You move it from one place in the garden, you plant it in another place in order to enable and enhance that plant or that shrub's growth. Well, these are the pictures. the movement of one person from one country to another, or a plant from one part of the garden to another part of the garden. And Paul tells us that we are extracted, we are delivered from the jurisdiction of Satan, and we are placed and we are transplanted into the kingdom of his dear son. Or the Greek text, it reads like this, the kingdom of the son of his love. the kingdom of the Son of His love. We are translated from darkness to light, from slavery to bondage, from condemnation to forgiveness, from the power of Satan onto the power of God. And by that we are given a place in the kingdom of God. And how is all this accomplished? It is accomplished, verse 14, through redemption. Redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This is how this great translating, this great extracting and placing takes place. It is by and through and on the grounds of Christ's redemption. You know, brethren and sisters, if it had only been delivered from the power of darkness, it would have been enough for us to be thankful tonight. Because at least we would have been spared, as I've said, the misery and the mayhem of sin. But God does more than simply bringing us out of the kingdom of darkness. He then brings us into the kingdom of his dear son. And he gives us a place in that kingdom. And he not only gives us a place in the kingdom, but he makes us a joint heir with Jesus Christ. We are children then of the kingdom of his dear Son, and as children then we ought to behave