Good morning, and God bless you. Turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Thessalonians. It took a couple of weeks off. But now we're back in chapter 3, nearing the end of the chapter here. And we're going to be looking just at verse 10 today. And we will entitle today's message, Praying God's Will. Praying God's Will. Wow. If you would stand for the reading of God's Word. Again, I'll just read 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse 10. Now it ends with a question, but you can read verse 8 and 9 and see that he's saying he's so happy with how they're doing. And what kind of thanksgiving can he give to God? And he says this, As we pray most earnestly, night and day, that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Father, speak through your word, by your spirit, for your glory, in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen. And you may be seated. It's no surprise to say that prayer is a vital part of the Christian life. And as you lose prayerfulness and give in to prayerlessness, you lose joyfulness and thankfulness. In the book of 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, he says, Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. And you know, you can't find the right house if you're not in the right neighborhood, right? I mean, how many Springfields are there? Right? How many, you know, George Washington or Martin Luther King streets are there? Right? You've got to know. So prayerfulness is vital. And the disciples saw Jesus pray and they asked Him how they should pray. Remember, the Lord's Prayer. 32 And Jesus taught more than one lesson about prayer. 33 Remember He said, Ask, Seek, Knock. Keep on asking, seeking and knocking. 34 And He said, If you ask for a bread, your Father is not going to give you a stone, etc. 35 And we read Luke 18 1 through 8 this morning talking about persistence in prayer. And here in 1 Thessalonians 3, 10, which we just read, the Apostle Paul demonstrates that fervent, we'll describe these things, frequent, heartfelt prayer is the right thing to do. It is God's will. So we're going to outline the text very simply. Paul's prayers for the Thessalonians were fervent. He says most earnestly. and frequent. He says night and day. And Paul was going to teach them some more in chapters 4 and 5. But he had a heartfelt desire to be physically present with them. That we may see you face to face. He was praying a lot. And he was praying heavy and hard that he would be able to see them face to face. Because I like when you're online. I know that sometimes we need to visit you. You can't come here. And we have people in the Netherlands and other places looking and all that. But man, I want to get my hands on you. Look you eye to eye. Right? We want to be face-to-face. Paul knew they were doing great. He heard that from Timothy. He thought it was wonderful. But just like if you were away off and do something and you're gone for a few months and then you come back, your spouse is like, oh, kiss me, right? I mean, I have the girls on our sleepover and then the next morning, the six-year-old is going, I can't wait to see mommy. Yeah, and it was like that because you want to see them face-to-face So he was fervent most earnestly right there in the text frankly night and day and he was going to teach him some more but he had his heartfelt desire Want to see them face-to-face and help them mature says and supply what is lacking your faith, so he prayed that way But here's the thing There are a lot of superstitious and sanctimonious, in other words, self-righteous belief about prayer. And Matthew 6, 7, which was part of what we just talked about, 6, 5 through 15, Jesus said, and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. It means people that aren't saved. For they think they're going to be heard for their many words. And in Luke 18, 9 through 14, you know, the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus addressed the self-righteous prayers in that parable. And when it comes to prayer, it's important to make something clear. And again, we're not trying to beat you up. We're trying to build you up. Put your faith in the right place. It's important to know that you shouldn't think that the sincerity, passion, and persistence of your prayers are the basis for why God should grant them. Because you make that work salvation, friends. And the number of people praying... Again, do I want a prayer chain? Do I want people praying for Paul? You know, our friend who's... Woo! Back! Right? Did I want that when I had my stroke, or my heart attack, or my second heart attack, or whatever's going on? Do you not want it for you? We get those out there. You've got to let me know, etc. But the number of people praying, or the number of times you pray, is not the quote-unquote deciding factor. These are good, but they're not a guarantee. Do you hear me? But you see, Paul says these things. But did God answer him? Well, wait. Because it's not what you think, maybe. We'll get there. But you've got to come to God based on the merit of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. It's about His grace, not your worthiness. Now, at the same time, you don't just pray one time and think that if you just repeat the right phrases that you can just leave it to God. Well, I said, you know, heads of protection. I said, you know, traveling mercies. I'm not mad at those things. But I did this. I did this. And you might even point out, well, Paul only prayed three times for God to remove the thorn in his flesh. And then he stopped praying for that. You find that in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7 through 9. But here's the thing. If you're not even talking about yourself, but you're talking about other people's needs, you're going to keep asking for what you really desire. My finger hurts. Okay, you know, you pray about this and hope it, and you know, it's just you jammed it or whatever. Hey man, you know, if it's one of your little ones, it's like, oh man, it's big, right? Okay. But if it's someone and their life is on the line, right? They're going into harm's way. They're about to make a decision that it's like a, you don't have to be a prophet to watch the grass grow. You know thems is going the wrong way, right? For your children. You keep asking... Listen to how I'm saying this. You keep asking for what you desire, seeking for what you seem to be missing. If you're seeking for a spouse because you ain't got one, it better be that. And knocking on the door until the Lord answers. Do you hear me? Where have you heard that before? We've referenced that earlier. Matthew 7, 7, the word... You know what I mean? It says ask, seek, knock. The word knock there is what we call a present imperative. It means keep on knocking. And Paul had to keep praying and yet he didn't get to go to Thessalonica except he did five years later before God granted him the opportunity to return to Thessalonica you find that in Acts chapter 20 verse 1 through 6 because until it you might think well he never got to go back he never got to go back or second Thessalonians means he got to go back no that's he wrote another letter because he didn't get to go back now what does that mean for you now I'm about to confuse you and tie you up a knot so that I can untie you and make that rope useful to you instead of hanging you with it. What do I mean, just keep listening? What does this mean for you? That you've got to know that God is sovereign but it doesn't mean we're static. And that He somehow uses what He has decreed in eternity for us to freely agree with in time as we pray. He shapes us and molds us. But what does that mean for you? Well, James 5.16 says, The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it's working. We think that means a certain thing. Hold on. James 4.3 says, You do not have because you do not ask. Okay, okay, yeah. Okay, right, okay, yeah, yeah. But then James 4.4 says, You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly. Spend it on your passions. Lord, help me to win the lottery because then I'll give to the church. You just really want to win the lottery. Lord help me to see miracles on the mission field, because you want to write a book. Lord help my wife get over that being bitter. Really? What does 1 Peter say? It says, you know, you got to deal with her in an understanding way. All your prayers for her to get better ain't going to do no good if you ain't even trying, bro. Yeah. But here's the thing. Okay, let's go further. Because John 5, 14 and 15 says, And this is the confidence we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And we know if He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we'll have what we request, that we've asked of Him. So now what? It sounds like both ways, doesn't it? Do we want to avoid these things? Or do we really want to address these things? Because here is Paul saying, I'm doing this. I'm doing this. And it's not happening. Why does he keep doing it? Because at another time he didn't do it. I need answers. Anybody? All right. Let's do this. You can turn your book, your Bible, to Acts chapter 12. We'll read there in a moment. We're not there yet. But let me say generally speaking, a child of God, this is specific, has the right to come to God in prayer. And you have no greater right to come to God... Now listen, listen carefully. You have no greater right to come to God in prayer just because you've been obedient. But you're more likely to pray in the will of God when you're already walking in the will of God. You're going to find the house because you're in the neighborhood. Could you be mine, would you be mine, won't you be? The Good Samaritan parable spoken by that Presbyterian minister, in case you didn't know. Don't knock on Mr. Rogers, I like him. When you're in the will of God already walking in it, you're more likely to pray in His will. Your obedience doesn't earn you a better answer. But your obedience may mean that you're better tuned in to God's frequency and submitted to God's will, listen, no matter how or when He answers. What was the title of the sermon here? Praying God's Will. What did 1 John 5, 14 and 15 says? If we pray anything according to His will. 32 If you walk in His way, you're going to find His will. 33 I need to find His perfect will. 34 If you're not in the right neighborhood, prayerful, thankful, joyful, 35 you're not going to find it. Or you stumble into it and won't even know what it is. 36 I'm hearing the voice of God. Can you give me 10 verses? How would you know what He sounds like? 37 Okay. Now let's take a look at an example of these words, 38 fervent, frequent, heartfelt prayer from Acts 12 verse 5. 39 Let me turn there myself. Acts 12. Anybody with me? Amen. Because I want motivation to pray like crazy. But I want to know God's listening. And I want to know. People say, you know, God only uses holy vessels if He set you apart. You're holy in Him positionally. He can use you. He used a donkey, right? I could use a word there that I won't use. Acts 12 verses 5. What's going on is Peter and James are thrown in prison again. James dies. It doesn't answer his prayer. So they pray even harder for Peter. Does that mean that's why it happened? No, not necessarily. But does God use our prayers in ways? And are there things that God won't do unless we do pray? Yes. Verse 5. Let me start with verse 4. Let me just start with verse 1. 1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. 4 This was during the days of unleavened bread. Right in the festival. My goodness. 5 And when they had seized him, that's Peter, he put him in prison, Herod that is, 6 delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him. Why? Because he got loose before. Because an angel came and got him. So we, you know, we think if we just elect the right people, we just do this. We said every little i, little t, every nuclear, every whatever, that we can stop God. Ha, ha. What was that one angel, 185,000, what was that? I don't know what it was. I don't know the Bible. Do you? You've got to memorize the whole thing. It needs to get a hold of you. All right. They brought four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So here it is. So Peter was kept in prison, but... Someone say, but... earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Again, Herod didn't want to escape again. Acts 5, verse 18 and 19. They arrested the apostles and put them in public prison. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out. So let's look at this and break it down a little bit. Talk about frequent, fervent, heartfelt. It was immediate. So Peter was kept in prison, but this is specific prayer for a specific need for a specific time. Please, God, act right now. And let me tell you something. This is not about making you feel guilty for not going all out all the time. Even you prayer warriors or, you know, however you want to label yourself, you don't need to do that, by the way. I think Margaret Thatcher said, if you've got to say that you're a lady, you're not. Does the same thing with power. You know, I'm taking control. Yeah, why do you need to take control? Do you have it or you're not? This is not about making you feel guilty because you're not doing it all the time and everything like that. You prepare for the occasion. You rise to the occasion because you are sanctified. You're set apart. And now you're living that way. This is about how an immediate crisis situation brings us to our knees in a specific and special way. James had died. And I'm sure they had been praying earnestly for him too. But now they were feeling the heat all the more. Our friend this week. And we used this back then when our friends in India, and they took the 94 people. And then they chased the people around India, and then some came to America, and all that. And years later, they never got them back, except they opened up, instead of an orphanage, a school, a boarding school. So God uses practical things too. But let me tell you, prayer is a means of grace. It's a means that God uses. It's a sign and seal. right, a sign of His covenant, a seal of His approval. And it says, it was immediate, so they began to pray earnestly. That's intense. The KJV says constantly, without ceasing is what it says. This word is also used in 1 Peter 4, 8, above all else, keep loving one another earnestly, fervently, really. This is not a call for passionless, perfunctory prayers. This is spiritual war. Well, you know, God's just going to do what He's going to do and all that. Que sera, sera. It's not like that. That's not what you see in the Bible. Even if you don't have the theology down exactly right, that's not the point. The point is knowing God and laying hold of Him in prayer. Laying hold on the altar, as it were. It was the intercessory for Him. Yeah, I alliterated all of them, yeah. This is specific prayer, specific person, specific situation. We call this intercession. And intercession is obviously important to Jesus. He ever lived to make intercession for us. Romans 8, 34. Hebrews 7, 25. And fasting may be appropriate as an expression of grace over the situation. On Tuesday we were fasting and praying. And I had people tell me, I'm still fasting. I'm still praying. And again and again. Then we saw little by little by little the blade, the ear, the full cord in the ear. He's not breathing. He's not talking. His eyes aren't open. He can't move. And then he started moving a little bit. Then he started opening his eyes a little bit. Then he started breathing a little bit. Then he pulled out the tube and he started talking. solidarity with our loved ones. And you're thinking, yeah, but he's your best friend, and he's part of this church, and I'm watching online days later. How do I develop that kind of thing? I'm glad you asked. When you start learning how to do it for people that you're not as close to, or that you are close to, then you learn how to do it for them that may be not as close. And then you think of the golden rule. Oh, boy. Don't make yourself feel guilty. Get hungry for this kind of power in prayer. Intentional. It was made to God. This wasn't well-wishing, hand-wringing, our prayers are with you. This is heart-wrenching, soul-pouring prayer, getting hold of God and allowing Him to get hold of you. Listen to this. You want to know how God reacts and what He's asking you to do? Isaiah 62, verse 6 and 7. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all the day and all the night. Sounds like Paul. They shall never be silent. You've got to do shifts. We had people come in at 5 o'clock, then 6 o'clock, then 7 o'clock, right? That's what we did. It just kind of naturally, organically worked that way. All the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord, that's Yahweh there, in remembrance, take no rest and give Him no rest. Now, see, this is just anthropomorphic language. Pardon my language. But it means in terms that we can understand. It says, we take no rest and give Him no rest. He doesn't rest anyway. He doesn't need it. But what does it mean? It means you stay in His ear. You keep bugging God until... What does the rest of the verse say? Until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it praise in the earth. Yeah. Mommy, can we go to Disney World? You said, you talked about Disney World. Yeah, yeah, honey, a couple weeks. Is it two weeks yet? Are we there yet? Right? Don't we do that? Yeah, we know. You said we're going to the safety of the mall since it's raining, doing the bouncy, going to Claire's. You know what it's like for a 60-year-old guy to be walking through Claire's with these little girls? But it doesn't mean, oh, you're such a good grandpa. Yeah. And see, now that I've mentioned that, the seed has been planted. And there they are. But that's it, you know? I mean, you know, your regular life and you've got your own sickness and your own job and this and that and the other thing. But he says, I'm putting you there as God puts you on a wall for somebody else. Take no rest and give him no rest. and now that he's talking and now you know why don't we just pray that he starts walking you know he's paraplegic why not why not because they said things about well he's malnourished and all they didn't even know so maybe they were right we didn't know think about it what about me what about you don't we all Benefit out of that Don't we all hurt when one remembers one of another or not and my sin doesn't matter It only hurts me you when you smoke that thing you're smoking on me Wait till we get to chapter 4 here all the rapture and all this wonderful stuff And he says but what he says before that is your holiness lives. He said they're doing good. Remember he knows they're a select You know Christians can fall into some they could slide into stupid. I We've got to help each other. Sometimes it's a little dirty. That's okay. We've got people in recovery here in case you didn't know. There's one here. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We know. We know. Now let me say something. You know, again, I'm not trying to beat you up. It's not about claiming your supposed authority or rights. Is it about claiming your authority in the thing or bowing to His authority in the thing? But just because you think it's one way, don't do mystery math. Jesus prayed knowing what the answer was going to be. He did that for you. It's not about pretentious babbling. This is about declaring our need for His mercy and grace, our weakness, but His strength. Show yourself strong, O Lord. Psalm 20, verse 7. Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. now again you're learning to pray and all that don't think the person has all the neat little phrases and all that's the best prayer sometimes we just do that just to get out of it oh they really know God I'll tell you who knows God that little child and they say Lord I need you to heal my sister's finger and I'm guilty because I'm the one that did that I didn't know it was going to do that, and now you've shown me my sin. Please don't hold it against them. Uh-huh. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, now is perfected praise. Jesus said that. So this is more than just trying to put together the right sounding words. I'm not against that, okay? I'm not against the book of common prayer, the valley of vision. Valley of vision, woo. You use these books and you, amen. But at some point, it's gonna be like that presidential debate. They ain't got no notes. You don't know what the questions are, supposedly. Right? And they ask you, if you're in it right then, it's like, okay, loo-ha, you gotta do this. How are you gonna do it? You're gonna, yep, I know how to do it, let's do it. But when you say, JD, we need to use these tools, uh-oh. And that's why I've got all these scars all over me. Wrestling cars. I'm supposed to be turning wrenches, not wrestling cars, Lou. Yeah. Well, see, that's the thing you learn. So it's more than just trying to put together right-sounding words. More than a cliché. More than a duty. More than personal devotion. When it becomes frighteningly real to you because it's a loved one. When it's close to home. When you can feel it. This is when your prayer will bring a depth of relationship. Because that's the point. Personal relationship. As your end result. that you wouldn't have had otherwise. I was proud of this church this week, these last few weeks, because I know, because when those things go out, when you send them back, they come just to me. And I see what you're saying and all this, and I'm like, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for this good church. Thank you for these good people. Thank you for your good word. this is what God's looking for your heart all of it poured out in prayer for someone else when you hear here listen ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling when you learn to truly pour yourself out in prayer for someone who is close to you you can then learn to do it for others who may not be as close but who need your prayers all the same it was inclusive by the church by the church. 361 This wasn't just the leaders. This was the whole church. 362 It mattered to everyone and everyone mattered. 363 Everyone was included. We are a local body. 364 And when everyone is praying the same sorts of prayer 365 in mind and spirit, that's called corporate prayer. 366 When one person's verbalizing that prayer, it's called leading in prayer. 367 When more than one person is verbalizing the prayer, we call it praying in unison. And you might wonder if it's right to enjoy peace and relative prosperity when so many others suffer. You keep thinking like that. You ain't never going to the movies. Oh, but it's... Stop that. Come on. We get too sanctimonious, too superstitious, and we bind ourselves up thinking that we're not doing right by God. Friend, you're not the Messiah, and you better to trust Him. But once you do and, you know, God wakes you up at 3 o'clock in the morning, you know what you're supposed to be doing. I didn't ever stop praying. Every morning I woke up, I heard that today and I said, Rejoice! Hallelujah! That's right. That's what you do. You got it right. The answer is that you can have a real empathy for others. We are members one of another. You know Romans 12, 5, 15. 1 Corinthians 12, 26. You rejoice with those who are rejoicing. You weep with those who are weeping. And that doesn't make you an actor. It makes you active. And in every church community and in the larger body of Christ, we'll always have both. So having godly empathy with your brothers and sisters in Christ doesn't, again, make you an actor. It doesn't make you a hypocrite. It makes you holy. It makes you active. We enter in through our prayers. We remember the members of our body calling on God to be God. Faithful prayer makes a difference. Listen to how the writer of Hebrews puts it. And I want you to really, you know, it, oh boy, there's so many places that are like this I could just go on and on and I promise you that's true. Hebrews 13, 18 and 19 says, pray for us, for we're sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you sooner. He kind of put a contingent, didn't he? I ask you to really get on your knees and kiss the sky more earnestly. And he even says in the book of Corinthians, he goes, 2 Corinthians, we felt like we were going to die and we just felt like dying. But through the prayers, through the prayers, But let me say this about the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith isn't about removing all doubt from your mind. It's about a sincere submission to His will. Yes, David said, I fought a bear, I fought a lion. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? He got those smooth zones, and he's doing this, and he was probably just a couple inches taller than me. Small guy. And he saw a nine foot nine, or who knows? Cubit, you know, nine foot nine. And he's thinking, uh-oh. Courage is not the lack of fear. Courage is in the face of fear. Right? Because if somebody was coming after little ones, and they were twice your size, I'd get in the way. I'd get in the way. All the real men would get in the way. You'd get in the way. It's your sister. You'd be like, no, no, you don't. God won't take you out. Yeah, yeah, of course. Right? Here's someone that's smaller than me. She'd do the same thing. No way we're letting that happen. No way. You're coming after my hobby? Woo-hoo. Let's dance. Isn't it that way? So it's not, but you submit to your will. Okay, God. This is where I'm at. Whoo! I've had situations like that. I mean, I've had some serious situations where ain't no way I'm winning this battle. But who's standing here right now in front of you? Praise Jesus. Sin, death, and hell have been defeated, friend. Doesn't matter what comes up against you. We do not fear those that could just kill the body. We fear the one who could cast your body into hell. And when you fear God, you don't have to fear anything else. It doesn't mean you don't get startled. I'm not afraid of any man. It doesn't mean I can't get startled when one comes up behind me with a knife or something and pokes me. I'll have some adrenaline going for sure. But I'm not just going to go, I'm hit, and not protect my family. I guarantee you I will. You know how it is in those moments. He says, I urge you more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you sooner. Again, but it's not about removing all doubt. It's about sincere submission to His will. Again, we call this praying God's will. Listen now, here, if you've heard nothing else, well, I pray that you have. Through the struggles you experience in prayer, God brings you to the place where you can honestly ask for His will to be fulfilled in your life. Not just look at it and say, that is His will. No, no, no, no, no. Pray. I don't like it. I don't understand it. I don't know how. I don't know why, but I know God. Yeah. God brings you to the place where you can honestly ask for His will to be fulfilled in your life. Then you can understand how to pray for His purposes to be fulfilled in the lives of others. When you have gotten that place where you can honestly, not just perfunctory, not just as a performance say, not my will, but thine be done. But you really mean it. And you've wrestled. And you've gone there. And you're like, okay, Lord, no matter what, He was yours. She was yours first before she was mine. And if it's time, it's time. But I don't want it to be time. And here's why. Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. But I will defend my ways before Him. We always forget the other half of that verse. A life verse. Life. Let me say it again, through the struggles that you experience in prayer, God brings you to the place where you can honestly ask for His will to be fulfilled in your life. Then you can understand how to pray for His purposes to be fulfilled and the lives of others and know that you mean it and it fills you. Prayer molds you to God's will and makes you His instrument. prayer mold you to God's will and makes you God's instrument. I just want to be used by God. I want you to be too. That's why I'm praying for you. Yes, we're in God's country. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. It's all His. And King Jesus has taken everything over. You may not see it now, but whoo, I know it's true, and so do you. Prayer molds you to be God's will, to His will, and makes you God's instrument. Prayer does not move a reluctant God. It channels His will and purposes through His children. Theology. Prayer does not move a reluctant God. It channels His will and purposes through His children. It may look like, and then God relented, but you know God has already got it all figured out. But from our standpoint, He's trying to motivate you that prayer does things. It does things to you, but if you just think just that and it's not ever going to do anything, you ain't going to have no power. Prayer matters. If you have a proper understanding of God's sovereignty along with your activity, you will understand that there are certain things that God will not do if you will not pray. Just like it says in Romans 12, is it 18? As far as it depends on you, have peace with all men. Sometimes they just ain't gonna do it. Avoid all appearance of evil. Sometimes people just have an evil eye. Right? Get in there, stand up to the bully. Sometimes the bully stands right back up. But God honors and responds to the faithful prayers of faithful people. Prayer is not a vain, lifeless, useless activity. On the contrary, it's the very lifeblood of the Christian life. It molds you to God's will and makes you God's instrument. Here's language for you to absorb and help, because people, this dichotomy, they see this and so they do misery, man, they think prayer doesn't matter or, you know, you've got to say it exactly right. This isn't Rumpelstiltskin. You don't have to get the language exactly right, otherwise it doesn't work. Right? Because sometimes you can't even talk. You think Paul wasn't praying this week? I guarantee you he was. He wasn't even all with it. Does the Spirit pray? Oh. Bear's Witness and Romans 8, 26 and Groanings and what's all this stuff? It's real, baby. We don't have to make up what we think it is and make people feel all weird. It's weird enough. It's supernatural. 13. God has appointed prayer as a means through which we all have a role in His redemptive purposes. 14. This is greater than any greatness the world has to offer. 15. He allows you to become part of His process to pray in and through to the victory He assures. We're thankful that you allow us to become part of your process, that we don't understand how concomitantly you're doing this, that somehow we need to pray like it's all on us, rattling the gates of heaven, but we know it's all on you. But we know that we can approach the throne of grace for mercy and grace to help in time of need because we have this great high priest who's passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ, the righteous, who is our advocate and who has sat down and stands up for us. We thank you for prayer. We thank you for this relationship. We thank you that even despite our lives being tainted with sin, we are forgiven of that sin and we're not as bad as we used to be. And one day we will see you as you are and we will become just like you in your character. And even now we pray, Lord, that you would give us a measure of that and bring us on, not so we think, oh, well, now, see, since I'm so good, God's going to answer my prayer, but rather that we are in line with your will and say, this is what I want. This is what I think you're moving me to. But whatever you decide, But really mean that. Like we do with our children. All we really want them to do is ask sincerely. Ready just to give them whatever they need if it's good for them. And help them understand what is and what's not. And that's what you're doing with us. So we come to you thanking you and rejoicing for our dear brother. Receiving him again. and to be with us and for others. And Lord, we pray for all those now that might feel like we're not giving them enough attention, that God's people have abandoned them. And maybe in some cases, they have. And yet you say you will never leave us, you will never forsake us. David says, even if my mother and my father forsake me, the Lord will take me up. I thank you, Lord, that when we talk about what we really hope in, it's not our healing, it's not our finances, it's not our relationships, it is truly in you. We are setting our hope fully on the grace to come at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so we honestly say, come, Lord Jesus, in your name we pray. Amen.