Praying At All Times

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Well, let's go ahead and open our Bibles, if we will, to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

A very important passage that we're going to be looking at this morning, and that is where Paul exhorts us to pray at all times.

Now, in context, this verse beginning in verse 18 comes after Paul has instructed us as believers that we are to stand firm and stand against the devices of the enemy.

How many of us know that we have an adversary that is constantly trying to thwart the work of the gospel and the work of the body of Christ?

He comes against us in every way that he can.

But Paul encourages us in verse 10 to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.

And then he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

And the devil has many schemes, and I want to remind you that he is a lot older and wiser than any of us in this room.

And so he has schemes and devices, but Paul here says that we're to stand firm against those.

Then he reminds us in verse 12 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

And so our battles are not merely in the physical, but there are a realm of demonic forces that are operating in so many different ways that come against you in your life personally.

But I think the objective is not to make you feel bad.

The objective of the enemy is not to um not to try to make you feel lonely or any of that.

His objective is to interfere with your walk with Christ and the mission that God has called you and me to, and that is to make disciples.

And so he says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand firm there, having fastened on the belt the truth, that is the word of God, that we rest in the truth of the word of God, that we believe the word of God, that we act on the word of God.

And then having put on that plate of righteousness, that breastplate of righteousness, and twofold there.

One is the righteousness that Christ has imputed to us when we trusted him, that we are now the righteousness of God in Christ.

Not of our own, but he has made us righteous in him.

But then the other part of that is that we walk in righteousness, that we are obedient to what the Word of God commands us and calls us to do.

And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

And so he has called us to share the gospel, to stand firm in that gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

And that is solely where our salvation is based, in Him.

So He says, stand in that.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, which we can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

So when the enemy shoots flaming darts at us and wants to accuse us, he is the accuser of the brethren.

Amen.

He wants to accuse us and cause us to feel as though we are not worthy to be in God's presence and alone we're not, but because of what Christ has done for us and the righteousness that we have in him, we can come before him without any reservation whatsoever.

So quench those fiery darts and then take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

And then we get to verse 18.

He says, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

Let's pray.

Father, we pray that God, this morning at the hearing of your word, Lord, you would stir in us, Lord, a desire to commune with you, God, to fellowship with you in communion through prayer.

God, that we would have an understanding and a trust and a belief in your means of prayer.

And that, God, we would take this as an undergirding to all of the armor that Paul has spoken of previously to these verses.

Lord, we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now there's some debate among theologians as to whether or not prayer is one of the pieces of armor that Paul is exhorting us to take up.

And you could say that yes, it is, but I think in context, as Paul is writing this out, that prayer is that thing that undergirds all of what he stated before for us to put on in the armor of God.

In other words, if prayer is not the foundation of that, if we're not communing with God, in fellowship with him and trusting him and believing him and his promises and his goodness, his sovereignty, then it makes no sense in trying to put on the armor of God, that prayer is the undergirding and the foundation of all of that.

And so Paul first begins to tell us that at all times that we are to be in prayer.

Look at this, praying at all times.

Stop right there.

So he commands us, gives us the exhortation that we're to pray at all times.

Your different Bible translations translate it in different ways.

The NIV says, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions.

The NESB says, with all prayer and petition at all times in the Spirit.

You could also translate this phrase that we're to pray at every opportunity.

It's not the only time that Paul commands us to pray at all times.

1 Thessalonians 5, 17.

He says, pray without ceasing.

And his own habit of praying for his converts in Corinth, state this.

He says this in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1 4.

He says, I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace that was given you in Christ Jesus.

In Philippians chapter 1, verse 4, Paul says this.

Philippians 1:4

He says, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy.

2 Thessalonians 1 11.

To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for every good work by his power.

Last example, Colossians 1.3.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

I think the underlying lesson for us in this is that as believers, we are to be continually in communion or praying with God.

To be in communion, to be in fellowship with Him.

And the way that we do that is in our communion, our communication with God, that we're daily in that process.

Now, here are a couple of reasons why.

That we need to be connected with God in communion, because following what Paul says, we know that the enemy waits to attack at any moment.

So we've got to be diligent and watchful in prayer, knowing that it could happen at any time.

And then also in the passage, he says we're to pray for all the saints within the community of the body of Christ.

So God calls you and I to pray for one another.

So oftentimes our prayers are filled with God give me, God help me, God give me, God bless me, and that's okay.

But he's also called us to pray for one another within the community of the body of Christ.

That's one of the reasons God has designed the church the way that it is, that we're to be a community of believers.

You know, the old song that I think came out in the 60s or 70s that no man is an island.

And God's intent for us as believers is to be in community in the body of Christ.

Now, there's some possible hindrances that we need to look at and light in our own life as to what might keep us or prevent us from being in prayer at all times.

And the first thing that comes to mind is that we often can have a misunderstanding of what Paul means when he says that we're to pray without ceasing or to pray always.

Someone may say, well, how can I pray always when I'm at work and I'm I'm deep in a spreadsheet, David?

How can you pray at all times when you're working on the annual budget?

It might be God help us meet this budget, right?

But we pray at all times so we can have a misunderstanding of what it means to pray at all times.

Well, here's simply what it means: it means that we're to be in continual communion with God.

We often think of our prayer as a time that's set aside, hopefully every day, where we carve out whatever time it is that we pray, and that's the time that we pray, and then we go on about the rest of our day.

Now it's important that we have a designated time, that we sit with God and we pray, and you may have a list, you may just wait until God puts somebody on your mind, or you may be like me.

When I read my scripture, I pray through the scripture as I read.

That's mostly the way that I pray during that time.

But then there's another part of prayer in that we are to be continually in communion with God in prayer.

There's a book that I would highly recommend to everyone if you're taking notes.

Hopefully you are.

There's a book, little book, written by a monk by the name of Brother Lawrence.

I believe Brother Lawrence may have been a Franciscan monk, I'm not sure, I can't remember.

But the title of the book is The Practice of the Presence of God.

And Brother Lawrence learned as he is in a he's in a monastery, and of course, monasteries, especially in the Franciscan order, there's a there's an oath of silence that they take.

That they have you ever been down to the monastery here in Conyers, uh, they they'll they'll walk, and there are a few that are able to engage with you in conversation, but many of them they don't.

They're to commit themselves to set apart to prayer.

And so there's not talking.

That's why you find most monks are men, because we don't say a lot, right?

So it's easy for us to follow that.

Oh, I just got in trouble.

Yeah, I did.

Yeah, I did.

There was an oath that he had taken to this, but but how does he go about his daily routine?

He worked in the bakery, and so he he made baked goods, and and how was he to engage that with his work or his vocation and what he did?

And he learned to be in constant communion with God throughout the day, not only in his quiet time, if you will, of prayer, but constantly in communion with God.

Sometimes we get the idea that we can only pray during the set aside time, but but I don't know how many times I have prayed out in just very short, simple prayer.

God help me, let me give me wisdom right now.

How many of you have done that?

You see, there's that constant idea, that constant living, that God is always on our mind and in our heart, and we have the ability, we have the gift, we have the blessing to be in constant communion with God.

Brother Lawrence made this comment.

He said, There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.

Let me read that to you again.

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.

So to sum this up, that to always be in prayer doesn't mean that we have to sit in our closet all day long and not go about the affairs of our day.

We have things to do.

But in that, we can have communion in our heart, speaking to God and listening to God throughout the day.

And what a blessing that is.

Can anybody say amen to that?

Second thing is we we may have activity priorities messed up in our lives or out of out of kilter in our life.

Simply said, just not making the time to set aside for time and prayer with Him.

I would encourage all of us to look at our calendar daily and to say, what are my priorities today?

And some days it may be that your schedule only allows a few minutes to commune with God early in the morning or late in the evening, but we need to make it a habit to carve out that time where we can commune with God in prayer.

And prayer is not only request, it's confession.

Prayer is worship, prayer is thanksgiving, prayer is just simply being in communion with God.

So we set that time apart.

I love what Andrew Murray said.

He said, without set time of prayer, the spirit of prayer will be dull and feeble.

But without continual prayerfulness, the times will not avail.

Let me read that again.

Without set times of prayer, the spirit of prayer will be dull and feeble.

Without the continual prayerfulness, the set times will not avail.

In other words, we need to have both of those in our lives.

A set time of prayer and also a continual time of prayer in our lives.

You see, praying always or without ceasing is not praying instead of living.

Does that make sense?

It's it's learning to live every part of my life in a conscience, fellowship, dependence, and communion with God.

It can be on the road.

If you commute, I just read in the paper today that Atlanta is the worst city in the United States for commuting.

So you can pray to God.

God, don't let me fall into a fit of road rage today.

But we can take advantage of that time if you commute to commune with God.

A third thing that I find out is that because we know that we're to pray according to the will of God, right?

Jesus said, if you ask anything in my name, according to the Father's will, he'll what?

He'll give you what you want.

Or he'll answer that prayer.

Many of us may not be familiar enough with the scriptures to know how to pray in accordance with the will of God.

Do you have a family member that you know has not come to Christ yet?

A friend that's not come to Christ yet, who's not prayed to trust Christ for their salvation?

I think we probably all do.

I don't have to question whether or not it's God's will that I pray for them to come to Christ, because his word says that none should perish, but all come to eternal life, right?

So there are things that we know that are within the will of God.

I know that it's the will of God for you and for me to grow in our understanding of the love of God.

Because he tells us in Ephesians that he desires, that's Paul's prayer, that we might grow in greater knowledge of his love, to know how high and how deep and how wide and the breadth of God's love.

I don't have to question whether or not I need to pray for you and for me that we grow in the knowledge of Christ, because Paul demonstrates that in one of his letters when he says, I pray that you may grow in the knowledge of Christ.

So there are these things that we pray, and knowing the scriptures help us to determine what the will of God is.

He has kept nothing secret from us in this book.

Amen.

It's there.

And so through our reading of Scripture, we we know how to pray.

The fourth thing that I find sometimes is that not having a belief in the importance and the function of prayer.

We talk about prayer, we have monthly prayer meetings that are first and foremost.

Your small groups pray together, you pray at home.

We we talk about prayer, but sometimes I find I battle with this.

Do I really believe that prayer, I hate to use the word works, but that prayer is valid?

Now, the reason I question that is because I don't understand fully why God needs me to pray.

I mean, after all, he's God, right?

God is sovereign.

There's not a thing in the world that happens apart from his hand and his move and his will.

He's in control of it all.

Then why has he asked us to pray?

I don't know.

But I know this that it's the means that he's given to us and commanded us to do whereby he fulfills his will.

Billy Graham famously said that prayer is the nerve that moves the hand of God.

So why pray?

Because it's the means.

Why do I have to evangelize?

Why do I have to share the gospel with others so that they might come to Christ?

Because I know that God can save without that.

I don't know, but it's the means whereby He is given for us to join in with Him.

So we may not have a full belief in that.

Next may be that we're just not walking in the Spirit ourselves.

You see, there's nothing that will hinder me more in my prayers than to be engaged or involved in known sin.

It can be an attitude of sin, it can be an action of sin, it can be a bitter spirit, it can be an angry heart.

It's hard.

Can I say amen to this?

You've never been in this situation, I know, because you all don't sin.

You see, that will keep us from coming to him in prayer.

But thank God that he says that we can approach the throne of grace boldly.

Boldly, not brashly, but without any reservation.

Why?

Because the blood of Jesus Christ has washed us and made a way that we can be in communion with him.

Now notice what he says here.

In this, he says that we are to pray in the spirit.

This phrase that's used is mentioned three times in Scripture, interpreted a couple of different ways.

But when he says to pray in the spirit, 1 Corinthians 14, 15, what am I to do?

He says, I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also.

I will sing praise with my spirit, or in my spirit, same word there, but I will sing with my mind also.

This verse we're looking at, Ephesians 6.18, praying at all times in the spirit.

Jude 20 says this, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.

This phrase in the Greek pray in can have several meanings.

It can mean with the help of.

So we pray with the help of the spirit.

Have you ever had times where you want to pray, but you're like, I don't know what to pray?

I had a situation this last week that somebody shared with me, and I'm like, I'm so blown away.

I don't know what to pray.

And so we ask the Spirit, Spirit, lead us in our prayers.

God, lead us how to pray in this situation.

So we have this time that we pray in that.

In the sphere of, in connection to, we can translate that.

You see, it doesn't refer to the words that we pray.

Remember, the Pharisees thought that they would be heard for their many what?

Pharisees thought they would be heard for their many what?

Words.

Sometimes I get hung up on the phrasing of my prayer.

And then I wrote.

You know, he didn't care how I phrase it.

He just wants to know that I'm coming to him in prayer.

Amen.

I think about that as a father.

When my kids were little and learning to talk, it was so fun listening to him and try to say stuff.

I was just thankful.

I was just thrilled that they're coming to me to talk, right?

And so the Father wants us to commune with him as well.

You see, praying in the Spirit means praying according to the Spirit's leading.

Now, this is not some mystical thing that some people make it out to be.

Praying the things the Holy Spirit leads us to pray.

Romans 8.26.

Paul says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought.

But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep to wonder.

Sometimes my prayers have been, oh God.

Oh God.

You ever had one of those?

Oh God.

Spirit will intercede.

You see, the Spirit knows the heart of God, just as he describes in that, no man knows himself better than his own spirit.

And so the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, knows the heart and the mind of God, the Father.

And so he will intercede in those times where we don't know what to pray.

Now, let me address an elephant in the room.

It could be in the room.

Some base, 1 Corinthians 14, 15, where Paul says that we're to pray, as I read, 14, 15, who am I?

I pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind also.

I will sing with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

Some equate that to praying in tongues.

But if you look at verse 15, we find that that's not what Paul is saying.

So some say to pray in the spirit is to pray in tongues.

No, that's not what the Bible teaches.

Verse 15 or 14 says, For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

Let me read that again.

If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

And in corporate prayer, how else is anybody going to understand what we're praying if we're praying in tongues?

Unless they know the language that we're praying in.

Okay?

So I just wanted to I just wanted to dress that.

That this is not what Paul means when he says that.

Paul tells us to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayer requests.

How do we pray all kinds of prayers and requests?

How are you to do that?

Well, he means to pray with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Simply that.

In other words, there's nothing out of bounds that we can't pray to God for.

He wants to hear it at all.

With all prayers and supplications, he says this.

Paul is simply saying that we are to pray all kinds of prayers.

That we're to pray for all people, that we're to pray for every situation, that we're to pray for spiritual growth, not only in our lives, but others.

But in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray when they said, teach us a prayer, he said, lead us not into temptation.

So we're to pray against temptation or situations of temptation.

We're to pray for physical ailments.

It's okay.

But I would venture to say this that if your prayer hours or prayer hour is nothing but praying for somebody's hangnail, then we're missing the opportunity to pray as God wants us to pray.

Can I get an amen to that?

I got a relative in here, so.

Physical ailments, we're to pray for provision, we're to pray for work and for others in that, for our children and our grandchildren, for the church community, we're to pray for.

We're to pray for the lost, we're to pray for those in authority, both civil authority and church authority.

We're to pray for our nation and the nations with thanksgiving and praise.

In confession of sin, we're to pray.

We're to pray for our missionaries.

The field is limitless, and you may say, well, you know, I don't have time to pray for all of those every day.

You don't have to.

Let me tell you a little method I've started lately.

I like to take my calendar, and there's so many different areas, and I'm not saying be like me, I'm not saying dealing.

This helps me in this, but I have days of the month that that I pray for on this particular day.

I've got it on my calendar, pray for the staff.

On this particular day of my calendar of September, I've got pray for our small group leaders.

On this particular day on our calendar, I pray for the women's ministry and men's ministry.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

So we don't have to pray it all at one time.

So don't get freaked out thinking I don't have six hours to sit and pray.

No, but there are ways and methods that we can use to cover all those areas.

Paul said this in Philippians 4, 6.

He says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

Now the next point in your notes is that we're to be have vigilance in our prayer.

Look at the last part of that verse, verse 18.

He says, To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for the saints.

Prayer is not just a cursory obligation we do two or three times a day.

It's a continual communion with God, knowing his presence, knowing that he's always available when we call on him.

Psalm 50, 15 says this.

I love this.

And call upon me, that is the Lord, in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

You want to bring him glory?

Call on him.

You glorify him.

That's what his word says.

Why do we glorify him in that?

Because we acknowledge that he is God Almighty, and we have no power and ability in ourselves, but we rely dependent on him 100% of the time.

So we're to call on him, to keep alert, perseverance.

This word keep alert is translated sometimes watching.

It has the idea there of a military term of to be on watch.

Mark 13, 33, be on guard, Jesus said.

Keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come.

Keep on guard.

Remember in context, we're looking at this and realizing that we have an adversary.

We have an enemy that is attacking, and he says, keep alert, stay on guard, watch.

Colossians 4, 2, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

See, in light of the many difficulties, the temptations, the trials that we have in life, and we have those in life.

Amen.

If anybody told you you come to Jesus and everything's gonna be fine, they lied to you.

And you'll be disillusioned when life hits.

We're not immune to life and its situations.

But we have a God that is all powerful and will carry us through in those.

Amen.

Paul tells the Ephesian elders there in Acts chapter 20, verse 28.

Acts 20:28

He says, pay careful attention.

Let's keep alert to yourselves and to the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God when He obtained that He obtained with His blood.

He tells Timothy in 1 Timothy, who is the pastor there in Ephesus, the book that we're looking at.

He says, keep a close watch on yourself and your teaching.

Keep watch, be alert, and persevere.

Persevere means continue, be constant in prayer.

You remember the parable of the persistent widow that Jesus spoke of?

She kept knocking on the door of the judge until finally he opens the door.

Listen, be persistent in our prayers.

It's not that God's not hearing us, it's most of the time that the timing is not right and God is sovereign over time.

Amen.

So we keep praying.

I have some people in my life that I've been praying for a long time, that they come to know Christ and they surrender their lives to Him.

I believe that that's going to happen.

I may not see it.

This old boy might be in the ground before that happens.

But I'm continuing to pray that God will open their eyes and their hearts to Christ.

Now, he says that we're to pray for all the saints.

Again, this phrase underscores that the body of believers in a local church is intended to be community.

That's why we're having the small group fair next week.

We want every person here to get connected in community in a small group so that you might pray for with another, walk with one another, love with one another, fulfill the commandments of the one another's in the New Testament.

And you cannot do that in a large crowd like this.

You've got to get connected into a small group.

You see, if prayer is the foundational to the development of the armory that he speaks of, the armor, then it is not simply a matter of individuals praying for themselves, but it is also a matter of believers praying for other believers.

Get connected.

Lastly, we're going to look at this last point.

You thought I was sick this morning, I'd preach short.

You're disappointed, I know.

Paul makes a request for himself, verses 19 and 20.

And he says, and pray also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly.

Paul is not asking for prayer that he might understand and know the gospel.

Paul penned for us an understanding of what the gospel is: the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

So he's not praying that I might have the words to know what the gospel is.

What Paul is praying is that I might have the right timing, I might have the right spirit, I might be in a position because I am about to speak, I'm about to stand before the most powerful man, Emperor Nero, the most powerful man in all the world, and I have an opportunity to present to him the gospel.

And I'm sure it's not in the text, but I can imagine that Paul is asking for prayer because it could be an intimidating situation.

It could be that everyone, we know his accusers are going to be there.

It could be a hostile situation.

And so Paul is praying, listen, as I go into this opportunity standing before the Emperor Nero, that God would give me the right words and the way to say, the way to present and to know the gospel.

Have you ever had a time where you've been sharing the gospel with someone and something happens?

And then you walk away and you go, man, I had the I had the right words, the right verses came to my mind in conversation, and man, it was just out of it, it wasn't me.

It was almost like an out-of-body experience.

Have you ever had that time?

I have.

See, that's the Holy Spirit when we depend on Him.

We can know the gospel, but there's power in the Spirit of God as we communicate and share the gospel.

And Paul here says that he is an ambassador of Christ.

You know what an ambassador is, right?

In that language, we would have been emissary.

An ambassador goes at the bidding of the president, and when he's in that foreign country, he speaks on behalf of who?

The president.

And Paul says, I am an ambassador, but I'm an ambassador of the king.

Can I tell you something?

You and I are ambassadors of the king.

Paul reminds those believers in Corinth when he tells them, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

When you leave this building this morning, understand and know that you are an ambassador of Christ.

Amen.

Let me say it again.

I gotta drive this home.

We are emissaries, we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and he has given you and I a message, a message of hope, a message of salvation, a message of truth to a world that knows nothing about the truth.

And he desires that none should perish, but all have come to eternal life in Christ.

You are ambassador of Christ.

The question is: do I take up that responsibility and do I live that out and walk that out?

Now the irony here is Paul says he's an ambassador in chains.

You never would have found an ambassador in that day of Rome in chains.

Because they were a representative of the emperor.

But Paul realizes he is in chains.

He's a bondservant to Jesus Christ, and we too are ambassadors in chains, metaphorically.

We are bondservants of Christ, and he's called us to that.

I'll conclude with these two verses.

Paul says in Romans 1.16, he said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel.

That is the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ.

For it is the power.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Moralism, doing the right thing, is not power unto salvation.

Trying to live just a church-related life does not bring power unto salvation.

Having faith and trust in Christ and his payment for penalty for our sins and making him Lord, acknowledging, you don't, we don't make him Lord, he's already Lord, acknowledging his Lordship.

That is the power into salvation.

You may be here this morning and you're trying to live a moral life.

It's not enough.

You may be here this morning and you're trying to live a church life.

Can I tell you that's not enough?

You'll suffer the same consequence as one who has never turned and trusted their faith in Christ, and that is an eternity separated from God, doomed for the wrath of God on that last day.

But it's through Jesus Christ that we have power unto salvation with God.

Lastly, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 9 16, for I preach the gospel, for if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.

For necessity is laid upon me.

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

Would that be our mandate?

That it's been laid upon us.

And you might say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

I'm not in that office that he speaks of in Ephesians of the evangelist, no, but he has put on us the call, the responsibility to share our faith.

There's not a one of us in this room, me included, that are not called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It ought to be our daily prayer.

God, give me opportunity to share my testimony.

God, give me opportunity to share the gospel.

God, give me opportunity today that I recognize when that opportunity comes that I might share the gospel.

Because we know that there is a day of wrath coming.

There's a day of judgment coming.

And it's appointed every man to be born, and then after that to die, and then the judgment comes.

What are we saved from?

We are saved from the wrath of a holy God.

But in his grace and in his mercy and in his love, he has taken care of that for us through the death, burial, and resurrection.

Thank God for his grace.

Amen.

Thank God that if you're here this morning and you've been saved and you know it, thank God that he opened your heart and your eyes that you might see and grab hold of the truth and place your trust in Christ.

It's all to his glory.

Amen.