Praying for Those That We Send...and for Those That We Need to Send | Dr. Chuck Lawless

Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Englewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast.

You're going to hear from God today as we share.

From his word. About important issues facing

your life that can guide you according to the Bible.

OK, let's let's get at it. Get your Bibles.

Ephesians chapter 6. We're going to look at 2 texts

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

today. Ephesians 6.

Colossians 4, we've been talking about prayer with your students

for the weekend. I'm going to talk to you today

about praying for cross cultural workers, praying for

missionaries, praying for those that we send and those that we

need to send. I want you to find your place in

Ephesians 6. We'll start there.

I trust you have your your notes as well on your bulletin, but I

want to take you to some people. Before we look at the text.

I want to introduce you to some of my friends around the world.

I'll use just their initial because of where they serve and

what they do. I want you to think about them

and think about our need to pray for them.

I think about A who is serving in North Africa and the Middle

East. She is serving in a place where

the work is so hard that it feels like she's just picking up

rock. She can't even plant seeds yet.

And I asked the question, who's who's praying for her in that

hard work? Or I think about L he and his

family living in a war-torn part of Africa where people are

trying to protect themselves. They worry about their their

safety everyday and who's praying for those serving among

them. Or or M, who's serving in a more

reached area? He's actually doing theological

education in a in a more reached area, but what he's doing is

he's trying to call people to stand on the word of God in a

place where theological liberalism is rising.

And who's praying for him and his work?

Or J. Who is serving in one of the

largest countries in the world where every major religion

except the dominant 1 is under persecution?

Or C and his family living in a in a place, a tough soil, where

he and his family have been nothing but sick the entire time

that they've been on the field. And consequently they questioned

their call. Is this where they're supposed

to be? And who's praying?

Who's praying for all of these folks that that I think about

and others who are serving around the world?

I ask. I ask who's praying this morning

for two reasons. One, I ask because I have a

hunch that many of us talk more about praying for missionaries

than we actually do pray for them.

I I think sometimes we we only pray when we know that we need

to. We don't do it just because we

want to. I think we need to think about

that together. But there's another reason why

why I want us to think about praying for missionaries.

And that's because the Apostle Paul, who was first and foremost

a missionary, regularly called believers to pray for him.

Let me just take you to to some of his writings.

And in Romans 15, he said, I appeal to you, brothers, to

strive together with me in your prayers to God my behalf, to

wrestle with me in prayer. Second Corinthians chapter 1, he

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

says, you must also help us by your prayers.

In Philippians 1, he said, I know that through your prayers

and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will be for

my deliverance. In First Thessalonians 5, he

said simply, brothers, pray for us.

Second Thessalonians chapter 3 said pray for us that the word

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored has has happened

among you and so recurrently. He said, you pray for me, you

pray for my team. And we're going to go to two

texts this morning where this call to pray just reverberates.

And so look at me. First of all, Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

6, we'll look at the two texts, we'll put them in context, and

then we're going to talk about the word together.

Ephesians chapter 6, verse 18. As I pick up in this verse, I

Ephesians 6:18

want you to watch for urgency. We're going to come back to that

in just a minute. Verse 18 Pray at all times in

the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all

perseverance and intercession. 4 Notice this, all the Saints pray

also for me that the message may be given to me when I open my

mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the

gospel. For this I am an ambassador in

chains. Pray that I might be bold enough

to speak about it as I should. And so there's Paul's request to

the Ephesians. Go to Colossians, chapter 4.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

Just a couple of books back in the New Testament, we're going

to read words that are strikingly similar as Paul

writes to the Colossians. He says in chapter 4, verse 2,

Devote yourselves to prayer, stay alert in it with

Thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for

us that God may open a door to us for the word to speak the

mystery of Christ for which I am in chains, so I may make it

known as I should. Twice we hear Paul say, you pray

for me. These two books, the book of

Ephesians, the book of Colossians, both written to

believers, to churches and contexts that we're dealing with

the reality of demonic powers. One, the Church of Colossae,

also dealing with the reality of false teachers working their way

into the church, infiltrating the church.

And Paul wants the believers to know this in a context where

demons are just residing and they're influencing the cities.

Paul wants the believers to know this.

Jesus Christ reigns over all powers and he wants the

believers to recognize, he wants to encourage them to, to press

on in their faithfulness, to, to pursue holiness, to put off the

old man and put on the, the new man to, to wear the full armor

of God. And to and in both letters, he

calls them to live out their faith in their households and in

their daily lives as a, as a witness to the one who reigns

supreme. And in both books, Paul starts

with a recognition that he's praying for the believers and he

ends the book with a call to pray for him and for his team.

So both of these books, both of these letters are bookended with

prayer. And that's what I want us to see

this, this call for us to pray for those that we send and to

pray for those that we need to send, not only those who have

gone, but those that we need to call out to go in the in the

days to come. So let's do this.

Let me let me pray for us quickly and then let's look at

the text together. Father, I do pray that you would

teach us that you would challenge us.

I pray against an enemy who would want to keep us from

hearing your word. And I ask you, God, to raise up

some prayer warriors out of this church to pray for those that we

send and those we will send in Jesus name, Amen.

I realize in, in some ways, as I speak about praying for

missionaries, I'm speaking to a choir in this church in the

sense that I know you well ought to know that this has been a

passion of your church to send people to the nations and to

pray for them weekly. And I thank God for that.

And so I recognize in some ways you're ahead of the game in that

sense. But I also have a sense that

even those churches that are committed to the sending, we're

not always as committed to the praying.

And so I, I want us to think about that for ourselves.

So get your notes. Let's talk about these these

texts together. Here's point number one.

We must hear the urgency, the urgency of praying for those

that we send. We must hear the urgency of

praying for those that we send. Well, let me let me put all of

this in context again. Both letters begin with Paul

saying, I am praying for you. He wants the believers to know

that he is the missionary is interceding for the churches in

Ephesians 1. He says to the Ephesians, I do

not cease to give thanks to God for you.

And I pray God would give you a spirit of, of wisdom and a

knowledge of him. And I pray that you will have

your hearts enlightened with the gospel.

And then in Colossians 1, he says, I always thank my God for

you. And I pray that you'll be filled

with wisdom and, and understanding and you will, you

will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and you will be

strengthened with his power. And so Paul starts these letters

by saying, we're doing this together.

We're in a partnership to do this.

I'm praying for you and I need you praying for me.

He presses forward to say, pray for me and pray for my team.

But before he ever gets there, before he ever gets to the place

of narrowing the focus to say I want you to pray for me, he

says, I want you to pray for all the Saints.

Go back with me to Ephesians 6 and look at this focus.

Look at the urgency of this praying as we read the text

again in verse 18. Watch for the word, all every

hear the urgency that Paul says this word to us.

Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer request and

stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the

Saints. Look at that, he says.

Pray for everybody. Why is that?

Because he knows that we're all in this battle.

We're all wrestling against principalities and powers.

We all face an enemy who wants to devour us.

We're all up against an enemy who wants to drag us back into

our old lifestyle, who wants to divide what God has put

together. And Paul knows this enemy does

not give up. And so he says, you pray and you

pray for all the Saints, and you pray as if you believe it really

works. You pray, You just keep praying

with great urgency. And then in Colossians 4, look

at me at that text again. Go back to Colossians 4.

Let's see where it starts. He says devote yourselves to

prayer. More literally, the word there

is to to continue steadfastly in prayer, to persist in prayer, to

keep pressing on in prayer, to pray and to pray and to pray

some more. And don't stop praying.

False teachers are coming into the church and so you've got to

pray. The enemy seeks to drag the

church in the in the wrong direction.

And so you've got to pray. Believers need encouragement.

And so we have to pray. And he says, just keep praying.

There's a lifeline sense of urgency to this praying.

It's an expression of dependence and and a longing for God's

guidance without which there can be no victory.

And so in both letters, Paul says, pray, pray, pray some

more. Keep on praying.

Devote yourselves to praying. And before he ever says pray for

me, he says you pray for each other.

You let prayer be a part of your DNA.

Let's let's just be honest, folks, maybe, maybe we don't

pray well for missionaries because we don't pray well in

general in the first place. Maybe our problem is bigger.

And Paul starts there to say, I want you devoted to prayer, and

I want prayer to be in your DNA. And I want you to do this with

persistence and urgency. And we don't often pray with

that kind of passion that these texts require.

In fact, here's what we do. Here's what we do.

I'm convinced that we we pray only in a reactive mode.

Let's think with think with me about that.

Both churches I pastored in, in Ohio, we had a, we had a prayer

list. If you think about a prayer

list, what has to happen to get your name on a prayer list?

Usually it's something bad. Somebody has to get sick,

somebody dies, you lose a job, something bad happens.

Then we crank up the praying for you.

Or how about families in our churches?

When do we really start praying for families?

We start praying for them when we hear they're in trouble.

Young people, We start praying for young people when we hear

they're wandering. The enemy's dragging them into

sin. Sister churches, when do we

start praying for sister churches?

We do it when we hear they're fighting, when they're

struggling. And what happens in much of our

praying is that we don't start praying until we hear that the

enemy's already winning in some situation.

And Paul would say, no, this has to be DNA for you.

You have to pray, pray, pray, and you just keep praying.

So we have to hear the urgency of this call to pray.

It's out of this urgent DNA of prayer that we pray for.

For missionaries, Let's go to point #2 We must hear the call

to be alert as we pray. We must hear the call to be

alert as we pray. Go back again to Ephesians 6.

Let's watch for the watch for the wording, verse 18.

Pray all times in the Spirit with every prayer request and

stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the

Saints. Stay alert.

Go to Colossians 4. Let's see it again.

Devote yourselves to prayer. That's verse 2.

Stay alert in it with Thanksgiving.

Here's what Paul says in Ephesians 6.

Keep alert, keep watching. Stay awake in the battle.

Remember the disciples. Twice Jesus took them to pray.

Once to the Mount of Transfiguration.

He told them to pray, They fell asleep.

He took them to the Garden of Gethsemane.

He told them to pray. They fell asleep.

Paul says keep alert in this battle, Be aware of what's

taking place. We're all in the conflict, so

pray, keep alert. This is not listless, unfocused,

perfunctory, check the box praying.

This is praying in the power of the Spirit.

It's diligent prayer. Ever aware of the arrows of the

enemy but not being stifled by them.

It's being alert and praying in Colossians 4.

He says be watchful in this battle, be on guard for it.

Be aware of what's taking place in your own life.

Be aware of what's taking place in the world.

Be aware of what's taking place as the as the gospel spreads,

keep alert even as you even as you pray.

Well, let's talk about that for just a minute.

If you pay attention to the news at all, I'm guessing you know

that we live in a chaotic, messed up world.

Yes. And you don't have to listen to

the news long today to know that there is strife all over the

world. Here's my question, and here's

my challenge to you and to me. When we hear what's happening

around the world, we need to let the events of the world drive us

to our knees. The news needs to be a call to

pray. You think about nations in the

world right now in war. Who's praying?

Who's praying for forces being sent into the war?

Who's praying for chaplains on the ground?

Who's who's praying for nations under attack?

Who's praying for people whose lives are on the line, often

people who've never heard of Jesus?

Who's praying for the believers in those contexts?

Who's praying for pastures in those contexts?

Who's praying for cross cultural workers?

If there are some in those contexts, As you read the news,

you listen to the news from around here.

Families in turmoil, who's praying for them?

Who's letting the news drive us to our face?

That's what I want to encourage you to do.

Paul says be alert. Be alert.

Know what's happening around you and let that alertness compel

you to pray. Are you with me?

I want you, first of all, to pay attention to the news.

I challenge my students at Southeastern Seminary far too

often. They go through the day.

They pay no attention to what's happening around the world.

And listen to me, friends. We will never be burdened for

the world if we don't know what's happening in the world.

So you have to pay attention to what's going on.

You have to listen to the news. You have to read the news.

But pray, pray, pray. Be alert.

Paul says no, what's happening? Be alert in light of Christ's

return. Be alert in light of the needs

of the world. Be alert in your own life.

And then then Paul brings this down and he says, I want to

guide you as you're alert. I want you to think about how

you pray. He wants to focus them in their

praying, says be alert to what's happening.

And then he says pray for all the Saints.

And then he brings it down to in your alertness.

I want you praying for me. But I don't want you to miss

what Paul does. Because when Paul calls them to

be alert in this battle, to be alert in their praying, he also

wants them to be alert to their own walk with the Lord.

Now, how do we know that it's it's the way Paul puts the

letter together? Because if you know Ephesians 6

very well, you know that before Paul says, pray for all the

Saints and pray for me, he sets that up by saying you need to

put on the whole armour of God. And he warns them, we're up

against principalities and powers.

And so here's what you have to do.

You have to walk in truth, and you have to walk in

righteousness, and you have to speak the gospel of peace.

And you have to carry the shield of faith, and you have to wear

the helmet of salvation, and you have to take up the sword of the

Spirit, which is the word of God.

And you have to love it and you have to live it and you have to

speak it. You have to understand your

position in Christ and you have to live out your practice of

faith and you have to wear this armor of God if you're going to

pray for me. The Colossians 4 he says the

same thing before. He says to them, I want you to

pray for me and my team. Prior to that.

In that letter he tells them you are to put to death anything

that is earthly in you. You're to put on the new man.

You're to let the word of God just dwell richly in you.

And here's what we have in this letter where Paul calls them to

be alert. In both of these letters you

have a missionary church planter who is under arrest for his

faithfulness. He's in the war and he wants

prayer support, but he wants to make sure that those who are

praying for him are actually walking with God in the first

place. You know why?

Because he wants to know that those who are praying for him

are praying effectively. Because here's what Paul knows.

Here's what Paul knows. We have to pray for each other.

But he also knows this prayer from ungodly disobedient lips

doesn't go very far. So when he says you all pray for

me, he wants them to be alert to their own walk with the Lord

because he wants to know that their prayers touch heaven.

I fear that sometimes we call people to pray and we don't call

them the holiness. And that's a problem.

We've got to hear the urgent sense of prayer here.

We must be alert to the to the praying.

We must recognize what we have to do is we carry out this work

looking at our lives, looking at the world, sending out those and

praying for those that we send. Let's go to point #3 We must

hear the request of the missionary.

Now go back with me again to Ephesians 6.

Let's look at the text one more time.

Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 19.

Here's Paul's request for himself.

Pray also for me that the message may be given to me when

I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the

gospel. For this I I am an ambassador in

chains. Pray that I might be bold enough

to speak about it as I should. Listen to his request.

Pray for me that I will speak the gospel boldly.

This is Paul. He's under divine compulsion.

He's called to be an apostle to proclaim the word among Gentiles

and kings and the children of Israel according to his calling

in Acts 9. He's just speak for the king

with boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel, that God

has now revealed this gospel to Jew and Gentile alike, and it's

for the nations. And and Paul says you pray for

me, that I will be courageous. Why does he request that?

Here's why. He knows he's in a spiritual war

because his calling is to get the gospel that the Bible

describes this way, people to get the gospel to people.

The Bible describes this way in Ephesians 2, the Bible says

those who are not believers are following the Prince of the

power of the air, Colossians. One says they live in the

Kingdom of darkness. 2nd Corinthians 4 says they are

blinded by the God of this age. Second Timothy 2 says they're

caught in the devil's trap. Acts 26 says they are living

under the power of Satan. And I want you to hear that,

friends, even those that we love, our family, our friends,

our Co workers, our classmates. If they don't know Jesus, here's

their condition. I'll say it to you again.

They're following the Prince of the air.

They are in the domain of darkness.

They're blinded by the God of this age.

They're caught in the devil's trap.

They are under the power of Satan.

And we must consequently pray. Paul gets it.

He knows his calling. His calling is to engage the

enemy's territory, to take the gospel of light into the

darkness, and he must speak boldly, and he needs the prayers

of God's people to do that. Now that's striking to me, and

let me tell you why. Where is Paul again when he

writes these letters? Tell me he's in prison for doing

what? For preaching and for preaching

how boldly. He's in prison for preaching

boldly. And he says, you pray for me,

that I will speak the gospel boldly.

Here's what he says. You all pray for me that I'll

just keep on doing what got me here in the first place.

And when he when he and when he knows he has that prayer support

and he knows that he's called just to preach the gospel

wherever he is, even jailers for him.

They are not problems. They are prospects for the

gospel pauses. You pray for me that I'll speak

boldly. Then look again at Colossians 4.

Let's see what he says there. He adds to that beginning in

verse 3, says at the same time, pray also for us that God may

open a door to us for the Word to speak the mystery of Christ

for which I am in chains, so that I may make it known as I

should. He says, pray that God will open

up a door for me. If you read the scriptures, we

hear that phrase at other times in Acts chapter 14, we read Paul

Acts 14 · chapter mention

and Barnabas reported that God opened up a door for the

Gentiles to hear. 1st Corinthians 16, Paul tells us a

wide door for effective ministry had been open to him.

Second Corinthians 2, he wrote a door was open for me in the

Lord. And so here's what Paul says.

You pray for me that God will open up a door for the Word,

that God will give me opportunity to speak, that God

will raise up people ready to to listen.

So here's what we learn. Here's what Paul gets.

He knows that God is over all of this.

It's God who gives us boldness to speak and he opens our mouths

to speak. It's God who opens the doors for

conversations that we might have opportunity to speak.

And it's God who opens hearts to believe.

God guides us. God opens the doors, and God

opens hearts to hear. This is all about God.

He does it. So we must pray.

And Paul understands that more literally.

He says, you pray for me, that I will make the gospel clear.

The apostle says, you, you pray for me.

Here's the request of the missionary.

Pray for me that I'll speak the gospel boldly.

Pray for me that I'll speak the gospel clearly.

Pray that God will open a door for the Word.

This is the heart of the missionary.

This is the heart of the people that you and I send His heart's

desire. Paul's heart's desire for Israel

is that they would be saved. So much so that in Romans 9 he

wrote that if it were possible even for me to be accursed that

they might be saved, I would welcome that, that they would

know. My Lord, that's the heart of

people that you and I send. That's the passion of the

missionary. And when you're that broken over

lostness, your heart is that wounded over people who need to

know Jesus. Even when you are in prison, you

desperately want God to open up a door.

You desperately want to speak clearly and boldly and you

desperately recognize that you need the prayer support of God's

people and the people we send need our prayers and the people

we need to send need our prayers.

So I want you to hear the urgency of these requests.

I want you to hear the call to be alert, and I want you to hear

the requests of the missionary. I want to, I want to bring this

together with this challenge for you.

I want to give you some things to do.

Here's number one, I challenge you.

I challenge you to start praying consistently for missionaries by

name, not just when you hear there's a problem, but I

challenge you to pray for them because we have sent them.

And if you say to me, well, Chuck, I don't know any

missionaries by name, here's what you got to do.

Go talk to Pastor John. I promise you he can get your

name. So we, we may not be able to

tell you all the details, but I promise you, we can get your

names and missionaries all around the world who deserve

your prayer support. Parents, grandparents, I plead

with you, build that into your family devotions.

Raise up kids who pray for the nations.

And I challenge you to pray the way the Apostle Paul said to

pray. Pray for boldness, pray for

clarity, pray for open doors. You've got the guidance.

We just have to make the commitment to do it.

And then I challenge you. I challenge you, parents,

grandparents, pray that your children and your grandchildren

will follow Christ wherever He calls them to go.

Now listen to me. The nation's need folks to bring

the gospel to them. It is our responsibility to

raise them up and send them. And they might be your children

and your grandchildren. And I'm going to challenge you

to pray that if God calls them to do that, they will go

willingly and you will prayerfully rejoice with them

because I know this. You see, it's one thing to say,

and I know how your church does this and dedicating babies, but

it's one thing to stand in front of this congregation with babies

in arms and say, I give them to God.

It's a whole nother ball game when God says I'm sending them

to the most dangerous place in the world.

And you have to decide whether or not you really meant it when

you gave them to God. I'm challenging you to mean that

and even to be willing to pray. God, if you want my children and

my grandchildren to go to the nation's, I praise you.

So tough prayer, but I challenge you to pray it.

And here's what's going to happen, folks, as we bring this

to a close. I said this to your students

over this weekend. I looked out across your

students. Pastor Dylan said 170 or so.

So much life, so much deal, so much potential there, so much

opportunity for another generation to change the

nations. And we challenge them to, to

pray and to and to learn how to pray and to commit themselves to

praying. And students, I challenge you to

to, to make that a part of your life.

And I warn them that this is what would happen whenever we

talk about praying for God's people, praying for the

nation's, whenever we talk about following God, Jesus warned us

that there is an enemy who comes and wants to snatch the word

from us before we ever get out of this room.

And I guarantee you it's going to happen.

You might say, well, I hear Chuck say I've got to pray for

missionaries. This is my commitment.

And before you ever get to the car, you'll let that fly.

That's what the enemy wants. I plead with you, don't you let

that happen. And I'm going to pray against

that in just a minute that you will write in your notes

somewhere. Here's what I'm going to do.

You'll tell Pastor John, Pastor Dylan, you'll talk to me.

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do what the Word

calls us to do. Pray.

Pray for those we send and pray for those we need to send you

with me. Do me this favor.

Let's stand together for prayer right now.

I'm going to lead us in prayer. I'll turn this over to Pastor

John and he will take us from this place.

Father in Heaven, thank you for those who are among the nations.

Thank you for those that this church and other churches around

this country have sent. Thank you for our Southern

Baptist missionaries who are serving in places where we

cannot even name some of them right now, in dangerous places.

I pray that they would supernaturally know right now

that a Church of believers and Rocky Mount, NC are praying for

them. God, I ask you to raise up

people out of this congregation who would not just hear this

word, but they would do it in their individual lives, in their

families, in their small groups. They would pray for those we

send and they would pray for those that we need to send.

God in the next few moments guide Pastor John as he leads

this this response time. Give all of us faith and courage

to do exactly what you have called us to do.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Amen.

As you remain standing, you know I'm so thankful that God has LED

someone like Chuck Lawless to work at Southeastern Seminary as

a Dean and vice president. He also works with our

International Mission Board. Aren't you thankful for that,

that you have godly men in those places training up that next

generation? You know, here's what we're

going to do. Some of you were here as

students and or as workers over the weekend, and you heard

several different teaching times.

And some of you, I know, turned in response cards.

And in just a moment, Pastor Dylan's going to be up here in

the front, and I want you to come.

And I just want you to share with Pastor Dylan about what the

Lord laid on your heart during the weekend.

The rest of us who are here for this morning, you feel something

tugging at your heart. That's the Holy Spirit speaking

to you. And I, I just pray that you'll

recognize that drawing, that conviction that that calling in

your life, we all have a calling.

We all have a purpose. I was thankful in the first

service for the lady who came forward and was just sharing

about a burden calling in her life that that was a significant

change and was scary even, but she wanted to surrender that to

the Lord. So some of you in just a moment,

maybe you just want to come and and kneel at the steps in

prayer, surrendering, surrendering some part of your

life or lifting up someone, praying for someone.

On a practical level, if you want to know the names of our

missionaries, just down this hallway outside, if you just

turn left and go all the way around, you'll see podiums with

all of our missionaries and their names and their prayer

cards there for every one of them.

And you can begin to pray for them.

Come back Wednesday night and we're going to be praying for

them. But for right now, this is a

time of reflection and the time of response.

Some of you, you might have seen baptism this morning and, and,

and you recognize, you know, in your heart of hearts, maybe

you've already trusted in Jesus Christ, but you've never been

baptized. You know, you need to publicly

identify that way. We have other people waiting to

be baptized. We're seeing this happen almost

every week. Maybe you're here and you're not

ready for baptism because you've never trusted in Christ yet.

So salvation is your first step. Some of the pastors are going to

be here. You can come and pray.

Our Next steps room is open. You can go in there.

You don't even have to talk to one of us.

And you can have a private, discreet conversation and prayer

time with a counselor in there about what God's laying on your

heart. But it's time to respond.

It's time to take the next step. So let me pray and let's get

started. Father, thank you for working in

our lives. Thank you for the entire time of

worship this morning, for the testimony of baptism, for the

testimony of your Word, for the challenge of your truth.

Now, Father, I pray will respond.

For some it's salvation. For some it's baptism.

For some it's maybe a recommitment.

For some they need to come and intercede.

Maybe they need to intercede for family or friends.

Maybe they need to come and confess something to You so that

they can begin to move forward. Let's surrender right now.

And we and we're so thankful, Father, that we, we don't have

to come with pretense. We don't have to come and and

pretend like we're somebody else.

We can come just the way we are because that's the grace that

you extend. So we're never too far away.

We're never too far gone. We can come.

So I pray that we will right now, in the name of Christ,

Amen. Thank you so much for listening

today, and I also hope that you'll go to

[email protected] as well as our app and find many

other resources that will bless you and your families.

Thank you once again.