Fighting For Souls

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Happy Sunday.

You made it.

You made it here.

Well, hope you've had a good week.

And uh man, I wanted to share a couple of just fun things that happened this week.

Um, one was a prayer need, and we're thankful that everything is okay with uh Eli's wife, Kirby.

I don't know how many of you know, but she had a car accident this week that happened on Wednesday.

Of course, if something's gonna happen, it's gonna happen when Eli's about to start youth group.

And uh, but this, and everything is fine with her.

She got a bang up on the eye from the airbag.

But uh, anyhow, praise the Lord, that's all that that was.

The teenagers uh were leading service that night.

And I just want to say a word of affirmation to a couple of them.

Um, I got to go outside and listen to Sam preach the word, and man, that was awesome.

You did such a good job.

Emma Proper stayed in here with the ladies, and she shared a word with the ladies.

Great job, Emma.

And then Callie and Zayla led worship, and you have to listen to it.

It was beautiful.

I wasn't ready.

I was in the room and I wasn't ready for what was about to happen.

I turned around and said, Is that teens?

Y'all sounded so good.

It was awesome.

And Silas led in a prayer.

So thank you, Silas.

That's gonna be important for today.

Uh, I also wanted to um just recognize some folks this morning.

Today is sort of a momentous day for some that have been digging in the trenches for weeks.

Today is closing ceremony for upward soccer.

And uh Corey and Sarah Cummins have jumped into that ministry role and led that really well.

It's been our largest season ever.

Um, David Amanda, of course, have been right there side by side with him, helping them kind of uh get into that position and helping them win.

But it's been an awesome season, and I want to ask if you have coached, if you have reffed, if you have helped assist in any way with Upward, could you stand for a moment?

Woo!

There's some of you in the back.

Teenagers, there's been lots of you.

Thank y'all so much.

If if you need something to do on Sunday afternoons, I'm gonna recruit you this fall.

Hear me.

It's a beautiful thing to see church outside the church.

We talk about being gospel on the ground.

Go if you want to go make a relationship.

There is 50 to 75 to 100 families that aren't in this church every Sunday afternoon that are a captive audience to somebody.

And so, anyhow, I'm so thankful for that ministry.

And some of y'all uh were impacted by Upward before you ever came here.

I love those stories.

So thank you for all the way that you guys have helped with Upward.

And we're gonna be for be praying at 4 o'clock today.

Um, we'll be having closing ceremonies and be getting a chance to share the gospel with all those families.

So uh excited about that.

Well, take your Bibles and do turn to Ephesians 6.

We're continuing the everyday evangelism.

We did gospel on the ground up until a few weeks ago, and um just some practical things.

How do we pull from all of the book of Mark and make practical what Jesus was doing with the disciples day in and day out for our lives now?

And so the first week of everyday evangelism, it was be a friend.

Right?

We can make practical as Christians, be intentional, intentional about finding friendships with people who are not in church, who, with people who are lost, and and and people in church, be a friend, but be a friend.

And last week, Eli did a great job of talking to us about what we're pouring out of.

Right?

We need to be filled.

In order to do these things, be gospel on the ground, it takes intention, and we need to be full of the Holy Spirit walking as we go.

It's not Sunday and Wednesday, we're habitually church members.

We are gospel on the ground all the time.

And so being filled, and today I want to talk about the importance of fighting for souls in prayer.

A stranger approached Pastor after service and said, I'd like you to pray for my hearing.

Pastor placed his hands on the man's ears and passionately, earnestly prayed.

Pulled his hands off and he said, How is your hearing?

Surprised, the man said, Well, my hearing is tomorrow, Pastor.

Prayer is important and vital.

Let me tell you some things that's been said about prayer.

Martin Luther said, To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.

Ian Bound said, prayer moves the hand that moves the world.

Prayer is vital.

D.

Al Moody said, He who kneels most will stand best.

And Spurgeon said this, and we'll bounce off of this quote.

Whenever God is going to do a great work, he sets his people to pray.

And so prayer is vital.

I think, church, that many people struggle in the area of prayer.

We would say intellectually, I believe in it.

I know that it's true, but if we looked at our schedule and how we pray, our actions would say we don't believe like we should pray.

And so I want us this morning to focus on the priority and strength of prayer.

Pray with me, church.

Father, we love you.

And we're thankful for the opportunity we have this morning to seek your scripture for truth.

God, I pray that you would get everything else for a few moments out of the way.

God, we everybody came in with something this morning.

Came in with a week, a month, a burden, a load.

And God, I pray that you would just for a moment erase everything so that we can hear as if we're at the throne at your feet.

And God, teach us today.

Teach us how to pray.

Lord, we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The first point this morning is this the priority of our prayer.

If you look at Ephesians 6, 18.

As a backstory, Amanda helped jump into this, and I appreciate that.

It says in Ephesians 6.10, you need to know the fight, the battle that's real.

Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Hear this.

It's a real fight, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts to wickedness in heavenly places.

And there is a fight and a battle that happens every day.

And so in that battle, he says in Ephesians 6 18 this says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Letter A this morning is being bent on intentionality.

You do things daily with intention.

Whether you've thought about it or not, you do things with a bent.

I walk the dog every morning.

I have a quiet time.

I go to the gym.

I take a shower.

I eat.

Very consistent with that one.

In fact, I'm on a very long streak.

I don't miss.

Y'all that got your phone streaks.

I don't miss that one.

I'm bent towards it.

I'm bent.

Unless I'm fasting, I'm eating.

And I'm eating.

Listen, not too many meals do I miss.

Am I right, Jason?

We don't miss.

I'm bent a certain way.

What are you bent towards?

Well, what you're bent towards is what you decide to do.

That's your bent.

Today's message, I hope, is to convince you to add another bent.

Now I know that you believe in prayer.

The Bible talks about many forms of prayer, places of prayer, postures of prayer, and circumstances of prayer.

And it doesn't seem to exalt any form of those prayers over the other forms of those prayers.

You can find Jesus prayed standing, kneeling, sitting.

You can find him praying over people with crowds of people privately.

You can see him praying to the Father in his prayer time in solitude.

We can pray anywhere at any time.

But I want you to look at a bent that may feel a little different today.

I want you to turn your Bible to 2nd or 1 Timothy chapter 2 just for a moment.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

We'll be back to, we'll stay around Ephesians some.

In 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul is writing to young Timothy, his son in the faith, and he says, Therefore I exhort first, that's important.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

I would circle highlight that.

First of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

What's he say first?

Supplications and prayer.

Paul mentions all kinds of prayer.

But first of all, pray.

First of all, pray.

He says to him, if you could tell him anything to write his letter, to start to his young protest in the faith, he says, first pray.

Billy Graham said there are three secrets to every successful ministry.

He said, pray and then pray and then pray.

The key about our prayer is intentionality.

You need a prayer bent.

I want you to leave today with one more bent, and I will help you with that.

Okay?

I want everybody that's got a phone, if you would, take your phone, and I want you to take it out and go to your alarm.

I'm doing this with you, I've already done it.

But if you would, you don't have to.

I know some of you are rebellious, rebels.

If somebody tells you to do something, you're not doing it just because they told you.

I get that.

I've been told that before in our Connect group.

If somebody tells me to do something, I'm just not going to do it.

So I know some of you won't.

But if you would like a new bent, I put on my phone 1111 a.m.

an alarm.

There's an alarm.

And I'm going to talk more about the bend, but I would set that alarm.

I know it's going to, we're going to be in service, and that's okay if it buzzes on your hip.

I understand it's going to remind me too.

But my bent that I would like for you to do is to intentionally pray for specific names.

Take four minutes.

Will you take a new bin in your life of four minutes of prayer specifically for people?

Okay?

First of all, he says, pray.

I want to help you with a bin.

You can have my number because I'm going to ask you to text me something later.

So if you got your phone out still, this would help.

You don't have to do this.

My phone number, my cell number is 205-767-6075.

If you don't have it, please put it in.

You may need a pastor one day.

You may need just to talk.

You may need to take somebody out for ice cream.

I'm your guy.

So put that number in because I want to challenge you to something in just a little bit.

But I would like for you to have a new bent.

Letter B.

We're bent on intentionality.

Letter B is biblically interceding.

1 Timothy 2, 1 there says, I exhort you, first of all, that supplications, prayers, and intercessions be made.

Supplication, what does that word mean?

It's diocese, and it's an entreaty for a specific need.

Diocese.

It's entreating to God for something specific, right?

You can pray broad prayers.

Oh God, Lord, we, and nothing wrong with praying, bro, but God, I pray for your grace today.

I pray for peace today.

And we can pray for things in generalities, but a supplication is an entreaty for something specific.

So when he calls you to supplicate, it's specific.

Paul in Ephesians 6 gives a specific request.

Alright, go back to verse 18.

He says, all of that, praying always with all prayer.

And then verse 19, and he says, specifically and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

You see?

It's a supplication.

He says, if you're going to pray and pray for me, he said, I need you to pray specifically that I'll speak boldly the gospel, that an utterance, that an opportunity would come, and when it comes, that I would boldly walk through.

Paul's saying the cinch to the arm of the closer, what makes all of this work together is constant prayer.

So he says, specifically, pray for a chance.

Pray for an opportunity.

That the gospel would go through me.

That is supplication.

I want us to look at the word intercession.

That word intercession is the word intusis.

And it's a conference.

That's what that word means, a conference.

Any parents here ever had to have a parent-teacher conference?

Tell it on your kids.

A conference.

A parent-teacher conference is meant for a parent and a teacher to come together and conference over that little blessing.

I want to tell you that I've been to some parent-teacher conferences over my blessings.

You know, any parent-teacher conference that my parents had wasn't a good thing because they came back from PTC parent teacher conference, and I inevitably got grounded.

So I don't know what is going on there, but they weren't conferencing, they weren't interceding for my good.

They were getting me in trouble.

But I want to tell you, every time there was a conference.

Or 1 Timothy, I'm sorry, chapter 2.

It says, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for all kings, and who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and reverence.

Verse 3, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior.

Hear this, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We conference with the Lord.

And you see what it says that he wants from that?

That all men be saved.

It's a conference with the Lord over the lost.

Paul says the same things.

He says, conference specifically with the Lord that I have an opportunity to speak the gospel to the lost.

A conference with the lost.

If we want to be gospel on the ground, we need to pray specifically for two names, church.

Two names.

I want you to write these names down.

I need a conference with God for the lost person that I know.

First name.

Write that down if you want to write it down.

The lost person that I know.

I'm praying for Cody right now.

Y'all don't know Cody, but I know Cody.

I'm praying for him.

Okay?

Are you praying for a lost person?

And does anybody know the second person's name that you need to pray for?

You.

You.

You need to pray for you.

Why?

You need to be praying that God, like Paul, would give an utterance to you for the conference you're gonna have, for the meetup you're gonna have.

Why do we pray this way?

Well, John 14, 13.

It says this, and ask, and whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in my name.

Then 1 John 5, 14 says, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Matthew 6, 10 said, That your will be done on earth.

So we're praying for his will.

And 1 Timothy 2, that we just read, says, It is his will.

He wants everyone to be saved.

So if God says, it's my will that people be saved, and then we go to him in prayer, he says, Whatever you ask in my name, and if you ask according to my will, I hear you.

Do you think that there is power in praying over lost people's name to a God who said, This is my will, this is a part of my will to save people?

It's God's will for you to go on behalf of people to do this work.

If you want to lead someone to Christ, I want to challenge you, pray for them.

Pray for them by name.

I thought about this question.

How many times do I think this congregation prayed for a lost person by name last week?

Isaiah 53 says this about Jesus' work of intercession.

He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, oppressed and afflicted.

And verse 12 of Isaiah 53 said, He bore sin of many and made intercession.

Our God is a God of interceding.

Hebrews 7.25 says Jesus, he is ever alive, making intercession.

Romans 8.34 says he sits at the right hand of the Father.

And you know what he's doing?

He's making intercession.

He is our example of fighting for souls.

Are you fighting in this fight?

Well, let's find out a little more.

Point number two this morning is the personality of our prayer.

What is the personality of our prayer?

It said there that we pray.

Ephesians 6.18, praying always.

Supplication in the spirit.

I want to hit that for a moment.

Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Eli used a message for this, so I'm not gonna stay in depth, but being filled with that spirit's important.

Ephesians 1 13 through 14.

How do we pray in the spirit?

In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in him, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory.

Number one, you have to be saved.

To pray in the spirit, you have to be a person who has been saved, been born again, who has trusted in Jesus Christ and repentance and faith.

And a person that is saved, it says there, is sealed by the Holy Spirit and guaranteed.

And I want to tell you, church, whatever God guarantees, he does not unguarantee.

Okay?

So a person sealed by the Spirit, now you look in Ephesians chapter 4, and I want you to see he's continuing in, he's talking about how to pray in that spirit.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

4 verse 3 through 6.

He says, To keep the unity, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There's one body, one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, the Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.

What number did you see there?

One.

One?

He says, There is one body, one spirit, one faith, one baptism.

All saved persons are one, united by the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit that comes in guarantees is in all that are saved.

And Ephesians 5, 18, he says, Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with that spirit.

Ephesians 4 and 5 and Galatians 5, Paul talks about putting off things and putting on things.

And what that means is God did not save you to make you AI.

God didn't save you to make you a robot.

Right?

You don't become saved, and then God says, This is what you're going to do, and you methodically go through life and you're filled with the Spirit because you just do.

God saves you and you have choices, and you have to daily take on those choices.

It's put on, take up.

And that is being filled.

You're full of all the Holy Spirit that you're ever going to get upon salvation.

The Holy Spirit comes and indwells a believer, but then you be filled, and it's a put on its daily choices.

Your manner of prayer matters.

And so, how do I come before God?

Well, let me continue in that.

Letter A is settled from sin.

How's my spirit in prayer?

Psalm 66 18 says this.

And there's some practical things in the next section that it would be good to write down and remember.

Psalm 66 18, and my manner of prayer, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not.

Hear.

It says if I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear.

Horne said it this way: the prayer of the penitent, a heart grieved and wearied with sin, hating and longing to be delivered from it, is the prayer which is heard.

Sinning and praying don't mesh.

Right?

If you just cheated on an exam, teenagers, don't be throwing up a prayer.

The hell Mary's too late.

God's not blessed in that prayer.

I'm just telling you the truth.

Sinning and praying don't mesh.

Like you just committed a sin.

Don't listen, a penitent heart, a sorrow for sin.

Right?

He says, don't regard sin in your heart.

James 1, 5 through 7 talks about asking for wisdom.

But listen to what it says about that.

But let that man ask with faith, no doubting.

If there is doubt, James says, let that man suppose he will not receive anything from the Lord.

Faith is the prerequisite for God's work.

I thought about this with my children.

It is insulting to me.

When my children, when I tell them I can do something, and they look at me and they say, You can do that?

Or I don't believe you can do that.

And I'm like, there is 43 years of life here.

What do you got?

I'm like, 12 years, and you're gonna tell me or question that I can do something you think I can't do?

I'm like, you lost your mind.

Right?

And he says, that prayer of faith without doubt.

A prayer of faith without doubt, because God, listen, I'm flawed.

I'm human.

I can't do some things.

I found out this weekend, there's things I got on a boxing thing, I'm telling you, I can't do some things that I thought I could do.

But God, who is so far outside of our ascent, who can't be touched by failure, says, When you come to me, come to me in faith, believing I can do it.

Genesis 18, 4 says about them, is there anything too difficult for the Lord?

And you think about your situation, you think about your scenario, and you think, I don't know if God can get me out of that.

I don't know if God can do this.

He says, Is there anything too difficult?

Repeated in Jeremiah 32.

He says, You've made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm.

There is nothing too difficult for the Lord.

Luke 18, 27, he said, With God all things are possible.

Often the problem is we come like the man.

And here, we're human.

I'm not denouncing you for being a human, right?

We have this side of us, but come believing in what God can do.

It's not about what you can do, and often that's the problem.

The man who came to Jesus, he said, I believe.

Lord, help my unbelief.

I believe you can, but my what it is about me, there's something in me still human.

So when you pray for the lost, pray for belief.

Believe God can and ask God in belief.

You're believing for belief.

Believe that God can.

What Amanda said was so good and true because often we think about people and we go, it is so far, right?

However, you judge people, usually you judge people a little bit worse than you are, right?

And you go, like, well, they're at least a little bit worse than me.

And you know you work pretty rough, and so we go, I know God helped me, but I don't know.

I don't know, Lord.

They're pretty messed up.

We're believing for belief.

Hey, I got one for the husbands.

You might not like me after this.

1 Peter 3.7.

This is practical.

This is I want your prayers not to be hindered.

1 Peter 3.7 said, husbands likewise dwell with them, your wives, with understanding, giving honor to your wife as the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life.

That why?

That your prayers may not be hindered.

Now, this is the RSV Rick standard version, but I believe that says if you're a jerk to your wife, God won't hear your prayers.

Amen, ladies.

You can hit him right now.

It's a good time.

And give him a kiss too.

He needs it.

I believe the standard probably stays consistent on both sides.

But he says, like, don't be treating, mistreating, or your prayers will be hindered.

It leads to the next one.

This is important.

Mark 11, 25.

It says, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

If you have anything against anyone, forgive so that he can hear you.

Matthew 5, 24, 4 and 25 says it this way if you have a gift to offer God, don't offer it until you're reconciled.

The Old Testament version of that says obedience is better than sacrifice.

If you can't forgive, it's going to be hard to expect God's ear.

Notice, he said, go reconcile first.

Notice he didn't say go tell five other people first.

He said, go reconcile.

Matthew 18, he said, you and you alone go reconcile.

He said, go to them.

I know that's hard.

Or else your prayers may be hindered.

Letter be.

Our manner of prayer, the personality of our prayer, sowing in sorrow.

Psalms 126, 5 and 6 says, Those who sow in tears reap in joy.

He who goes forth weeping shall come again rejoicing.

How do we sow?

This psalm goes from praise to a prayer, and he's talking about bringing back our captivity.

And then he says, How once our captivity is brought back, how do we sow?

How do we get back things?

And he says, We sow in tears.

That's interesting.

How many of you farmers get out there just crying?

Well, it's been raining lately, so it's been good, right?

Well, how do you sow seed?

You know, some farmers actually steep their seeds.

They steep their seeds in different things, and that seed steeping is a process that allows for quicker germination.

Anyone here been steeping your seeds?

Well, okay.

Not so many farmers.

Let me make it a little more practical.

So Heather would do these meals, and uh some of those meals were 300, lots of people.

And anyway, one day Heather was doing these meals, and she gets out to me what I thought was a medieval torture device.

And she pulled this thing out.

Y'all see that?

Can you see the spikes on that thing?

And she got over there and she got violent.

Bam! Bam! I'm like, what is that?

Didn't even know that thing was in the house.

She's probably a little angry that I brought this to church, but that's okay.

And she's beating on this chicken, and as she's beating this chicken, over and over, 300 people, chicken after chicken, chicken, bam, bam, bam.

And then she's putting some eggs in it, and then she's putting milk in it.

I don't know the whole process, but she's just chicken after chicken after chicken.

And I just watch, I'm like, I don't know if she just makes this stuff up.

She's been on the internet.

I I don't know where it comes from because I hadn't seen it before.

And she and I'm like, I'm not getting in, look, I'm not, hey, I don't need that thing getting near me.

But I'm gonna tell you through this process, it was the juiciest sad overnight.

It's the most flavorful, it is the best fried chicken I ever tasted in my life.

And why is that so?

Because she took this meat tenderizer and she beat down on that meat, opening up places in it, so that I guess this is how it works, and it soaks up, it marinates, it steeps in there.

And when that thing is cooked, it is the best chicken I ever tasted, okay?

I'm speaking, I know, I know, we're we're Baptist and we're on the gospel bird, but it is the best chicken that I ever tasted.

My point is this as she is putting all that in there, it took a marinating, it took a process to make that happen.

We're told seeds should be steeped in something.

What did the psalmist say?

Sowing in sorrow.

That seems strange.

Therefore, sowing in tears impacts the reaping.

Steeping our prayers.

When's the last time that you sowed a tear and reaped in joy?

The task of the sowers to go forth and as you go sowing, before you ever sow, is that seed been prayed over?

Is that seed ready?

Has it been steeped?

Is it ready for germination to produce?

I'm gonna tell you a statistic.

It's kind of sad and alarming, but I read this week, reported 95% of Christians have never led someone to Christ.

And I think this is a symptom of something that we're reading.

Sowers with seed are not broken for those without seed.

We talked about gospel on the ground for weeks and weeks and weeks.

I think by and large, people who have seed, it's been planted in them, aren't caring for the lost.

Some today will leave totally unmoved, unmotived, because this is not much of a concern.

You're saved, and even here, you're like, I really, that's a lot, preacher.

I really don't want you going there.

I don't like you going there.

I don't want to feel like this.

But the Bible says that we should be sowing a certain way, sowing in sorrow.

The Bible tells us in 1 Kings, I want you to turn there about the manner of prayer.

1 Kings chapter 18, verse 42.

1 Kings 18:42

This wasn't about a lost soul, but this was a manner of prayer, and I want you to see how Elijah sought God in prayer.

Verse 41, then Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of an abundance of rain.

It hadn't rained for three years.

By the way, Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain for three years and it didn't.

And so Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Caramel, where he just had a victory and saw the fire of God.

Then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees, and he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea.

So he went up and looked and said, There's nothing.

And seven times he said, Go again.

Then it came to pass the seventh time that he said, There is a cloud, as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea.

So he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.

Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.

It was a heavy rain.

So this man Elijah goes to God in prayer.

And did you notice how it says, it says he put his hands between his knees and he began to labor to God in prayer?

It is hard for the American church today to labor to the altar.

It's hard to labor in our seat, but Elijah said, he stuck his head between his knees.

He said, God, let it rain.

Do you believe God for prayer in this posture?

And don't miss some of the things that happened in this passage.

Elijah went back to the place where he saw the fire of God fall.

Maybe for you, you've been a Christian a long time, you need to go back to a place.

Maybe a prayer closet, maybe a place of testimony in your life, a place where you seen God do a work.

But Elijah went back to the mountain where the fire fell, and he saw that God was going to see something through.

Have you left that first love in your spiritual walk?

Go back.

Remember.

Repent.

I want you to see something in James.

James chapter 5 that talks about Elijah.

James 5 · chapter mention

Some of you are like, I didn't know Elijah was in James.

Here it is.

Verse 16 through 18.

It says, confess, James 5, confess your trespass to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed.

The effective, hear this, fervent.

How's that laboring in prayer?

That fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Look at verse 17.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain.

And it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

He just labored.

He went to the Lord in laborous prayer.

There's things, church, that need your laboring.

There's people that need prayer.

And Elijah, you know what he said?

He didn't say it didn't work.

He said, Go back.

Man came back.

He said, Go back.

And he went to prayer.

He said, go back again.

Three, four, five, six.

He said, go back.

Are you laboring in prayer?

Parents, are you laboring for a prodigal?

Are you laboring in prayer?

Are you laboring?

Husbands, are you laboring in prayer over that marriage?

Your business is failing.

Are you laboring to a God who can in prayer?

He says, the effectual fervent.

I know the word fervent.

I hear fire, strength, effort.

I'm like, well, God, we just ask for your grace.

Lord, believe you can.

Hope you will.

Elijah didn't check a box.

He prayed and it says that type of prayer avails too much to the personality of your prayer.

Thirdly, the persistence of our prayer.

Go back to Ephesians 6, 18.

Praying always.

Praying always.

With all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, being watchful.

I want you to hear these words.

Always and watchful.

Letter A is always and alertly.

Always and alertly.

Upon being newly married and moving to Connorsville, Indiana, we moved into this house.

And husbands, some of you know how this is, I believe.

But I didn't know.

They didn't do this in premarital counseling or anything.

But I didn't know that at 2 in the morning, you had as a husband, you had to wake up and get alert.

Heather never heard a noise at 8 o'clock before bed.

She never heard a noise at 8 a.m.

But at 2 to 3 a.m., that is when you hear a noise.

And as a husband, you gotta wake up and be alert.

And she's like, I heard something.

And I'm like, what you hear?

You gonna check?

Or you want me this time?

She heard a noise.

And so we had all manner of things, bats and flashlights and right.

I might go find it.

And I'm like, I don't know.

And at two in the morning, I'm supposed to be alert and ready.

And you know, my thoughts as I got out the bed and walked to the corner of the stairs, and I'm getting ready to go down this long staircase.

My thoughts are something like, if somebody's down there, I don't know if I want to meet with them.

If somebody's down there, what am I gonna have to do to stop this?

And so there's so many corners and little, and if she heard a noise, where in the world would it be?

Y'all's 1111 just went off.

I appreciate that.

Pray right now for that lost person.

Pray right now.

Put it on vibrate, folks.

Y'all knew that.

Come on, you're in church.

No sense.

I'll tell you what.

So I walk around that corner and I'm looking and I'm like, every door, every closet, because I don't know where the noise would be.

Mine is going off.

I'm like, who else?

And so as I'm checking, I'm like, I don't want nobody to be in there.

But you know what you do, right, Benji?

You don't do it, you you do it quick.

Pull the curtain.

If I gotta go, I gotta go.

By the time I got to the kitchen, you know, there's men in here, you'd be okay with that.

I got the knife, right?

Pull the curtain.

Every, you know, and you gotta be ready and you gotta be alert, and you know, and here's the thing.

Our house was 120 years old.

It just had noises.

It played games with us, y'all.

It would wake her up with one of its noises, and she, and I had to go.

Right?

How was our prayer alert?

Ephesians 5, 15 and 16 says, look at this.

We'll look at it.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

And so we're aware of things that are going on.

Let me make this practical.

Some of you with children, is there a prayer shield that you're praying?

You're looking and you can see, and you're 43 years to the 12 can see.

I'm constantly seeing things that they don't see that could harm them.

Oh, when they were littler is way even worse, right?

They get to the top of the steps and they're like, and you're like, no, right?

As a parent, all you do, right?

And so are you walking circumspectly with your time, aware, right?

Satan's arrows, his darts are coming from any direction that he can get you.

He's not looking to not get you.

So it tells us to use your time circumspectly.

Are we going to God with our time?

How are we being alert and watchful?

How do we redeem the time?

Do you spend your time fighting in prayer?

Taking up prayer, constant in prayer.

William Carey, who's known as the father of modern missions, says he prayed seven years as he was in India before one convert happened on his mission.

Can you imagine leaving this country, leaving all that you have, taking everything?

I'm all in.

Seven years of prayer, watching, waiting, ready with seed, sown.

And he prayed seven years.

Well, it wasn't just William Carey praying for seven years.

And Nyron Judson testified that he also prayed seven years before one soul was one to Christ in Burma.

Persistent prayer.

Persistence.

John Piper shared my favorite prayer quote.

I quote it every time that we have a message on prayer.

He said, prayer causes things to happen that would not have happened if we had not prayed.

Prayer causes things to happen that would not have happened if we had not prayed.

I don't know why God chose prayer as his personal activation button, but when he hears his child in prayer, very often he initiates action.

And James 4, 2, we say it a bunch in my house, but you have not because you ask not.

God cannot answer specifically the prayer that was not prayed.

So ask specifically.

Heigel said, when the Christian prays, his capacity to achieve and his ability to do good are multiplied a hundred thousand fold.

You hear that?

Wow.

This man gave an example talking about the atom bomb.

The atom bomb that was dropped on Japan at World War.

92,000 people were killed by a bomb that was dropped.

Can you imagine the destruction and carnage of that day?

But search scripture.

When Assyria was besieged in the Old Testament, it caused a man named Hezekiah to go to God in prayer.

And when it was besieged, God sent an angel that day, and that angel slew 185,000 Assyria soldiers.

Hezekiah's prayer was twice as explosive as the atom bomb that was dropped.

Church, I implore us to pray.

You have trouble in your family, pray.

Is there lostness in your family and your surroundings?

Pray.

Persist to God.

Intercede for people.

Intercede for lostness.

Intercede against strongholds, but pray.

Look at the end of verse 20, and then I want to take you to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Paul finishes asking his specific question for me that an utterance may be.

Given that I'm going to open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

Look at verse 20.

For which I am an ambassador.

I want you to go now.

Hold that word, ambassador, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

An ambassador.

You only see that word a few times in scripture.

An ambassador.

He talks about a new life in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 17.

If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

Old has passed away.

Behold, all things are become new.

Now, verse 18.

All things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us now the word of reconciliation.

Verse 20.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.

Hear this.

Don't miss this as we go out today.

As though God were pleading through us.

We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God, for he made him who knew no sin to be sent for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Letter B is that we have been assigned as ambassadors.

An ambassador.

We did not reconcile ourselves to him.

Importantly, God did this through Jesus Christ.

God did not reconcile us to himself by neglecting his holy justice or giving in to sinfulness or rebelliousness or humanity.

He did it by an amazing, righteous sacrifice that we talked about over the Lord's Supper.

God didn't demand one bit less of justice, but it has been satisfied through Jesus.

And don't miss us.

And then he gave everyone sitting here that ministry of reconciliation.

Having reconciled us to himself, now God expects us to take up that ministry.

Are we taking that ministry to a world needing reconciliation?

Needing to know the glorious gospel.

That testimony that you have, and we're going to talk about that some next week.

What God has given you.

I'm not asking you to go through the Bible with somebody.

But are you willing to share a testimony?

Are you willing to share a Jesus moment?

Are you willing to say, man, God help me this way, this week?

This is how I got through this thing.

This is how I made it through divorce or grief or this is my story.

A ministry of reconciliation.

God will start working through the pathways.

And you begin praying for a person.

Be a friend, be full, and pray for a person.

And I believe a pathway is coming that you'll be able, like Paul, that utterance, that open door at your work with your family at the family gathering, at the next sporting thing that you're sitting through.

Why?

Because you're an ambassador.

This is why we're here.

You're not an ambassador to please an audience.

You're an ambassador because the king sent you.

That's what happens with an ambassador of a country.

An ambassador doesn't speak on their own authority or their own opinions.

Their demands mean little.

He simply says what he's been commissioned to say as a representative of the one who sent him.

Well, I thought about this week, some of the great ambassadors of our faith, and I came across this prayer story, and I'll finish with it.

George Mueller said this in the 54 years that I have been a believer, this was in one of his books, so it wasn't at the end of his life, but in the 54 years I've been a believer, God has answered some 30,000 prayer requests.

Some same hour.

How'd he know that?

He journaled.

He took the time to make a specific request and watch God answer.

Some the same hour, some the same day.

He said, Some I waited weeks, some months, some many years.

And he shared this.

In November of 1844, I began to pray for four specific people that God would convert their soul, that God would lead them to salvation.

And he said, it took one of them 18 months.

I prayed and prayed and one 18 months.

He said, and then I continued in prayer pursuit of these people in my life.

He said, and then a second one five years later, I continued lifting their name in prayer.

God saved them.

He said, a third one six years later.

And at the writing of this book, I want you to hear what he says.

He said, I've been praying 63 years.

Or this was later on, not in this same book, a different book.

I've been praying 63 years and eight months for one man's conversion.

He said, He's not saved yet.

He said, But he will be.

Because I am praying.

How else can it be?

He said, He will be.

And I want to tell you, George Mueller went to the grave, he died, and he died as a prayer warrior, and his casket was lowered to the ground, and near his open grave, the man who he prayed 63 years.

And at that casket, he gave his life.

In George Mueller's death, he gave his life to Jesus Christ.

George Mueller's prayers can be summarized by four words.

He fought for souls.

He fought for souls.

Church, I want to implore you today to fight for souls in prayer.

Can you bow your heads and close your eyes this morning?

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