Partnership in Prayer

What took place on July 20th, 1969 when We landed. Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and two human beings actually stepped out onto The moon. And I remember this, I was about 3 years old, so I'm giving away my age a little bit here. I was 3 years old, my dad gave me a picture, that famous picture of Buzz Aldrin standing next to an American flag on the moon.

I think the earth's in the background. Some of you, seasoned folks here may remember that. Well, my dad gave me a picture of that and I remember sticking it on my wall and even as a little kid, just always being fascinated with that picture and with the fact that there was actually a man, I don't believe in the conspiracy, I think it really happened, that there was a man standing on the moon. And then as I got older, I, I became even more amazed at that feat.

Now getting into science and technology and realizing what it took to get someone there. This is before cellphones, this is before Apple computers, the Steve Jobs, this is before Elon Musk and SpaceX. We actually took 3 human beings from the Earth to the moon, 2 of them walked on the moon and more amazingly they came back. And so I, I just have been more and more amazed at that, but it took more than just those 3 astronauts to make that happen, right?

you think about in mission control, there were dozens of people looking at monitors and, and assessing the situation and data being taken and there were hundreds of engineers behind them who were looking at this data and making sure that things were functioning properly. And then behind them there were all those who were involved in the testing and the building of the rockets and the ships and all the instruments and systems. In fact, it's estimated that at one point in time over 400,000 people were working on the Apollo project.

And for this impossible mission to happen, all of those people had to be working together, right?

Because if, it, it had to be a partnership because if any one of them failed, it could mean disaster for the mission. And, we too have been given a seemingly impossible mission. To make disciples of all the nations. And when you go into some countries, you can realize, man, how in the world will these people turn to Christ?

Even around here in our own country. We're seeing many challenges, and yet we've been given this mission to make disciples of all the nations, and we too have many people around this entire world that are a part of this mission. But for it to work, for us to make disciples as Christ intended, we need to work together to do this. Again, as was mentioned this morning, this is not an individual mission where someone just says, oh, I wanna go to this other country and goes off on their own.

No, there needs to be a partnership. In that process, and we see this idea of partnership in several places in the New Testament. I think of Philippians chapter 1 verse 3, where Paul says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all, making a prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel, he says, from the first day until now. You see, that's how Paul viewed his mission's work.

It wasn't his ministry, it wasn't his church planting efforts, it wasn't his mission, it was a partnership. It was really a mission by Christ that he has given to us together to fulfill. And so as we think about this, we consider even the word that Paul used here for partnerships, the word coinania. Right?

That's, and that's what it is, as fellow believers, we have a Koinania, a sharing, a fellowship, a close partnership in Christ's mission to make disciples. And we're all in this mission together. Even though separated by time and place and culture, ethnicity, all different backgrounds, we make disciples together as partners. Fellow workers, co-laborers.

These are all terms that Paul used to describe those who were on the mission with him. And there are many ways we can partner together in this mission. There are many ways, things we can do. It can come in the form of providing resources.

It can come in the form of training, of financial support. It can come in the form of giving of one's skills, missions projects, doing outreach together. There's many ways we can partner together in this mission. And there's a need and a place for all of these.

But this morning, I wanna focus our attention on what I think is one of the most impactful and necessary and important elements in partnering in the gospel, in partnering in the mission together, and that is to partner in the mission through prayer. Partnering in prayer. Now I'm not minimizing the importance or the need for all the different ways that we can partner together. Certainly we need the financial support, certainly we need the training, certainly we, we need to do all of those other things.

Even Jesus had financial supporters, right? Even he had those who would coordinate things and, the disciples went to get secure the upper room. he needed that administration and even he did training in order to send them out. But if we are to see God work through us, if we are to see God carry out Christ's mission through us, we must give priority to going to the great missionary himself in prayer.

And this is not just prayer for myself and the work I am doing, but that is, is a partnership for prayer for one another, the work we are doing. In this mission. And so today I wanna turn our attention to a few familiar passages I think that of that, that show us specific ways and how we can partner together in this mission through prayer. And the first one is in Matthew 9.

If you could please turn there to Matthew's gospel. And to get a bit of the context, we remember Jesus' sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 to 7, and, and then after that, Matthew then relates encounter after encounter that Jesus had in chapters 8 and 9 with those in need. From the, the leper to the centurion, to Peter's mother-in-law, to the garrisene demoniac, to the paralytic, to Jairus' dead daughter, to the blind men, Jesus encounters, and Matthew tells us of his encounter with every type of person, every situation, and he's describes how Jesus came across these people who were suffering from the pains and the hardships and the difficulties of life.

And then we come to this at the end of chapter 9, starting in verse 35.

Matthew says Jesus was going all through the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness. Seeing the people, he felt compassion for them. Because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

So picture the scene, as Jesus is there, he's, he's been seeing all these different people, he's going through that, seeing all the masses and how they were distressed, discouraged, downcast, downtrodden harassed, oppressed, suffering the consequences of sin, attacks from the enemy. And how does he respond? What does it say there? He felt.

Compassion. He felt compassion. As he sums up their condition, what does he say? He looks upon them as sheep without a shepherd, aimless, helpless, defenseless, and lost.

And what does he tell his disciples to do? This is really interesting. He turns to them and says, what? He doesn't tell them initially to preach, but to pray.

Right? He tells them to pray. Now, of course, other times Jesus emphasized the need to preach the gospel and we're gonna see that in the very next chapter in Matthew where Jesus sends them out to do that very thing. But before he tells them to preach, he tells them to pray.

And pray for what? For laborers, for workers to be sent out into the fields, because as he looked upon the masses, Jesus saw their real need. Yes, they were suffering physically and emotionally and mentally from the struggles and trials of life, but Jesus saw through all that and saw their real need was. Salvation, right?

He saw their ultimate problem. Their greatest need was the fact that they were sinners and the consequences of that sin was an eternity in hell separate from him forever. That was the real problem, that was the greatest need. And I think here I need to pause and ask you, have you recognized the ultimate problem in your life?

We all suffer through many problems. But there's one that is the biggest problem, and that is sin. We have all, all of us, every one of us has turned away from God to pursue our own lives, to live in sin. Have you realized this, that you and I were dead in sin without Jesus?

And we're doomed to suffer God's wrath as Pastor Mike talked about earlier. A wrath we all deserve because God is just and holy and good. And we've all sinned against him. Have you put your trust in Christ alone?

He's the only way If you confess with our mouths, Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved, the Bible says. That's really our biggest problem, much bigger than, than anything we may be suffering on this this earth can cancer or poverty, family problems. Those are all important issues, but. Dealing with those issues, none of them will save you.

Only. Coming to Christ and recognizing I'm a sinner in need of a savior and Jesus, you're the only one that can take care of my sin. Have you done that? You see, as Jesus looked on the masses, he saw that was the real need.

That people were lost. They're like sheep, they didn't know where to go, what to do, and without someone to show them, without someone to protect them, without someone to care for them, they would be doomed. And so as he looked upon the lost, he asks, he turns to the disciples and said, we need to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers to those who need him, who would bring the message of good news. Do you share that same burden?

And does that burden move you to pray? To pray that God would raise up these workers. Now notice here, Jesus points out it's not just the need to proclaim the gospel to them, but notice he says here to shepherd them. He says they're like sheep without a shepherd.

They needed to be shepherd, and this reminds us that the great commission is not just to bring the lost to Christ, but also to help them grow in Christ. That the great commission, people need to be led not only to salvation but also sanctification. They need to be brought to Christ and then learn and be taught how to follow Christ. That's all part of what Jesus meant when he said make disciples.

And so Jesus says here to pray for workers, pray for laborers, but pray for the right laborers. Pray not only for those who will baptize, but also those who will teach. Pray not only for the evangelists, pray also for the shepherds, pray not only for churches to be planted, but also for them to be pastored. And Sean and I have seen this in many places we've been in the world that, that, like the church is growing, the gospels going out, but you have many of these pastors who are untrained.

So they, they, they're susceptible to false teachings, they're susceptible to so many things and so they need to be equipped as well. We need to be praying not only for the gospel to go forth through the evangelists and the workers there, but also for God to be raising up qualified pastors and church leaders to shepherd the sheep. Because if the church is to make an impact, it must be led by godly shepherds. So how does that apply to us?

Are you praying consistently for God to raise up workers from this body of believers? From your own homes, from the city? Are you praying for God to raise up evangelists that will help us and spur us to share the gospel? Are you praying for God to raise up godly shepherds both here and abroad?

Are you praying for ministries like the Expositors Academy on a consistent basis who's who our mission is to equip those shepherds? For the church. Is there a consistent effort and purpose and pursuit of praying for God to raise up workers? We heard it directly from the Lord himself, right?

Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. Again, not just those who would bring the gospel, but also those who would shepherd the flock. And so let's partner together in this mission, first by praying for workers, and then secondly by praying for witness. Praying for witness, that is praying for opportunities for one another to proclaim the gospel.

And we see this in one of Paul's requests in Colossians chapter 4, so please turn with me there. Colossians 4. Of course, we know that people of Colossae were under spiritual attack by mysticism, by paganism, a works-based religion, human philosophies, and so Paul writes to them to encourage and exhort them, stay hold of Christ, keep hold of him, hold him fast, don't give in to these other false teachings. And so he tells them in Colossians 2:6, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

And then throughout the letter, he describes how to do that, how we walk in him, and the last instruction he gives in Colossians 4 is on prayer, a call to prayer. Notice there with me, Colossians 4:2. Paul says, devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I've also been in prison, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

So notice here, Paul gives the command, the imperative.

If you devoted, devote yourselves to prayer. This idea of pray without ceasing, pray fervently, pray persistently, be strong in prayer is the idea. And then to emphasize this point, he adds this, keeping alert in it. That's the idea of being watchful, being vigilant, being careful to, to give attention to the needs around you.

To be looking And then Paul brings up one specific need that he asks prayer for from them. Did you catch that? Notice what he said. There's one thing he wanted them to be devoted to regarding him in prayer.

One thing that he wanted them to be alert for in prayer, and that need was what? His mission's efforts, right? Pray for open doors for me, for the gospel. Pray that God would, would make opportunity to make disciples, because Paul knew this, that God is the one who arranges those opportunities and so we need to be praying for them.

Consistently to be devoted to it. And I remember, I think it was last year, my wife and I were going to the Philippines. we were in LAX and they stick, they stick, I don't know why they do this, but they have the Philippine Airlines way in the far end gate, like gate 225 or something, right? So you gotta, right, Sean's nodding his head.

You gotta walk forever to get out over there. And so we're walking along, we're getting towards the gate and then Tina goes, oh I forgot something. And being the godly patient husband then, oh, no problem, honey, just, I'm like, oh man, so, so I said, OK, honey, I'll go to the gate, make sure the plane doesn't leave without us and, and you can go back and, and get the thing that you forgot. And so, here I'm a little bit frustrated and so I'm going to the gate and waiting there and Tina shows up a little later, she's smiling, she says, I went back to, to get the thing that I forgot and I met this older gentleman there and I had a chance to share the gospel with him.

Like here in LAX, it's, so I'm here and I'm I'm feeling guilty, right? Like. But, we started, we chuckled about it afterwards, it's like that whole incident and forgetting that thing actually was a door that God wanted open for the gospel that neither she nor that man nor I knew that he had planned that day. And it's like that, right?

He's the one that, that, that opens those doors and so we need to pray for that, we need to pray for witness, we need to pray for those opportunities, but not just for ourselves. Here Paul's saying, pray for me, we need to pray for one another for these opportunities. Pray for each other. Do you pray for open doors for the gospel, for your fellow brothers and sisters here?

Again, consistently, actively, fervently. How often do you pray for that, for God to open up a door for a brother or sister here for the gospel? Are you telling each other about people you are hoping to share the gospel with in your families, in your jobs, in your communities, so that then That other person can be praying for you. I remember in the Philippines, trip I was on a couple, a few months ago, and one of the guys there was sharing with me someone in his, he works in a call center and he was telling me this person Marco, he's praying for them, that, that opportunity to share the gospel and so the next time I visited, I was able then to ask him, so I've been praying for Marco.

What, so what's happened? That's what Paul's talking about here. Praying for one another, sharing with one another's opportunities and then consistently bringing those, the, that brother or sister before the Lord that God would open up a door for them. Do you do that on a regular basis?

Do you share with others, people that you want to bring the gospel to so they could be praying for you. Again, this isn't an individual independent enterprise, we're in this together. So we need to be lifting each other up before the throne together. Cause it can be hard sometimes, especially with family members, right?

To bring up the gospel and share the gospel with him. We need to be praying for each other in this regard, and we need to be praying for those overseas. In other countries like the one I mentioned earlier, where sharing the gospel is very difficult, open doors are very hard. So we need to pray Be committed to that We need to be a, a partner, we need to be partners in the great commission to all the nations.

And notice here, it's not just the gospel opportunities we need to pray for. Paul also says, Paul asked him to pray not just for an open door to share the gospel, but then he adds this, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. So he not only prays for witness, but also he prays here for wisdom, not just to proclaim the gospel, but in how he proclaims the gospel. For you see it's not just the zeal to preach the message that we need, it's zeal to preach the right message and to know what to say and how to say it because every circumstance is different, right?

The message doesn't change, but, but how we approach, how we introduce, and talking with that other person, they have their own perspectives and so we need wisdom to know what to say and how to say it. I can remember vividly for me this, this principal I was in college was the start of the new year. I went to UCLA and at the first week of the year they had open. all the groups on campus could, could, have a, a table and present, their, their groups.

So you had all this on Bruin Walk, all these, all these groups lined up on the tables. And so I'm, I'm setting up, I was a new believer, but, I was excited. I wanted to volunteer, so I was setting up our table with our campus Bible study and then I look over right next to me, it said atheist club. And there's a guy standing in front and he was looking at my sign about the same time I'm looking at his and then we looked at each other and kinda smiled cause we knew where this was going.

So I started talking with him, hey, I, I kinda laughed so he, but hey, my name's Tim and what's your name? And he says, I, I forgot his name, I think it was Mark or something. He said, yeah, I'm the president of the atheist club, and then I'm a new believer, oh boy. so that right there, I just, Lord, give me the words.

I have no idea what to say to this guy. But, we ended up having a conversation, but I, I, I, and thankfully, God did open up a door to talk to this guy and it was really amazing. God provided the opportunity for the witness, but definitely I needed wisdom to know what do I, what do I say? And so it's the same for us.

We need to partner in prayer for one another, not only for God to open up those doors for one another, but then pray for that your brother and sister like, OK, give them the words to say, Lord, and how to say them. Again, this is why we need to be sharing with one another, what's going on in these areas, who, who it is that you wanna bring the gospel to, so that there can be praying not just that God would open up that door, but also then To know what to say And this leads us to a 3rd way to partner in prayer.

Because as God gives those opportunities and opens doors, as he gives the words to speak. We also need to pray not only for workers, not only for wisdom or witness, but also for boldness.

For boldness. Look with me at Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6. And again here in Ephesians, the 1st 3 chapters dedicated to who we are in Christ and then the last 3 chapters and how we are to respond to what God has done in Christ for us.

And Paul presents that with 5 walk commands throughout those last 3 chapters, but then the last is a command to stand, to stand firm, right? And he describes the armor of God and he, he goes through each piece of armor and it's interesting how he ends that. The last thing that he talks about when he talks about standing firm. After telling us to put on that last piece of armor or take up that the sword of the spirit, notice what he says in verse 18 of Ephesians 6.

With all prayer and petition, at all times in the spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness, the mystery of the gospel, for which I'm an ambassador in chains that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Now what's interesting here in Ephesians, just like Colossians, the last instruction he gives is regarding prayer.

But he gives it in connection to the armor of God that he calls us to stand firm in.

Now here in the numeric Standard, the one that I read, it said pray at all times and be on the alert, so it described, translated it as commands. But actually these words pray and be on the alert are participles. They're not commands, like if you have an LSB or an ESV or New King James, it literally says praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the spirit and to this end being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Now, this may seem like a subtle point of grammar, but it's important to understand Paul's not giving here separate commands that would stand alone, that'd be in separate instructions.

Like he didn't say, like he says, put on the armor of God, he didn't say then pray and be on the alert, he said praying, being on the alert. They're modifying something. They're describing how we are to put on the armor of God here. At least that's my view in doing this.

Rather than saying taking hold of the spear of prayer, he actually just says praying. Praying, he emphasizes it, he repeats it, and he says praying in the present tense, this is an ongoing thing, as we put on the armor of God, we are to bathe each piece in prayer as the hymn goes. Or as the 18th century poet William Cooper wrote this, restraining prayer, we cease to fight. Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.

Prayer is not less important because it's not considered a piece of the armor here. I think it actually Paul gives more attention to prayer than all the armor combined. He has more words given on prayer or the same amount as he did for every piece of armor. Again, I think giving the emphasis here of the priority of partnering in prayer.

Notice he says be praying for one another. All prayer and petition for all the saints. Because we're in this mission together. Right?

We're a team, we battle the enemy together. We bring the gospel of Christ into Satan's domain together. And this partnering in the gospel ministry, Paul brings this up once again. Notice verse 19 to 20, he again gives a specific way to be praying for him.

Did you catch that? Look again at verse 19. And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Notice again, Paul is, he recognizes this partnership and praise, he says, could you pray for me?

And then he mentions two things here. One, that he would know what to say in preaching the gospel like he asked the Colossians, but then secondly, for the boldness to preach it. Again, Paul made a similar request. But here he added this idea with boldness, that he would speak the gospel, he prays, he asked the Colossians, pray for open doors, pray that I may make it clear, and then with the Ephesians, pray that I, that I would speak clearly and know what to say, and then he says, but I need boldness.

I wanna preach with boldness. Who is this speaking by, who's this writing here? Who is it? Paul, a wimpy guy, right?

Always afraid, never wanted to share the gospel, always ran and hide. No, this guy was incredible, right? He was one of the most boldest people that I know of in the New Testament next to Christ, right? This is the apostle Paul.

This is the guy who was ridiculed, beaten, maligned, rejected. Acts 14, you remember that story when he was in the city and he was stoned and thrown out of the city, left for dead? And then remember what he did? God raised him up, right?

He survives and he gets back and he goes back in the same city., if that were me, I'd be, I'd be out of there. But this guy with amazing boldness. Acts 17, he stands up before all the philosophers and the, all these academics in Athens and he boldly proclaims the resurrection without fear. Many examples in his life, and yet Paul says, pray that I may preach with boldness.

And so here we find another principle in our partnership in the great commission. Because if Paul, the apostle asks for prayer for boldness, certainly you and I. Need to ask for prayer in boldness. Again, there are many situations, it's hard to know what to say or when to say it, but also just to say it.

And again, especially like in families, I know this can be very, very difficult, especially if it's to your parents. But we need boldness. And notice Paul says this not once but twice, verse 20. He also says that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, so he wants to make sure that they got the point, that we get the point, to pray for one another for boldness.

So are you doing that? Again, notice it's present tense here, praying, ongoing prayer, consistent prayer for one another, not just for all the needs that we have, certainly we need to be praying for that. Paul says here all prayers and petitions for all the saints, but also and especially in praying for one another in our mission together. Praying for open doors, praying for wisdom, praying for boldness.

Are you doing that? Are you praying for boldness for your brothers and sisters overseas? There are many places where It's against the law and at risk of your own life. To proclaim the gospel.

And so, we need to be praying for our brothers and sisters. Pastor Morris will give you some stories next week that'll encourage that. Do you have someone consistently praying that you're praying for, praying for boldness. And we need to be praying for boldness, not just in places that are closed countries.

We need to pray for boldness in countries like ours where apathy, comfort, Fear. Make it difficult, right? So brothers and sisters, let's be committed to partnering in prayer together on this mission. Let's be committed to pray for workers.

To pray for open doors for the gospel, pray for wisdom in sharing those, that gospel, and to pray for boldness to speak. And finally one more. Pray for witness, pray for workers, pray for boldness, pray for the persecuted. Pray for the persecuted.

We see this in Hebrews 13. If you could turn there with me. After the author of Hebrews. shows the superiority of Christ over any other path to salvation in the 1st 10 chapters and then he describes our response to that, to our great high priest is to let us draw near, let us gather together, let us to respond to this truth and faith.

He then ends the book in chapter 13 with several particular instructions on a variety of topics. It's almost like he wants, wants to cover many different things as, as a last thoughts in his mind. And it begins with how we are to treat one another in verse 1, notice he says let the love of the brethren continue and then verse 2, show hospitality to strangers, and then he says this in verse 3. Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them.

And those who are mistreated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Here he gives a very practical way to partner together with our brothers and sisters around the world in mission. Notice he says, remember those who are, who are imprisoned. There's a forgotten group of people, I think for many of us.

In our, in our Universal Church. Brothers and sisters who are suffering for Christ. Brothers and sisters who are imprisoned or who are living very difficult lives and impoverished, discriminated against, beaten. And so here the author of Hebrews says remember them.

Remember them. Look at verse 36 of chapter 11. He mentions this group. Just a little bit earlier in his.

Book. He says in verse 36 of Hebrews 11. Others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. Verse 37, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword.

They went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. Notice he mentions here those who were mistreated, same word he used in Hebrews 13:3, those who were imprisoned. Again he mentions that in Hebrews 13:3 and so he says in that verse then in, in Hebrews 13, remember them as if you were there with them. Now certainly if we were sitting in prison together, we would be thinking about our situation, wouldn't we?

We would be empathetic towards one another about our situation, wouldn't we? We will be wishing and praying for God to release us, wouldn't we? But being here, sitting in these chairs and not necessarily, if we don't force ourselves to think about our brothers and sisters and what they're going through, then we won't have that empathy, compassion, and motivation to be praying for them and they need it. I can't tell you How impacted I was as I was with our brothers and sisters in Pakistan and hearing from there, my wife was with me and just hearing from what they suffered.

We were with a group of men and women at one particular church near the western border, and they were describing to us how on a Christmas Day they were sitting in a service singing praises to the Lord Jesus and a suicide bomber ran in and detonated. Dozens of people died, blown apart. Right before their eyes And now they still suffer from those images and even every time they enter a church. They have PTSD basically.

But they said, but we will not give up our faith. Some men who were there also sharing with us and showing us the wounds from bullets, and another church service where gunmen just entered in and just started firing. And so they had one guy got shot through the neck and another guy. We had an opportunity to visit with Afghani believers who had fled from the Taliban and their lives being threatened.

And them describing their stories to us. I met with the pastor there who'd been abducted, beaten, shot, left for dead, thrown out in the middle of a field, and God revived him and he went back and continued to pastor at the church. He's still there today. Even, when I was there in December, Morris and I were sitting having a meal with some imams there and this extremist just shows up.

And sits down and decides he's going to convert us. And his methodology was pretty simple. Accept Islam, and he kept doing this. Anyone against Islam should be killed.

Morris and I are sitting there and Morris, Morris began to share the gospel with the guy. And then later on realizing, any moment this guy could just stand up and yell, we blasphemed Allah Muhammad and, we're in a Muslim neighborhood and that would have been it. We've met parents with children who've been raped, forced into marriages, beaten, maligned, oppressed. And so this passage has really been most really on my heart the last couple of years.

Remember them. Remember them as if you were there with them. Now that word remember. Basic meaning is to recall to mind, but it is not just to recall to mind.

In fact, the theological dictionary of the New Testament says the word should not be regarded as an exclusively mental process. And what it means, means by that is, is when we remember, there should be an action in response to that remembering, right? That's the idea here. For example, just a few verses later, if you look in Hebrews 13:7, he says, remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

So notice there he gives the same command, remember, he says, remember your leaders, but then he gives a specific response that should follow. Which is to imitate their faith. Or Paul at the end of Colossians, he says one of the last things is, remember my imprisonment. And he didn't just mean, hey, remember that I'm in prison here, but he had, he had the expectation and hope that they would respond to that by praying for him, by providing for his needs.

Because in those days, prisoners did not have it like today. They, they had to have people come and bring them food and supplies and clothing. And so when Hebrews 13:3 says to remember the persecuted, there is an expected response as we bring them to our minds. And how?

What should that response be? What should we do as we remember and think about and consider our brothers and sisters who are being mistreated for the sake of the gospel or suffering for the sake of Christ? I'm reminded of Acts 12. Remember when Peter was in prison?

And the saints were gathered. What were they doing? They were praying, praying for Peter. Right?

And that's that funny story, right? Where Peter is released and he's up, and that servant girl comes out and she forgets to open the door cause she runs back, she's so excited. They've just been praying and God answered their prayer. And Peter's out, oh, he's outside.

Oh, let me go get him. That's the heart that we should be having, even if these folks are all the way on the other side of the earth. We should be praying. Are you partnering?

With the persecuted in prayer. Are you trying to find out about those who are suffering persecution?, if you go to www.persecution.com, the Voice of the Martyrs publishes those that they come to find out about who are suffering in prison, being persecuted, so you can pray for them. Are you asking for ways, maybe through missionaries here through the local church of ways you can be praying specifically for them. When Morris comes next week, you should all have a make a list out to be praying and asking him what are some specific ways to be praying.

He knows many Persecuted brothers and sisters in his country. We need to remember them. And they're so encouraged by this. I remember I was in Arizona at a a supporting church and we're with the missions team there and, and I said, hey, can I just record, we were praying for some of the brothers and sisters and being persecuted.

So I said, can we, can we make a little video? Can we just, and so we just recorded a 15 2nd video, say, hey, we're from this church, we're praying for you and so I sent that to a brother. And he was so blown away just from that simple thing. He said, oh thank you so much and he's showing it to people around that he was familiar with.

I remember in Gwla when 25, 26 churches were burned at one time, over 300 Christian families lost their homes to extremists. And I called one of the pastors that I know there who had family in that village and so I'm talking to him as he's driving on the way to the village to see if his family's even alive. And just said brother, praying for you. We prayed on the phone there and he starts weeping.

Yes, thank you so much. Sometimes we feel so isolated and alone here. We don't know if people even know about us and what's happening here. So it's a great encouragement to them, and it's a means in which God works, right?

He could do anything he wants anyway. He doesn't need us, it's not like your prayer has some power in it that's gonna do things. God is the one who answers that prayer, but he wants us to be connected and partnering together, so that's why he says pray. Because this is a partnership together for the gospel mission.

God doesn't need any of us. But we've been given the privilege. To represent his son, to proclaim his son's message, and to partner together in doing that. And one of the ways you can do that in a place you may never go, people you may never know personally and visit, you can still partner with them by praying.

And we can still partner with one another whom we do know and can spend time with by praying. Prayer is such a vital part of the Christian life and I, we all know that, probably when you saw the title prayer, oh boy, right? It's one of those topics that it's convicting. But we know it, we know it's importance, we know it is vital that it should be a first response and not a last resort.

But this is especially true when it comes to our gospel mission. We need to partner in prayer together for our mission to make disciples. It's so vital, it's so critical. I'm reminded of when Jesus was in the garden.

The night before crucifixion. You remember what he was doing? Praying. Was he alone?

Was he alone? No, right? The disciples, some of the disciples were there with him. What were they doing?

Right? Of course we know that that story and Jesus came to them and he says, could you not keep watch even for an hour? Could you not be praying for me and with me? Wow, even our Lord expressed the desire for partnership in prayer.

And that alone should motivate us to partner together in prayer for his mission. So I wanted to take a moment just for us to do that now. I'll mention those 4 topics again and I'll just give you a moment to pray to the Lord specifically for that. First, praying for God to raise up workers.

Than for witness. For boldness and then for persecuted brothers and sisters. So I'll just give you a moment to do that and I'll close this in prayer. So pray first for God to raise up workers from among this church from around the world.

And then pray for open doors for the gospel, for one another, maybe a specific person that's wanting to witness to someone, so pray for them now. And then pray for them for wisdom and boldness. To share that gospel message. And then let's remember to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters as if we were there with them.

Oh Lord, we are such a blessed people. That not only have you. Made a way for us to be forgiven. Through your son But that We've not only received forgiveness but also been adopted.

You've been welcomed into your family. We've been invited to enter your very throne room by the spirit. To bring our requests before you. We have the privilege to pray.

Lord, forgive me, forgive us, Lord, when we Neglect To do that, especially praying for one another. And the mission you've given us. I pray, Lord, you would I stir our hearts, remind us. Make us a consistent and faithful.

Prayer warriors, Lord. To be praying for one another. For workers and witness for boldness, and then praying for our brothers and sisters. Around the world who are suffering for.

Their faith. Lord, knit our hearts together. In this partnership you've given us to make disciples of all the nations. I thank you for this church.

I thank you for Cornerstone Fellowship, and just the, the mission's heart that they have and they're so supportive and encouraging and just my wife and I have been so blessed by our brothers and sisters here. I pray you continue to use them to spur them on to even greater impact for your kingdom, not only here. But also abroad. Bless this church, Lord.

Continue to use them to lift up the name of Christ, and we pray in his name. Amen.