[0:00] I'd like to look with you at the verses that we read in Ephesians, chapter 6 from verse 10. These verses that were read in your hearing this evening, I believe are full of significance and full of help for us.
[0:22] I suppose in our day, I don't think there's a theme that is more important for us as Christians in this present day than what the Apostle has for us here in Ephesians, chapter 6.
[0:42] When we look at the state of the world tonight, there are wars throughout the Middle East and various other parts of the world, many of them under the banner of what is termed as religion.
[0:57] When we look at the state of the church in general, when we look at our national church and when we look at the state of the church in other countries as well, I spend quite a lot of time listening to what is called the briefing.
[1:14] Al Muller is a Baptist minister of America and has a daily briefing and he brings the Christian message into context every day and it's very informative as to what is going on in the world.
[1:27] And really, when we sum it all up, we have to confess, my friends, we are living in very confused times. It is probably, and I know this is not true, but in a sense it is probably more difficult for us to live as Christians today than it's been for many a year.
[1:50] I remember growing up as a child, both in Babel and in Bernra, going to my grandparents' homes. And I think the only implement that was there and was listened to only for the Gaelic was the radio.
[2:04] Rarely did I see a newspaper. But I go to my own home now and I've got the television, the internet, the telephone, every kind of media and we have it in our homes.
[2:16] And that really makes the fight of faith for the Christian that much more difficult, does it not? There are so many things that can take our minds away from the most important aspect of our lives.
[2:33] Now most of the difficulties as Christians, most of the difficulties we face can be traced back to our personal devil.
[2:46] And he has really set himself against us. And sometimes we are actually unaware that it's the devil himself who is seeking to do harm to every one of us.
[3:00] And I've certainly been conscious of that over the past 40 years since I've been a Christian. 30 of these years I've spent as a Christian in the military. Not easy. I've spent 5 years lobbying Parliament with the Lord's Day of Zeven Society.
[3:15] And then 10 years with Sazer as an Evangelist and as an area representative for our soldiers and our airmen. And today I find the Christian faith under attack constantly.
[3:28] Wherever I go. So I'm grateful tonight for the Bible. Because I'm encouraged when I read the Bible. I'm grateful that the Bible reminds us as Christians.
[3:43] That greater is he that is in me than he who is in the world. But my friends the victory is ours as Christians in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:57] We can rejoice in that truth. But although that is the truth. Let's not be naive of the wiles of Satan.
[4:09] And if we are to be strong as Christians today. We need to really understand what these verses are saying to us.
[4:20] My friends let me remind you the Christian life is not a playground. The Christian life is a battlefield. A real battlefield.
[4:33] And we know from our experience as Christians. The more time we spend in prayer. The more time we spend in the Bible. The greater sometimes these attacks are on us.
[4:46] Is that not true? There are three great enemies. That confront us in this world. There is first of all the world.
[4:58] There is the flesh. And then thirdly there is the devil. The world. The world. What is that? Well it is that evil system. That surrounds us here.
[5:10] And that is so opposed to God. As Christians. We were once. In the world. And of the world. But we are now.
[5:21] As Christians. Only in the world. Not of the world. But we are conscious. That the world. Is trying to squeeze us. Into its own mold.
[5:33] Is that not true? The world. Is that evil system. That is anti-God. Anti-Christ. And anti-the truth.
[5:45] The second enemy. Of course. Is the flesh. And as Christians. We know. That there is a warfare. Within our breasts. The old man.
[5:55] The new man. There is that warfare. That is continually there. We are conscious of it. Day by day. Are we not? You see the flesh.
[6:09] Is opposed to God. And naturally. We can do nothing. To please God. Even the best. That we can offer. God is tainted with sin. And is unacceptable to him.
[6:20] The third enemy. Of course. Is the devil. And as we know. The devil. Is a fallen angel. And the devil.
[6:31] Presides. Over his kingdom. Of darkness. And. The strategy. Of the devil. Is to use. The world. And the flesh.
[6:43] Against us. You see. He wants to bring. Our Christian lives. Into devastation. We cannot be naive. About this.
[6:53] My friends. We are living. As Christians today. In wartime conditions. As believers in Christ. You see the moment. A person. Is converted.
[7:05] The moment. A person. Comes to know. The Lord Jesus Christ. The moment. He realizes. That he is in. This warfare. You begin. To meet. Opposition.
[7:16] Straight away. Because as Christians. We are born again. We become a new creation. In Christ Jesus. And. We need. To be informed. About this.
[7:28] Enemy. Who is continually. Harassing us. The Bible tells us. The kind of tactics. The devil uses.
[7:40] He is like a roaring. Lion. Trying to devour us. And Paul. Reminds us. That our faith.
[7:51] Is constantly. Under threat. By the devil. And. As Paul. Brings this. Amazing letter. Of the. Ephesians. To the Ephesians. To a conclusion.
[8:02] We have read. First of all. In our text. Finally. He says. He reminds us. That we will not. Be effective. Christians. We will not. Be effective.
[8:14] In our Christian service. Or in our growth. And grace. Unless we understand. The resist. That there is. That there is a need. To resist.
[8:24] The devil. Now Paul. As he writes. This letter. He is obviously. In prison. And. He is. Chained. To. To Roman soldiers.
[8:36] And I guess. That is. How. That is. No doubt. Why he uses. This metaphor. That we. This. This analogy. We have here. He wants.
[8:46] To communicate. The gospel. In the most. Practical way. And it is vitally important. That we. Apply. The gospel. In a practical way. So that we can understand it. And that is what Paul is doing here.
[8:58] He was the prince of preachers. My friends. These verses. That we have here. Are so. Rich. In theology.
[9:11] And they. They convey to us. Some of the most. Important. Truths. For us. As Christians. Do they. Know that about it. Years.
[9:23] Ago. A great. Puritan. His name was. William. Gurnall. He died. In 1679. And he wrote.
[9:34] An amazing book. Called. The Christian. Great. Armor. A book. That's massive. It is. 1,200. Pages.
[9:45] Just. On. These. Versions. And this is. What the great. Spurgeon said. He said. That apart. From the bible. This was. The greatest.
[9:55] Book. In his library. As it gave him. Insight. As to how. To be strong. And maintain. His Christian faith. And of course.
[10:06] Those of us. Who are familiar. With. Dr. Martin. Lloyd-Jones. Know. That Lloyd-Jones. Wrote. Or I should say. Lloyd-Jones. Preached. 52 sermons.
[10:18] Just. On these verses. 52 sermons. That eventually. Became. Two entire books. Which are worth reading. And again.
[10:30] What it is doing. It is reminding us. Of how we can be strong. In our faith. And how we can fight.
[10:41] This evil devil. Who is trying. His level best. To hinder us. In our faith. So the apostle. Reminds us here. That we are called.
[10:52] To battle. Not to a life of ease. But we are going to be struggling. We are going to be. It is amazing. The words. The apostle uses. And the bible uses. In regard to our faith. Fighting talk.
[11:02] Wrestling. Struggling. In the earlier part. Of the chapter. He gives a picture. Of the type of enemy. We are facing.
[11:14] And we are forewarned. As to the character. And the strategy. Of our enemy. And it is vitally important. That we know something. About an enemy. Now I was a soldier. For 35 years.
[11:27] And most of these. Most of the time. I was in the military. I was in command. From the smallest section. Went up to a company. Of over a hundred men. And when we went. On a battle run. It was vitally important.
[11:38] When I was giving out. Orders. For the soldiers. That I was given. Given. A clear grasp. Of who the enemy was. Because we needed.
[11:49] To have the strategy. To be able to fight them. And defeat them. And again. You can apply that principle. To our Christian lives. But let us remember.
[12:00] That just knowing this. Is only half the battle. And if we left it at that. It would be devastating. We are fighting. Against. What we are terming here.
[12:11] As terrible powers. And principalities. And powers. My friends. Who is sufficient. For these things. Well let us thank God.
[12:24] That the Bible. Is always realistic. It never hides. The truth from us. The Bible. Never gives us. A false impression. We are not promised.
[12:37] My friends. An easy life. When we become Christians. But we are told. That we will be in a warfare. But you know the good news. The Bible tells us.
[12:49] That we will be. More. Than conquerors. Through him who loved us. Is that not good news? So the apostle shows us.
[13:00] The other half. And goes on in his own. Characteristic manner. And this is the way he states it. And I love the way he. He has laid this message out. For us here tonight. He says first of all.
[13:13] Be strong in the Lord. And in the strength of his might. Then he goes on to say. Put on the whole armor of God. In order that.
[13:23] And then he produces the problem. And we should thank God for that. You see. Christian people. Will triumph. Can triumph.
[13:34] And for the Christian. Let me remind you tonight. From the Bible. Victory. Victory. Is. Assured. We can face this warfare.
[13:45] And the struggle. With three things. That are mentioned. In this portion of scripture. And we'll look at them briefly. This evening. First of all.
[13:56] We'll look at verse 10. Where we were told. That we need to be strong. In the Lord. And in the power of his might. And then secondly. We'll look at the whole armor of God.
[14:07] And then we'll look at verse 18. Praying at all times in the spirit. With all prayer and supplication. You see the importance of putting. Each piece of armor on with prayer.
[14:19] And how important prayer is. In the life of the Christian. So let us start this evening. With the first. Be strong in the Lord. And in the power of his might.
[14:32] What does it mean? How are we to do it? Well. First of all. I want to take three applications. From this first point.
[14:44] To be strong in the Lord. And in the strength of his might. Well. We first of all. Need to realize. That we need to be strong. Because. Out there.
[14:55] Is a powerful enemy. The Bible calls him. A roaring lion. And we are not. To underestimate. The power of the devil. Because he is seeking.
[15:08] Who he can devour. The Bible says. Our enemy is powerful. He is wily. He is subtle. Full of subtlety.
[15:19] And he can even. Transform himself. Into an angel of light. So to enable us. To stand. In this evil day. We need.
[15:31] His strength. To stand. Why? Because we cannot do it. In our own strength. And we need to remind ourselves.
[15:42] We need to preach to ourselves. From the Bible. And we need to remind ourselves. Who we are. You see. We are members. Of the body of Christ.
[15:54] As a new creation. Of Christ Jesus. That's what we are. And let us remember too. That we are united. To Christ. And we cannot be disunited.
[16:04] From him. And. The amazing truth is. That he is not ashamed. To call us his brethren. Is that all marvellous? The alarming thing.
[16:19] For me though. As I live my Christian life. From day to day. The alarming thing. From these. Is that the reputation. Of God the Father.
[16:31] God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit. Is in a sense. In our hands. As Christians. The world. Are watching us. And we need.
[16:41] To bring glory. To his name. And if we're not. We are bringing. The name of Christ. And the name of our God. Into disrepute. And let us remind ourselves.
[16:54] Tonight my friends. That as Christians. We are members. Of a mighty. Mighty army. Secondly.
[17:04] We need to realize. Our weakness. We need to. We need to realize. Our need of help. And I think. That's the preposition. Behind. What the apostle. Is saying here really.
[17:15] He's not really concerned. About the power of the enemy. Or powerful as it is. He's also concerned. About. Our weakness. And our lack of strength. And the way.
[17:26] To realize. Our lack of strength. Is to realize. How powerful. Our enemy is. Now. There is ample. Evidence. In the Bible. And. We can go to the very beginning.
[17:38] To. Genesis 1. 2. And 3. Where we see. The creation. And where we see. God creating man. In his own image. And there we see.
[17:48] Adam. Perfect. Then the devil comes. And. He is tempted. And we're talking here. About Adam.
[17:59] Remember. You see. When the devil attacks. What is man? Even. Perfect man. In the image of God. In a perfect state.
[18:11] Yet he fell. Who are we to stand? But then. We see thirdly. From this verse 10.
[18:24] That the name. Of the Lord. Is a strong tower. The message. From the apostle. To the church. In Ephesus. And to the church.
[18:34] In Gambus. Tonight. Is to realize. Who our God is. And sadly. We are bringing. We are bringing. Our God down.
[18:45] To a level. That's unbiblical. Our God is. Almighty. Now that's a word. That's abused today. It is only God.
[18:55] Who is almighty. He is only God. He is all powerful. And we need. To remind ourselves. Of the doctrine of God. And the doctrine.
[19:06] Of Jesus Christ. The second person. Of the God. Who himself. In him. We are told. In the Bible. Dwells the fullness. Of the Godhead.
[19:19] Bodily. And my friends. This is a word. That's sadly. Missing from. From our Christian. The word. For us. To be strong.
[19:30] My friends. Is to spend. Time. Meditating. On the word. Of God. Prayerfully. Meditation. On the word.
[19:41] And prayer. Go hand in glove. Reminding ourselves. Preaching to ourselves. Reminding ourselves. Of everything. That is true. Of Christ. And that is true.
[19:54] Of us. In Christ. So the apostle. For these three reasons. Mentions. Are being strong. In the Lord. And the power. Of his might. And then.
[20:05] Secondly. He bids us. To put on. The whole. Armor. Of God. Now. That raises a question. Why.
[20:16] Is the armor. Necessary. Surely. It is sufficient. To be strong. In the Lord. And in the power. Of his might.
[20:27] Now sadly. There are many preachers. Who would say that. But my friends. As we read the Bible. We see what the apostle. Is saying to us.
[20:38] He is saying to us. First of all. To be strong. In the Lord. And then he goes on. Twice. To reemphasize. That we need. To put on.
[20:49] The whole. Armor. Of God. And the reason. Is that we need. Protection. The strength. Alone. Is not sufficient. Wonderful. Although that strength.
[21:00] Is. We need. Protection. And that protection. Is provided for us. By the armor. First. We are in this world. World. We neglect. The armor.
[21:11] At our peril. My friends. The Bible. Is full of teaching. Of this. Look at. 1 Corinthians. 10. 12. Therefore. Let anyone.
[21:22] Who thinks. That he stands. Take heed. Lest he fall. As we read the Bible. We see. That that. Was the downfall.
[21:32] Of many. Great men. In the Bible. You know. Look at David. And Bathsheba. Look at Samson. Look at others.
[21:43] There are. I mean. You could list. Many of them. All fell. And then we come. To the apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12. When he was. Lifted up.
[21:54] Into the third heaven. What a glorious position. Paul was in. But what happened. To Paul. Satan. Was sent.
[22:04] To buffet him. Why? To keep him humble. To keep him. From trusting. In himself. And in his experience. How often do we.
[22:17] Rest on our experience. We must never. Neglect. Our defense. And our defense.
[22:28] Is to have on. The whole. Hour of God. Now notice the emphasis. It is. The whole.
[22:39] Armor. Of God. Why? And I think this is the key. To the whole situation. Nothing. But the whole. Armor. Will suffice. And I think.
[22:49] What that does. It heightens. The conflict. That we are in. As Christians. There is no protection. Without this armor. And the devil.
[23:02] Would soon. Find. That out. And attack us. And bring us down. And notice my friends. Who provides. This armor for us. It's God himself.
[23:13] It's God himself. Who provides the armor. Everything we need. To live. Our Christian lives. From day to day. Is provided.
[23:24] For us. By God. And that should be. A comfort to us. And an encouragement. To us tonight. Everything. Everything is there for us. We need not fear. Whatever may come.
[23:37] To meet us. In our Christian lives. God. Has provided. For us. The means. We are without excuse. My friends. When we fall and stumble. Without excuse.
[23:50] One of the ways. The devil defeats us. Is in our. A tendency. To worry. About something. That we've done. In the past. Or something. That we might do.
[24:00] In the future. You see. The devil is constantly. Trying to weaken. Or resolve. He often attacks. Christians. In this way. So that Christians. Start looking.
[24:11] Into themselves. And become absorbed. In themselves. Instead of looking. To Christ. And looking. To the promises. That Christ has given. To us. To enable us. To live our lives. To his glory. And that's how.
[24:23] We become defeated. As Christians. When we take our eye. Of the law. As we see. When we take our eye. Of Christ. Sometimes. We even try. And argue. With the devil. And we do that.
[24:34] We'll defeat it. Straight away. It is for these reasons. My friends. We need the whole armor. Of God. And there is only one way. To fight this battle. And that is to have.
[24:44] A whole armor on. You see. It's defined. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. Designed. By God. To protect us.
[24:55] And it does protect us. Otherwise. It wouldn't be here. Notice. He tells you. To put the whole armor. On first. Before.
[25:06] He tells us. To put on. The individual parts. I find that interesting. The fact. That the armor. Is needed. Surely.
[25:16] Is confirmation. That this is. A desperate. Fight with it. A conflict. My friends. Where we. Do the fighting. We do the fighting.
[25:28] We wrestle. And this. Is something. That is. Not done for us. Because if it was done for us. It would be great. Just to lie back. And receive the fruits.
[25:39] Of it all. And receive the victory. It would be easy to do that. But that's not what it saves to us. This is a conflict. That we need to be fighting. Of it. The very fact.
[25:51] That we're told. To clothe ourselves. In the armor. And to put each piece on. Really. Demonstrates to us. That we are.
[26:03] Every one of us. As Christians. Engaged. In a battle. And. We. Need. As the Bible says. To fight.
[26:14] The good. Fight. Of faith. We. Need to do it. Many people today. Many ex-soldiers.
[26:25] Go. And become. Contract soldiers. In other armies. But my friends. We cannot contract ourselves. Out of this army.
[26:36] Christ's army. We. Need to be in the battle. And that. That brings us. To another question. How do we fight?
[26:49] Well. Here we. See the significance. Again. Of the whole armor. It means. That you cannot pick. And choose. What you put on. As any soldier. Knows.
[26:59] Who goes into battle. It was. It was vitally important. That I. Inspection. My soldiers. And was. Very. Methodical. In inspecting. My soldiers.
[27:10] When we went into battle. Because if we left. Batteries out. For the radio. If we left. Ammunition out. Or anything. We could lose the battle. It is important. That all the equipment. Is there.
[27:20] You cannot. Pick and choose. We need. My friends. As Christians. The whole. Body. Of Christian doctrine.
[27:32] Now that's important. Especially. In our day. I was in Northern Ireland. On a number of occasions. And I used to worship. In various churches. When I was able. To do that. And there were some churches.
[27:44] In there. Who were dispensationalists. Who focused. On eschatology. To the exclusion. Sometimes. Of evangelism. And the doctrines of grace. They didn't know. The doctrines of grace. It's vitally important.
[27:56] That we include. The whole. Of doctrine. In our. In our faith. We're not to stop. Just at evangelism. Or a justification. Of doctrine. We are to take on.
[28:09] All doctrine. The helmet of salvation. To protect the mind. Certain people. Are careful. To protect the minds. They become experts. In theology.
[28:19] But pay little attention. To their hearts. And as a result. Very often. Wounded and defeated. Similarly. There are those. Who. Respect the will.
[28:31] Maintaining a good conscience. As Paul says. And then they make shipwreck. Of their faith. And their lives. My friends. The whole. Here means. Every single part. And.
[28:43] As the hymn writer. Says. Put on. The gospel. Armor. Each part. Put on. With prayer. What a perfect balance. My friends. There is in the word of God.
[28:54] And this is the balance. We are to display. As we go on. In our spiritual. Lives. And in our spiritual. Christian warfare. There is one. Only one way to stand. And that's to be strong.
[29:04] In the Lord. And in the power of his might. And to have on. The whole armor. Of God. Constantly. Have that whole armor on. I just want to make.
[29:15] A couple of. Of applications. To the armor. We must make sure. That this armor. Is in perfect condition. We're living in evil days.
[29:29] And. We can expect. Harassment. From the enemy. That true. He's there constantly. Trying to hinder us. All the time. He will attack us.
[29:39] At our weak points. And he will confront us. When we fall in sin. And we need to know. The antidote. To all of that. Another application.
[29:50] Is that we are to. Examine our armor. Constantly. Make sure. Our armor. Is well oiled. John Calvin. Says that the greatest. Tragedy. In the Christian's life.
[30:00] Is to hang the armor. On a hook. And I confess. That sometimes. I'm guilty of doing that. And going in my own strength. We need to have. This armor. Examine constantly.
[30:12] The third application. That I would have. Is to let the grace. Is to let God. Of all grace. Satisfy. Let Jesus. Sustain. You.
[30:22] By depending. Upon Jesus. Lean on Christ. As David. Says. In one of the Psalms. My soul. Followeth. Hard. After thee. O God.
[30:34] We are to lean on God. We are to spend time. In God's presence. We might lose. A few skirmishes. Of course we will. But we need to get back to.
[30:48] The Lord. Otherwise Satan. Would soon destroy us. And fourthly. Let the glory. Of God. Animate your soul. My friend.
[31:00] Remind yourself. Constantly. That there is a crown. Waiting for you. The battle. Might be hard. You may well. Be tired. In the battle.
[31:12] But let us. Like Paul. In the. The last epistle. He wrote. In 2 Timothy. This is what Paul said. I'm ready. To be offered. And the time.
[31:22] Of my departure. Is at hand. I have fought. The good fight. I have kept. The time. I am. He departed. Is at hand. I have fought. A good fight.
[31:33] I have finished. My course. I have kept. The faith. You see. Paul didn't. Sleep. Paul stood. Paul stood firm. Henceforth. There is laid up.
[31:43] For me. A crown. Of righteousness. Which the Lord. The righteous judge. Will give me. On that day. My friends. The day is coming. When. You and I. Will be given.
[31:55] A crown. Of glory. From the hand. Of the blessed. Lord himself. Is that not something. To look forward to. When he will turn round.
[32:05] And say to you. My friend. Well done. Good. And faithful servant. Enter into the joy. Of the Lord. Stand there for my friends.
[32:17] There is a crown coming. Let us think of that. Coming day. Let us stand up. Stand up. For Jesus. Stand in his. Strength alone. As the psalmist says.
[32:28] The arm of flesh. Will fail you. You dare not stand alone. Put on the gospel armor. Each piece. Put on with prayer. When duty calls. Or danger. Be never wanting there.
[32:39] So what does it mean. This final. Exhortation. Of verse 18. Is this. An additional. Piece of armor. Well.
[32:51] There are some. Commentators. Who would see. That verse 18. Is an additional. Piece of armor. But I don't believe that. For a minute. I would go with. Some of the other. Commentators. Because.
[33:02] Paul. Only describes. For us. Six pieces. Of armor. And that to me. Is the total picture. Or the analogy. Concerning the armor. Of God. So what then.
[33:13] Is the connection. Well surely. It is this. That praying. In the spirit. Is something. That you. And I.
[33:24] Need. To do. Continually. And continue. Doing all the time. In connection. With the whole armor. And indeed. With our position.
[33:35] As Christians. In this world. Where there is so much. Conflict. With the world. The flesh. And the devil. And above all. To keep on praying.
[33:47] I don't know about you. But. I find. Praying. Is the most difficult thing. That I can do. My mind wanders. And it's a discipline. We need.
[33:57] To address. Because. We find it. In scripture. That prayer. Is to the forefront. And we'll see that. In a moment. This is what.
[34:07] Cowper said. In one of his hymns. Restraining prayer. We cease to fight. Prayer makes the Christian. Armored bright. And Satan.
[34:19] Trembles. When he sees. The weakest. Christian. On his knees. And. Cowper could well. Write that. Because he suffered. From great depression.
[34:30] At times. Put on the gospel armor. Each piece. Put on with prayer. What that means. In essence. Is that the armor. Is provided by God. And can only be used.
[34:42] In fellowship. And in communion with God. That's what's important. The danger is. That. We sometimes. Put this armor. On mechanically.
[34:54] The only way. To have this armor on. Is in prayer. And meditation. And in communion with God. God. That's why.
[35:05] The apostle. Continues. To remind us. Of the importance. Of watching. And praying. Watching. And praying. And just look at the.
[35:17] Place prayer is given. In the New Testament. Remarkable. To see it. Especially in the life. Of the Lord himself. I mean. The Lord.
[35:28] Jesus Christ. Had marvelous knowledge. He had marvelous knowledge. Yet. Look at the frequency. Jesus himself. Turned to prayer. He would spend.
[35:39] The whole night. In prayer. Little wonder. He commanded us. In Luke 18. 1. And he said. What he said to us. Men. Ought. Always. To pray.
[35:51] And another place. We ought. To pray. Without ceasing. My friends. We must ask ourselves. Tonight. As Christians.
[36:02] What the place of prayer is. In our own lives. Is the prayer meeting. The most precious meeting. In the week. For the Christian.
[36:14] Well I begin to doubt. Because I've spent. The past 15. 20 years nearly. Going around. Prayer meetings. In various denominations. Of churches. And to me.
[36:26] It's the least. Attended prayer meeting. And it's little wonder. That Spurgeon. Was such a. Successful pastor. When he said.
[36:37] That the engine room. That drives the church. Of Christ. Is the prayer meeting. His prayer meetings. Were as full. As a Sunday meeting. And that was.
[36:50] As a success. Of his ministry. Are you as a Christian. In the prayer meeting. You ought to be. Because that's the place.
[37:00] Of power. You want to see. These seats flowed. That's where they come. What prominence. Does it have in your life. My friend. Our ultimate.
[37:12] Position. As Christians. As Christians. Is tested. By the character. Of our prayer lives. Prayer. The Bible.
[37:23] States. Is more important. Than knowledge. And understanding. The ultimate. Test of our understanding. And of scriptural.
[37:35] Teaching. Is the amount. Of time. We spend. In prayer. That's awesome. That to me.
[37:48] Is a great challenge. The more time. Spent. In the presence. Of God. And we all know this. As Christians. The stronger. We will be.
[37:59] And the more efficient. And effective. Will be our service. For Christ. And the more useful. We will be. As we reach out.
[38:11] To our community. With the gospel. My friends. Prayer. Is one of the greatest. Mysteries. Of the Christian faith.
[38:23] Prayer. My friend. Makes a difference. Prayer does help. People have sometimes. Foolishly said.
[38:34] If God knows. Everything. What's the point. In praying. Well let us remember. Who. Asked us to pray. No. Commanded us to pray.
[38:46] It's God himself. And that is why. Prayer is so important. But I would covet. Your prayers. For the gospel.
[38:57] In these days. Because we. Find it under attack. And we can see. That prayer. Does have an influence. We've been called. To prayer.
[39:08] For the named person. That was going through. The parliament. By the Christian institute. It's been stalled. And I believe. Prayer. Had a massive part. In that. And we need.
[39:20] As a nation. To get back. To a day of prayer. Of humiliation. And prayer. There was a day. When our king.
[39:32] Called for that. During the war. And was a result of that. Many would say. That what happened. In these wars. That's what changed.
[39:44] And turned to war. Let us remember. Let us remember. My friends. That prayer. Is vitally important. And my friend. If you're not a Christian. Tonight.
[39:55] It is important. That you pray too. And that you ask God. To have mercy upon you. And as we saw this morning. Without Christ. There is no hope.
[40:05] For eternity. And my friends. As Christians. We need to be praying. For those. Who are not praying. For themselves. And we need. To re-engage.
[40:18] With a vision. For mission. In our communities. With the gospel. So let us start praying. For a. For repentance.
[40:29] And for the reviving spirit. Of God's work. To work again. In this island of ours. It did work in the past. God can do it again. Let us pray.