RT Kendall Colossians The Privilege of Prayer

I'm reading from Colossians 1:7 be Epirus is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God as well kamati one of the greatest fringe benefits of being a Christian is the privilege of Prayer brief word of Prayer Heavenly Father I asked now for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus by your spirit to rest upon every mind in this place in order that their perception of what I say will be heard as you intend cleanse my tongue that I will be your transparent instrument to say what needs to be said nothing that doesn't need to be said help me to be simple clear may this be a life-changing word and a word that brings great honor and glory to your name I pray in Jesus name Amen Oh what peace we often forfeit Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer I want us to look at this part of Colossians and see the privilege of Prayer and may I remind you that these people that Paul is addressing they are not his converts now when it came to the Corinthians they were Paul's converts the Ephesians they were Paul's converts Galatians they were Paul's Thessalonians they were Paul's but Colossians a person by the name of Epirus was the man who led them to the Lord and a church is founded there and Paul is going to talk now saying how he has not stopped praying for these Colossians have you ever thought about the privilege of knowing you are prayed for now as I say one of the greatest fringe benefits a bigger christian is the privilege of prayer but we must never forget the main benefit it crossed my mind to say I wonder if you were given a sheet of papers you came in and you were to fill out why a person should be a Christian what would you write down but ask yourself right now if someone puts you on the spot and said why should your neighbor your relatives your friend person you work for be a Christian and never forget the main benefit is that you go to heaven because the death of Jesus satisfied God's justice and wrath on the cross the blood pacified God the earliest and first message of the New Testament Matthew chapter 3 flee from the wrath to come and that is why Jesus died on the cross close to assurance of heaven is knowing God jesus prayed John 17 verse 3 for his disciples for all of us that we might know him know the God of the Bible God wants us to know two things his word and his ways now there are other fringe benefits for example the fact that God guides your life in all your ways acknowledge him that's prayer and he will direct your path that is guidance it's wonderful to know that he supplies our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus God promised to supply our needs he heals the body God listens to you as though there were no one else praying and prayer puts us in immediate contact with a supreme power of the Universe it's when you're talking to God and asking him for things you're asking God to act when we get to heaven there will be no praying in heaven nobody will need prayer there'll be no soul-winning in heaven everybody will be saved there'll be no tithing in heaven for some there be no tithing on earth either but there'll be no praying in heaven and God will listen to you as though there were no one else but there's one interesting thing going on in heaven now not sure how it's carried out but Revelation chapter 5 verse 8 talks about the prayers of the Saints as if they are kept in a vial and at a right time to be poured out God does not forget any prayer and they are you could say bottled up in heaven someone said to me this week that he thinks no generation has had prayer like London has had in our day what happens to all those prayers I believe a few years ago pastor Colin believed that God gave him a vision there's going to be mercy on London are you aware of that there's been revival in England Newcastle in Wesley's day Bristol Wesley's day Cornwall in westlin day but it didn't come to London and it's long overdue I've felt for a long time I don't remember if I've said this publicly I might have I've said it privately I believe the next great move of God will start at England and it wouldn't surprise me it makes sense for it to start in London and we long for this day and if my friend John Paul Jackson got it right he says the key to the next move of God on the earth next great mood is the book of Romans and especially at Romans chapter 4 I said John Paul do you realize what they're saying that means just as in Luther's day the gospel was rediscovered Jonathan Edwards preaching that led to the Great Awakening for five years preached nothing but justification by faith alone it was John Wesley who taught Whitfield the teaching of justification by faith alone what that means is that once we put all of our eggs into one basket the blood of Jesus not your works not trying to impress God with how good you are how many good things you've done but recognizing only the blood of Jesus when you transfer the trust that you had in your good works to what Jesus did for you on the cross righteousness is put to your credit and that's called the gift of salvation forgiveness of all our sins that is the main benefit but now Paul talks to these Colossians and he says that he's been praying for them ever since he heard of them and he heard of them through Epirus who told Paul these things and I think if I understand the way Paul is this one of the things that impressed Paul the most is that emphasis he says made known to us your love in the spirit what an interesting phrase as far as I know that's nowhere else as we saw last time it partly means non-sexual love it's the way Mary Magdalene felt when she was loved by Jesus he was the first person to show any respect for her love in the spirit the Greek could really read and better translate it love by the Spirit because the Holy Spirit enables us to love people that are unlovable enables you to forgive those who have been so hurtful it enables you to pray for those who don't deserve prayer we all know that Jesus said pray for your enemies I think our tendency is to say Heavenly Father I just commit them to you because you're hoping God will kill them that is not what Jesus had in mind we are to bless your enemy and you actually pray that God will bless that person who's been so hurtful bless that person who has made up stories about you bless the person who would do evil you say well how can you do it the answer is it's love by the Spirit every Christian has the Holy Spirit remember this the moment you transfer your trust to what Jesus did for you on the cross you are given the Holy Spirit and because you have the Holy Spirit you can do things that people that aren't saved could never do imagine praying for your enemy praying for your enemy are you ready to pray this that they don't get caught for what they did that you ask God to bless them say well I could never do that apply the golden rule when you pray wouldn't you like people to pray for you that God will overlook things that you've done wrong wouldn't it be wonderful well what I want us to see is two things tonight the first is the inestimable privilege of being prayed for now Paul started praying for these people I don't know how much they appreciated that but these are people who impressed Empress who told it to Paul they're at love by the spirit some Christians grow faster than others and sadly some Christians even though they're truly converted never reach the place that they pray for their enemies and sincerely pray that God will bless them I'll tell you something if you reach the place that you will pray that it'll it's hard at first but when you realize what it's doing it becomes a very selfish thing to bless your enemies because you're the one that gets the greatest benefit from it well these people began to experience the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit helps you love the unlovable forgive the deepest hurt and you develop a relationship and remember this I wonder if you thought of it they didn't have a Bible do you realize in the early church the earliest church they didn't have the Bible be the Old Testament but these were Gentiles chances are they never heard of the Old Testament and the nearest thing they would have just scripture is this actual letter that Paul is writing to them it becomes scripture and Ephesus was probably only 20 miles away they probably got that letter because Paul wants them to exchange letters with each other that's the nearest to scripture that they had and you wonder how did they grow well they learned to love by the spirit now imagine this being prayed for by the Apostle Paul I don't know as I said whether they appreciated that but one of the greatest things you can do for another person is to pray for them and one of the best feelings in the world is to know they're somebody praying for you I wonder if I can see a show of hands that you are aware that there are people who pray for you anybody here like that you're aware of that it's the most wonderful thing in the world the whole time nearly that I was at Westminster Chapel for the better part of 25 years there's one person there who committed on his own to pray for me an hour a day imagine that having one person he did it for nearly 25 years then the last week I was there I called him in and I said you've done your job you've gone beyond the call of duty I release you you can stop now pray for your new minister and the thought of being prayed for I used to have people say I pray for you I remember somebody in Glasgow said I pray for you every day I never admit them I lost I think much of all that when we moved back to America we still have some that pray for us I once invited Joseph song to preach at Westminster Chapel and he told how he found out that dr. Martin lloyd-jones prayed for Joseph stone every night before he went to bed during those years when josef tson was in romania when we used to talk about being behind the iron curtain and joseph was overwhelmed to think of that and when I find somebody praying for me now there may be somebody here tonight you say well I don't know of anybody that prays for me I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands there's anybody here that you don't know that anybody prays for you but I can tell you something you may not know I know of two persons that pray for you persons of the Godhead God the Son Jesus Christ interceding for you at the right hand of God and second the person of the Holy Spirit according to Paul when you don't know what to pray for you just groan and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and you groan uttering things that you don't understand the Holy Spirit intercedes according to the will of God so let no one say nobody prays for you there is one here's the thing you may think that it's more efficacious if you have the Apostle Paul praying for you but you know anybody can pray and to be heard comes not from being an apostle but by praying in the will of God here's the key to getting your prayer answered pulse John said if we ask anything according to his will he hears us that's the way you get your per answered problem is we might pray in God's will and don't realize it and you think well nothing happened John went on to say if we know that he hears us we know that we will get it now that's something that doesn't happen every day when you know what advance you've just been heard God usually doesn't tell you in advance take Zechariah and Elizabeth one day they were greeted by the angel who said to them your prayer has been heard and they think prayer what prayer well says the angel you have prayed for a son you and Elizabeth for a son oh that prayer oh well that was 25 years ago there's got to be some mistake I'm an old man and have you taken a look at my wife lately if she's not able to hit bear children can you imagine anything more dumb than arguing with an angel who says your prayer has been heard but the thing is they prayed in the will of God any prayer prayed in the will of God will be answered and you may feel your prayer wasn't answered don't worry Zechariah prayed for a son God said yes he just didn't tell them you may as well why doesn't God tell us you'll be nice to know I think and I know if you got what you wanted you to stop praying you would just say well I don't need to pray anymore I've got it you may recall a couple of years ago the Evangelist jaejoong preached here j-john used to come and see me at Westminster Chapel and we'd spent a couple hours and one day he came in he said RTF just got back from India and I can't wait to tell you what's happened but he says nobody in England will believe what I saw mr. talk to me he said I saw people healed I saw arms outstretched I saw blind people healed and they told me that as you're preaching when the miracles start happening we know what to do as what do you mean miracles I didn't come to do that I don't do that I just preach the gospel we know we know but there will be miracles we know what to do just keep preaching or Jay Johnson I've never had seen anything like it but I saw it with my own eyes and then he said while I was there I kept hearing about a sister Teresa not mother Teresa sister Teresa who had unusual words of knowledge and Jay Johnson well I'd love to meet her well couple days later they brought sister Teresa and said this Jay Jonah's sister Teresa Jay Johnson will have heard a lot about you if you get any word for me would you please share it with me hence he said she just turned around walked away he said I thought I had offended her but she came back 45 minutes later with a list of 13 things and started in number one and said begin to tell me things that only God knew only God knew I didn't told anybody and then she came to number 13 on the list and said God likes your company he wants two hours of your time every day goodbye and he never saw her again he said to me Artie I'm going to do it and he started praying 2 hours a day at that time Jay John was fairly well known but it was after that time he began to see things work in his ministry he's preached in every Cathedral in England he's preached to members of the royal family they had revival at a church in Bristol that made the front page of The Times all goes back God likes your company and I asked you how much do you pray and you said well I just wish I knew that somebody prayed for me well I've just told you how much do you pray children spell love T I am e and Jesus gave the parable of the importunate widow that Widow who went to the judge and said invent me of my adversary and he wouldn't do it and she kept going every day every day every day avenge me of my adversary and the judge finally said ok and then Jesus said you'd be like that in your praying that means you don't stop you don't give up and the wonderful thing is that Jesus at the right God doesn't stop and we live by his prey by the way when Jesus prays would you say he prays believing do you think he prays saying old father I help my unbelief it's a perfect faith this is why the Apostle Paul could say in Galatians 2:20 I live by the faith of the Son of God live by his faith my faith is weak many years ago after we first moved to London our son TR I think he was 10 years old it just happened that in the previous three or four months he attended different schools in angry school two American schools and now when we received the invitation to be the minister of Weston's at Chapel we're now coming back he has to go to an English school and he was not happy he said daddy you said we were going home because those years when we first came over we all were looking forward to going home and TR couldn't understand it now he's got to go back to an English school which was not a pleasant memory for him when we were at Oxford and I took him to Montpelier school and Ealing and we drove up and TR would not get out of the car I said TR you have to go you want ice to look at all those kids on the playground they're going to be your friends he wouldn't go a tear rolled down his cheek neither what on earth Simone want to do I said tre you have to go now felt horrible it came to me I said look at me I said daddy we'll be praying for you non-stop all day long remember if you get scared right then daddy's praying for you if a teacher says something's not very pleasant really right then daddy's praying for you all day long non-stop I'm gonna be praying for you he opened the car door walked out never looked back I can see him now going on to the school ground and I kept my word I prayed for that boy all day long and now that's what Jesus does for us we live by his faith and if there is one here and there could be you say all these people have people praying for them I don't have anybody praying for me well you do Jesus at the right hand of God with a perfect faith and he puts requests to the Father that are according to your need in fact no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly and in the same way when you don't know what to pray for the Holy Spirit intercedes for us so you have somebody praying for you no Paul says we have not ceased we have not stopped praying for you and then he made it clear he put specific requests it's not just saying I prayed for you but he had specific things it's just a hint to us that when we talk to God proverbs 3 6 in all your ways acknowledge him I would urge you to have a prayer list go through the prayer list every day as though you had never played it before talk to God he cares more about you than you do yourself and so be specific and so what Paul said from the day we heard about you and your loving the Spirit we have not stopped praying for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding wisdom and understanding what's the difference will wisdom that's having the presence of the mind of the spirit the ancient Greeks thought that Sophia Greek word for wisdom was only given to the gods Plato Aristotle ordinary people couldn't have that but James says yes you can if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God he wants to give it to you the presence of the mind of the Spirit that means wisdom to know what to do next knowing the next step forward wisdom so that you don't mess up and you won't have a regret for what you're doing there's nothing like it in the gifts of the Spirit what Christmas well it's first listed wisdom wisdom and by the way wisdom does not come automatically when you're filled with the spirit did you know that I can prove it when they were looking for Deacons in the earliest church they chose Stephen man a man who was filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom and that was the requirement to be a deacon to be full of the spirit and wisdom I know a lot of spirit filled people that don't have wisdom you would think they would but some of them don't and wisdom this is something Paul is praying for for these people there in colossi wisdom and understanding what that means is that you understand the gospel you begin to understand God's ways and they'll hose the Prophet Hosea said my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge this is what Christians need knowledge understanding knowing God's ways God lamented of ancient Israel my people have not known my ways how do you get to know a person's ways there's only one way spend time with them that's the way you get to know a person you spend time with them question I don't mean to be unfair but how much do you pray Sybil this flashed on the screen your name and how much time you give to God every day children spell love TI m e when you stand before God at the judgment seat of Christ and you will you may have many regrets over how you spent your time who with how you spent your money where spent but you will have no regrets over time spent alone with God nobody ever said on their deathbed I wish I spent more time in the office but the day will come when you're aware and you think this is it this is it your time will come and it will mean everything in the world that you put God first and so Paul wants them to be filled with the knowledge of his will God has a will for your life he's got a plan what he has already decided is a thousand times greater than what you could come up with if you could see what he's decided for you and then you put alongside that what you would like him to decide for you I can tell you that what he's got in mind for you is a thousand times greater than anything you could come up with on your own and so Paul realizes these Colossians are not his converts but he knows they need an apostle and he steps right in and adopts them and prays for them as though they were his converse and this is what he's asking and that they might come as he put it here wisdom and understanding and increase in the knowledge of God the minds million years ago a young lady was converted right out of the world at Westminster Chapel glorious conversion and she came to see me in the vestry and she said I've got so much to learn which is a healthy sign when people realize that and I said you wait and see a couple years later she came in and she said I've learned so much I wouldn't have thought it possible the way to get to know God spend time with him get to know his word Colin's given you a Bible reading plan that will take you through the Old Testament and the New Testament once a year in the New Testament twice a year this is the way you get to know God and to know his ways finally the way you become a Christian is by a prayer maybe you've never talked to God but here's a good introduction Jesus gave a parable of two men that went into the temple one a Pharisee one a publican the publican said God have mercy upon me a sinner that was his prayer the Pharisee said god I thank you that I'm not like these other people the Pharisee thought that he was a kind of everybody cut above everybody else and as long as you think that you've been good enough nice enough you'll go to heaven you're not even close but the way to be is like this publican who is it God have mercy on me a sinner that's a prayer to pray do you know for sure that if you were to die today would you go to heaven do you know that and if you were to stand before God you will and he were to ask you he might why should I let you into my heaven what exactly would you say if you're leaning on how good you think you are you're not close if you're trusting in the fact that you were baptized that won't do if you say but Artie I've done my best even that won't do you see well that's not fair what more can you do it is because your best is never good enough in order to get to heaven on your own steam you've got to be sinless faultless in thought word deed 60 seconds a minute 60 minutes an hour every day of your life nobody's like that but Jesus came to this earth perfectly fulfilled all the requirements given to you to get in he didn't for you he did him for he kept the law for you he was even baptized for you he did everything he died for you and what you must do is pray this prayer and if you don't know for sure that if you were to die right now you go to heaven here's what you need to pray don't need to say it out loud just say it in your heart God will see you he will hear you Lord Jesus I need you tell him I want you I know I'm a sinner I'm sorry for my sins thank you for dying on the cross for me wash my sins away by your blood I welcome your Holy Spirit into my heart and as best as I know how I give you my life

Channel: Kensington Temple

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Length: 35min 28sec (2128 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2019