Address—Bob Thonney
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This is the meeting that so often we have trouble staying awake in. So as I often do, I'm going to ask you to stand to sing #144 I don't know if it's very well known, but I've enjoyed this and the chorus of this song. There's not many hymns with choruses and the Little Flock hymn book, but here's one.
Here's one that is repeated in another part of the hymn book.
But we do stand to sing in breaking the bread sometimes. I think some of you probably know it.
Salvation O the joyful.
And what pleasure.
Do our hears.
A sovereign bomb?
For every.
Wound.
For our fears.
Glory, honor, praise, and power beyond to the Lamb forever.
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Praise ye, the Lord.
Salvation.
No ascended lamb to leave up praise belongs.
Salvation.
Shall inspire our hearts and.
Dwell upon our tongues.
Glory. Honor.
Praise and power.
Be unto the Lamb forever.
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Praise.
The Lord.
Thank you.
Let's pray, Father, we're so thankful for that wonderful salvation.
That means of bringing us into eternal blessing. Now, this afternoon, our desire is to open Thy word again and to speak from it, and we confess how insufficient the human vessel is.
But we count upon the direction and help of thy Holy Spirit.
Thank Thee, Father, that in spite of all, Thou art able to make Thy word a blessing to us, and we give thanks.
In that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Start with a verse in First Corinthians chapter one.
Verse 9.
God is faithful.
By whom ye were called unto the fellowship.
Of His Son Jesus Christ our.
Lord.
Wonderful, tremendous privilege. We've been talking about this fellowship during these meetings, and here we find that we are called into it.
When someone in authority makes a call, we generally pay attention.
Remember the time when I got a call from the Selective Service of the United States of America? I did not ignore that call, and it wouldn't have been good if I had ignored it. But brethren, here is a call from someone far greater.
Than any earthly government.
God has called us into the fellowship of His Son.
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Jesus Christ our Lord, to me it is an extremely precious.
Thing to think about.
Are you gonna ignore it? Are you gonna have it on the back burner as if it's really not that important? I've got other things on my plate to take care of.
Oh brethren, the Lord help us to understand the tremendous.
Privilege of what it means to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
With God as Father, as we've had it in one John chapter one.
A little poem here I'd like to read that maybe expresses it.
To stand the power upon the mount with God, with sunlight in the soul, To hear the storms and veils below, to hear the Thunder roll, but to be calm with God, thy God, beneath these glorious skies, for to the height on which you stand.
Nor storm, nor clouds can rise.
Oh, this is life, Oh, this is joy. Oh God, to find its soul, thy face to see.
Thy voice to hear, in all its love to know.
Rather, there is nothing that compares with walking with God in fellowship. We have those in the Old Testament.
That are called to our attention that walked with God.
One, even before the flood.
Walked with God? As far as we know there was number written scriptures at that time. What does it mean to walk with God?
Evidently.
Enoch had communication with God. We don't know exactly how it was, but to me it is extremely precious how it presents it there in Genesis.
He was 65 years old when he had a son.
And he lived another 300 years. You know, Enoch, it doesn't say he did any tremendous feats. He didn't kill a giant like David. But what it says about Enoch is extremely interesting and impressive, really.
He walked with God 300 years.
Wow, I have trouble walking with God for a day.
300 years. If we would ask Enoch, how did you do it, Enoch, I'm sure he would have said to us, I did it just a step at a time. And that's the secret of walking with God. Just take it a step at a time. Do you know what's out in the future? You know what your plans are. You have no clue as to what might happen in the future.
But you know someone who knows the future perfectly. Walk with him. What a privilege it is. You know something else about Enoch?
He is the first one I think in the Bible that knew about.
The second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that was even before the flood, and he prophesied about it.
And we don't learn about it until the New Testament in the book of Jude is who tells us about Enoch and the prophecy he gave about the Lord's second coming. So it's wonderful. Another person that had fellowship with God is Abraham, called the friend of God.
With a friend you think you talk things over.
And one day.
When Abraham is sitting not in the gate of Sodom, sitting in the door of his tent in the heat of the day, all of a sudden there's three men there and he rises up. He seems to know.
Know who they are.
And he offers them.
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Uh, water to wash their feet and then.
He tells Sarah to prepare cakes on the heart, and he tells the servant to prepare an animal. And you know who serves the meal? To the Lord? And the two angels. Did you know that angels eat there? It is pretty clear the three of them ate what Abraham served. Most of the time when I go to people's homes, it's the sisters that serve. It's interesting to me. I have been in homes where the brothers.
Help serve the meal. I I think that's beautiful. Abraham had 318 servants and yet he took the privilege of serving the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? And then when they were done, he tells Abraham he's going to have a son.
And Sarah inside hears it and laughs.
And the Lord knows about it.
So beautiful how they interact. And then he goes about his way, and Abraham goes with him, and the two angels went down to Sodom, and Abraham and the Lord are talking together, and Abraham's thinking about Lot down there. And so he starts bleeding.
For Sodom and he comes down from 50.
To 10, I suppose he thought that it Lot's family, there must have been at least 10 that would have had faith in God, but we really don't know of any more than one. So Sodom was not spared, but Lot was spared and it's beautiful to see how he had fellowship with God. Brethren, it's our privilege to have fellowship with God too, and I just want to encourage.
Especially our younger brethren, but older ones too. To cultivate fellowship with God. Cultivation takes time. You can't just do it in the flick. You've got to take time to enjoy fellowship with God. As we've said in these meetings by reading the scriptures and.
In prayer, because in reading the scriptures, God tells us his thoughts.
And then in prayer, we can tell him our thoughts. And I just want to especially emphasize this. I want to touch on collective fellowship as well, because it's important in our Christian lives. But really, collective fellowship is good only in the measure that we cultivate individual fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
Collective fellowship sometimes.
Can a form of it can be maintained outwardly without?
Any fellowship with the Lord?
And.
In time it will see. It'll be seen to be a sham. Don't do that. God sees our hearts. He tries the reins. He knows me through and through. And you know, sometimes I make judgments about people and later on I find out that I was completely wrong. I don't have that ability when I look at you, dear brethren.
That God can look at us and he knows exactly what moves us.
And so we need to be real with God on the individual basis first of all.
I'd like to go over to the book of the Acts now and read a well known verse that was referred to.
In the readings Acts chapter 2.
And verse 41 and 42.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
And the same day they were added to them about 3.
1000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers.
Verse 41 speaks about two things that we'd like to mention. First of all, first of all, they received His word. How important that is.
To accept the Word of God as the Thessalonians did, not as the word of man, but as the Word of God that effectually works in US who believe. It's amazing when we get that settled at the beginning of our Christian pathway.
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How much that helps in all the decisions of life. It's not a matter of my desires.
My thoughts that are so important, it's a matter of his thoughts. Get that straight. I know sometimes people make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus because they want to escape coming judgment, and that's a valid reason, Don't get me wrong, but.
When it comes to practical, everyday matters of life, they want to do their own thing and they really haven't recognized the Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord and that means He has authority in our lives. He's the one that went to the cross and paid with His precious blood so that we could be redeemed from the.
Sin that had us bound, and from Satan, now we belong to him.
And it's not for us to do what we like, it's for Him to tell us what he wants us to do. The apostle Paul, at the beginning of his career, he was solemn Tarsus, the first thing he said when the Lord called him out of heaven. Saul, Saul, why persecute us? Thou me, he said, Who art thou, Lord? He didn't know who he was that was talking to him.
He knew one thing, that whoever it was that was talking to him was Lord.
He had supreme authority. And then he said, the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And he said, Lord, what would thou have me to do? And that's what should be our lives too, if we understand his Lordship. So I ask, have we received his word in the way it should be received with all authority?
Then the second thing in verse 41 is they were baptized when a person believes is to be baptized.
And we find in the book of the Acts that here in this chapter there were 3000 saved.
They didn't have to go through a catechism to get to be baptized, no.
They were baptized that same day.
The man later on in the book of the Acts, the Philippians jailer. I suppose he was a pretty harsh man.
He didn't even wait till the next day to get baptized. That same hour of the night he and all his were baptized. I think that's beautiful to see and that's what scripture teaches.
We're living in a country where there is a huge baptized.
Profession and sometimes there is confusion on this question of baptism, but it is simple in Scripture. It is the way we are identified with the Lord Jesus in his death and in his resurrection as well.
So then we come to verse 42, and this verse has been such a blessing.
Amongst our Latin brethren, and I find it a blessing to my own soul. We have 4 things here that constitute the program, if you want to put it that way. That word in the early church.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And I want to talk about those four things, you know.
Somebody has said here's a table up here in the middle. It has four legs.
And that's pretty steady table.
But let's cut off one of those legs.
Well, maybe we can prop it against the wall and it'll still be fairly steady.
OK, let's cut off another leg. Well, maybe you can still get it to stand against the wall, and we'll still be able to hold a few things. Well, let's cut off another leg. Now you're gonna have to jam it into a corner to get it to stand, but it's not gonna be steady.
We need these four things. Sometimes we tend to let them slip, and we need him. Brethren, the first thing is the doctrine of the apostles. First two really go together, the doctrine and the fellowship of the apostles. The apostles is an adjective that modifies both doctrine and fellowship.
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And somebody mentioned.
During the readings the importance of the doctrine or the teaching of the apostles and I want to encourage us to be more diligent in searching out the doctrine of the apostles. We have it here in the New Testament. Notice a verse in No lose your place here, but in Ephesians chapter.
Uh.
That I find helpful talking about the church as the building.
Is talking about the foundation and notice how it puts it.
Verse 19. Ephesians 219 Now therefore ye know more strangers.
And foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God, and.
Are built upon the foundation of the Apostles.
And prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Isn't the Lord Jesus the foundation? Isn't it upon that rock we are built? Yes, that is clear. But who has given us the doctrine, the teaching about the Lord Jesus? It is the apostles and prophets. That's the prophets of the New Testament. Because not only were there apostles who wrote this New Testament scriptures, there were some who were not apostles. Luke was not an apostle.
He perhaps was a gentile something. He was a gentile.
But he was a prophet because he gave us some of the word of God and the very important part of the word of God that.
Shows us what happened at the beginning of the Church's history. Very important things, very important teaching.
So we are built upon that. You know, when you build a home, you matter. Make sure that you got it on solid foundation. If somebody builds and they don't have a very good foundation, even though they may use good material, that building is not going to last.
And if you want your Christian life to be solid?
Because there's going to come storms in our lives, we need a solid foundation. We need to pay attention to the doctrine, the teaching of the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, because he is the one that majorly gave us the truth of the church as the body of Christ. So much more he gave us as well.
But that's the doctrine, the teaching.
Of the apostles, the apostle Peter takes up more of the side of the Kingdom of God.
And the apostle John, as we have been talking about, takes up more of the side of the family of God.
But we need that teaching.
Just want to challenge the younger brethren to get into the Word and get into some of the good ministry about the Word.
You know, when I was younger, I worked in Chicago for quite a few years, and in my time there I was, uh, living on my own basically. But I decided that I needed to definitely set aside some time for reading the word, and so I decided to get up an hour earlier every day before I left for work so that I could spend 1/2 to half an hour.
Reading the scriptures and reading ministry about the scriptures and 1/2 hour in prayer, I want to say those hours were blessing to my soul that have helped me in all the trials the Lord has allowed in my life to have a solid foundation to realize that God is for me no matter what happens in my life and there's been some tough trials.
Thank God for a solid foundation, and that's what we desire for you young people.
You go to school to learn a trade or something, or a career. Take time to be in the word. It is well worth your while. But set aside some time. Deliberately do it.
You know, I find prayer is hard work.
It's not easy, you know, I get down on my knees with the Lord and I'll tell you my mind just wandered way off in another direction and I have to bring back my mind and concentrate on prayer. But I find it a blessing. I often get up during the night and pray because there's not too many distractions at that time.
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But put some time aside deliberately to spend with your God.
You know my wife and I, we have a happy relationship and I'm sure she could tell you about some problems I have.
But it's still a happy relationship. But what would you think if I just give her a snippet of time once in a while? Otherwise I just kind of ignore her. What kind of relationship do you think that would be?
God wants our attention, He wants us to walk in fellowship with himself, and we got to take time to do it. So when you read the scriptures, take time to meditate and take time to pray, it's well worth your while. The Lord is a real person.
Sometimes say he's a real man.
He walked down here in this world. He knows what we are going through because he passed through the same things.
As well, and so he can sympathize when we go through things that are difficult. So the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, the point of reference, who may the Lord help us to keep that point of reference clear in our souls. It's not us, it's him.
So now I'd like to go back to Acts 2 and what goes with the doctrine of the apostles. Just like to stop here a minute and comment on what it means. It says they continued steadfast. What does that mean to you? Does that mean that they did it for a while and then they kind of left off and then they decided to keep on doing it a little bit more and then they left off? Is that steadfast? Is that?
That means to you. What it means to me is constant.
Constancy in the doctrine of the Apostles, and I want to encourage you, younger ones especially.
To be at the Bible readings in your home assembly.
You know, I've grown up in the meeting in Walla Walla to my 18 years old. And then I went back and I sat under the ministry of men that were well versed in Scripture. And I can't say that I got very much out of any particular meeting. There were times when I really felt edified.
But it was a little here and a little there and a little over there.
Until it's become a treasure in my soul, the truth of the Word of God. Oh, the treasure it is. And that's what I desire, that each one of us may have that treasure, the doctrine, the teaching of the apostles. So don't neglect the reading meeting. I know sometimes you have classes, but try to schedule your classes so you can get to the reading meeting.
Don't leave it out, remember?
Mayev, one of the places I stayed back in uh, Oak Park, IL was with a couple other young brothers in fellowship and one was studying medicine, which is a pretty demanding course of study and he decided when it came to uh.
Time of exams that he would not leave out, the reading meeting, it meant that he would have to stay up later at night studying and sometimes maybe he didn't even get to bed. I don't remember exactly how that happened, but that was his decision. And you know, I really believe he was the richer for it. So schedule your.
Classes.
So that you don't have to miss the meetings, the prayer meeting too. Let me just encourage the younger brother and in the reading meeting, I know you don't feel and I don't think it's proper for a younger brother when older ones are there to take over and to be teaching the older brothers. No, that's not proper. The Lord Jesus as a young boy was in the presence of the doctors of the law.
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Hearing them and asking questions, and I present that to you in the reading meetings. I find when a younger brother asks a good question.
It really opens up the scriptures. It really helps to break it down so we can all get.
Uh, something out of it I often find in our home meeting when my brother asked the question, everybody comes awake all of a sudden.
I don't know if they were sleeping, but it helps. It really does help younger brother and be exercised about participating properly. Make a comment at times exercise yourself. That's the way a gift grows. It's through use and it's not all at once. It's through the course of time. So the Lord help us to.
Use what he's given to us so.
The fellowship, the Apostles doctrine is the basis of our fellowship.
Like we were mentioned in first John 1, the apostle John says that which we have seen and heard.
Declare we unto you. That's the apostles doctrine. Why? So that ye may have fellowship with us.
So the basis of the Fossils fellowship is the Apostles doctrine.
You and I cannot set aside. This is the way we're going to do it here and here, No.
It's all laid out for us in Scripture and we can meditate on it, we can talk about it. My understanding of it sometimes is lacking, and that's why I appreciate being in meetings like this where, as Scripture says, let the prophet speak two or three, let the others judge. Not judging persons, but judging what is said does it square with Scripture. There's opportunity in a reading meeting.
To correct something that is not quite right.
So the Lord help us to be at the reading meetings and to learn.
Over the course of years, I must say, increasingly, I value the reading meeting.
And then the fellowship is based on that.
This is a collective fellowship, but it's a fellowship that I want to say is not only for when we come together in public meetings like we are now, or even in our public meetings in our home assembly, but it's something that is to be every day. Every day we should cultivate this fellowship. That's why I say it's so important that you understand that it is an individual thing, first of all.
And to cultivate it individually. And then when you come together, there will be.
Automatically fellowship amongst ourselves. Lord help us in this.
Just want to say as to the fellowship, it's called the Fellowship of the Apostles.
In first John 13, it's called the Fellowship of the Blood of Christ.
We have read to us this morning, it's called the Fellowship of the Body of Christ because.
It is a fellowship that embraces every true believer in the whole world.
That loaf that was on the table? One loaf because there is one body.
And so it's a privilege when you meet up with believers elsewhere.
To realize this precious truth, so often I get asked when I am meet up with a believer, what denomination do you belong to? I don't belong to any denomination. I tell them, well what's the name of your church? Well, we have the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the name that we try to present. But what is the name of your group?
So it's it's difficult for them to understand and with time perhaps they will, but to be able to relate as much as possible without compromising ourselves, but to relate that we are members of one body and that's the group that we recognize, those that have accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior.
When they did that, they believed the gospel of their salvation. They were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And that Holy Spirit is.
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The power that unites us into one body in Christ. Beautiful brethren. But that means that there should be interest on our part of our brethren at large to it abroad. And it shouldn't be just merely interest. We should learn to pray for them earnestly in any measure we can to help out.
It really touched my heart when Tim Roach came back from Malawi some time ago, until about a sister in that land who was a widow. Maybe you've heard it, too. And she had six children she was trying to keep fed, and in the course of time she starved herself to death.
And I think of how well we eat over here, brother, I don't know.
What we're going to say to the Lord at the judgment seat. We have responsibility, brethren, to reach out when we know there's need to help out our brethren in other parts. There is real need. Let's be exercised about it. That's the truth we gather on that. There's one body, and it doesn't include us only. It includes every true believer in the Lord Jesus, our brethren.
In those Muslim countries who are suffering intense persecution, Jim was telling us about Egypt.
The terrible pressure they are on to think that they can't be at ease when their children or their daughters, their wives go out into the street. It's, it's a tremendous thing.
We can support them with their prayers and we ought to. But let's just, I just want to say this, especially to those who are younger, think about your resources in helping in some way. I don't tell you what you must do, but I say just put yourself at the Lord's disposition. He's the head. And I'm amazed when the Lord does that. When a person does that, how the Lord can direct.
In one way or another.
It's beautiful to see what the Lord is doing through other instruments in different parts of the world. There's need everywhere, and so that is part of what it is, the fellowship of the body of Christ.
Now the next one is the breaking of bread, and this is a wonderful privilege that we had this morning to sit down at the Lord's table and celebrate His supper. We have it gone into extensively in First Corinthians chapter 10.
And Chapter 11 First Corinthians chapter 10 tells.
About the Lord's Table. First Corinthians Chapter 11 tells about the Lord's Supper. They're presented together, and I believe they're meant to go together. What is the Lord's Table? Is that just a doctrinal terminology? No, I believe in my own soul. It's my conviction that there is something in this world.
That relates to it practically, and it's for you and I to discern by the light of Scripture where that is. Check. Hendrix used to say, I could tell you where I think it is, but I might lead you astray. But there is another one, the Holy Spirit of God, who will not lead you astray.
Be in fellowship with the Lord.
Let the Spirit of God lead you, and if he leads you.
And he leads me, we're not going to be separated and different fellowships. No, it'll be the fellowship of the body of Christ, fellowship of the blood of Christ. It's such a privilege for me to go in and out of our with our brethren in Latin America and to enjoy that fellowship. And I just want to encourage.
Here as well, because brethren in South America always ask about their brethren up here. They're interested, brother.
And they say, please take our greetings to our North American brethren. Tell them we're praying for them.
Reverend, we can pray for them too. And I just want to encourage you, especially young people just taking, taking a holiday and some beach somewhere, go down to see your brother in South America. There's lots of young people in Bolivia and Peru and Argentina and Brazil go down to see him. You know, people say to me, well, I don't know how to preach.
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Well, I'm not talking about preaching. Go down and just sit down beside him.
And they will know that you are a fellow member of the body of Christ.
Take take your letter of commendation. You can break bread there as well.
It's a it's a powerful testimony to the unity of the truth of the one body of Christ. I find that a very big blessing just to be able to do that, Brendan.
Was just up in the High Plains of Bolivia. This last visit to Bolivia last month over the Easter weekend, there was a conference in Sevaruju to the South of La Paz Naruto and was there and brother said to me.
You know how long ago it has been since you've been here? I said no, I don't have any clue. Says 34 years ago. Wow. How do you know that? Because that was the first time I came to a conference here and you were here.
But they just to be there, I could see how those dear old sisters came up to me and said to me, Roberto, you've forgotten about us, I said, Then why am I here if I'd forgotten about you?
Oh, I remembered and come back. But it is a blessing, brethren, and so in any measure that the Lord may lay on your heart to go down to see your brethren remember, it binds us together in a practical way. It's a real blessing.
We can break bread together.
Now, prayers, and this is a subject that I find very interesting and I must say I don't know that we know very much about it.
I would like to speak briefly on prayers in the collective way as a family and individually. Let's take up individual first.
Long prayers are for the closet, not for public.
And that has been a help to me when Buchanan was like a spiritual father for me, often used to say that.
Short prayers for the prayer meeting. Long prayers for the closet.
Know what Martin Luther said? It always impressed me, he said. I have so much work to do every day. I dare not take any less than three hours to pray.
No wonder God used that man.
We say our prayers. We are hurrying at the door.
Brethren, let's learn to pray as Scripture tells us. Maybe we can go to the book of Matthew where it tells about individual prayer and it speaks about a closet. Very interesting.
Matthew.
Chapter 6.
And verse five, When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward, but thou.
When thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret.
And thy father, which is in secret, shall reward thee openly.
A closet.
I don't know. We have to apply this as to a closet in our houses. The Lord Jesus when he was here was the dependent man, and you find him often going out a great while before its day all by himself.
Wasn't Jesus God? Did he have to take time to pray? You know what? He was a real dependent man as well, and as such he took time to pray. There is one case in which he prayed all night.
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And it was the time just before he chose his 12 apostles. I'm wondering if the reason it took him all night because he agonized over one of those choices. Judas Iscariot, that was.
Later on he would have to say to him, better would it have been if he had never been born, but he chose him.
Judith chose a different direction.
But the Lord Jesus was on in prayer, and I love the examples we have in the Gospel of Luke because in the Gospel of Luke you have him seven times.
In prayer.
Perfect man, dependent man. You know, the glory of man is to be dependent and obedient. And the Lord Jesus was dependent and obedient. And I think of when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and Ted read that on the 1St Gospel night.
How he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
In his agony.
Why did he have agony? Because he's completely sinless. He was intrinsically holy and he was looking ahead to that time when he was going to be made sin.
And everything in his being withdrew from the thought of contact with sin.
In the perfection of his obedience, he says, not my will.
But thine be done.
And then he gets up and he goes to Calvary to pay the price in full. Oh, what perfection you see in him in prayer. Was there agony? Yes, there was agony. There was sweat, as it were, great drops of blood that fell on the ground.
But he prayed and he went forward. And that's the secret of our.
Going forward with God as well, dear brethren, is to pray, and even if it is in agony, intense. You know Scripture speaks about prayer a lot in the New Testament. One of the words it uses is supplications. You ever thought about what that means? It means something intense.
Have you ever got intense with God?
About something that is weighing in your life, You can do that. That's proper. Scripture says that we ought to be that way.
The Lord help us to be that way in our prayers.
So.
Think about it, young person, a place in your home where you can be alone with God.
Where you won't be interrupted.
I have a place in my home where I go to pray.
You know, it's a wonderful thing because I get down on my knees at that particular place to pray.
But I'm not just merely in my home.
In faith, when we pray, we go right into the holiest of all before the throne of grace. A greater privilege you cannot tell me about.
Oh, brethren, the privilege of prayer. And yet it doesn't seem that important. What does it matter if I pray ever? Don't pray.
It matters, and Satan is going to try to put doubts in your mind, but it matters. You know what I've learned to do in my prayer time? I have a little notepad right next to me on a little table. The Lord lays certain things on my mind in my time of prayer. I jot Him down and I find that so often things I've forgotten about.
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The Lord reminds me about a call or an e-mail that I need to send to somebody or make contact with somebody.
Lord help us. That's individual prayer. Like to touch on what is family prayer because that's an important part of prayer as well.
In.
First Peter, chapter 3.
Peter was a married man.
It tells us that in the book of Corinthians.
And also in the gospels we have that the Lord healed his mother-in-law, so he was a married man. We don't have.
Anything about his wife or whether he had children, we don't know. But it's interesting. He speaks to the wives in the 1St 6 verses. Very important instruction for our dear sisters. Let me just say this.
That it tells us that women should adorn themselves.
Did you hear me? Women should adorn themselves not with outward things, but with inward ornaments, talks about in verse 4.
The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God.
Of great price, Let me tell you, when I see that ornament on our sisters, does that ever make them beautiful? Maybe not the way this world thinks of beautiful. But think about it. You're told to adorn yourselves first. Timothy Two, you have another thing that a woman is to adorn herself with. I just leave you to look that up yourself.
But coming down to verse seven, notice this is.
Likewise, husband she husbands, are we to be subject to because it tells the wives to be in subjection verse one. Now verse seven it says likewise, are we to be in subjection to? Yes.
Because even as the woman head is the man, the man's head is Christ, and we need to understand that we need to be in subjection.
To the Lord likewise ye husbands dwell with them with the.
Our wives, according to knowledge you know your wife, my wife is a little different, and according to the knowledge you have of your wife, accordingly dwell with her, take her into consideration, giving honor to the wife as unto the weaker vessel.
It says weaker. That means that we are weak. They are weaker.
Oh brethren, let's not forget how frail we really are.
Just a small accident and sometimes we're laid low. We are weak.
And as being heirs together of the grace of life, notice this last part that your prayers be not hindered. I love this. This is family prayer and it shows that there should be prayer in the family. You know, in the assembly, the women don't pray.
In audible voice, they really do pray because.
Its assembly prayer in the voice of the Brother. That praise is really the voice of the whole assembly, including the Sisters.
But in the family, there is no prohibition that the woman should not pray.
And I found it a tremendously.
Blessed thing, when we are by ourselves, my wife and I, we both pray and I listen to her prayers. And a woman's view of things is different than a man's.
She's not out of her place, no, but I find it a blessing to listen to the things she prays for, and I think that's what it means. When there's children, sometimes they can be included as well.
Remember, a time really was etched on our hearts.
Hearts as a family when we were, we'd come back from living in South America and we used to go in, uh, the vacation times of the children down to South America to visit. That would be the end of May, beginning of June and spend two to three months down there.
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This particular year, when the thing came time to buy the tickets, I we just didn't have the money for it.
Happened to be the year that.
The World Cup, World Soccer Cup was played in the United States of America and that year Bolivia qualified to come to the States. Anyhow, I said to the family after our new meal and said we're going to have a family prayer meeting and, uh, we're going to pray what the Lord wants us to do because we just don't have enough to go to South America.
So we all knelt down and I prayed for my daughter, prayed next, and as soon as she said Amen.
The phone rings. I said, everybody stay there, we're gonna keep on praying. And I go answer the phone. And it was the travel agent that we usually got the tickets from. Mr. Tony, I don't know if you're interested, but.
Uh, the Bolivian airlines is coming to the states all full and they're going back empty and they have given a reduced price. It's about half price. I said, I'll call you right back. So we got back down on her knees and the rest of the prayers were thanking the Lord for his answer because.
Now we had enough. The Lord didn't give us anymore, but he reduced the price of the tickets so we could get down there. Oh brother, we have a great God. Let's pray. Let's teach our children to pray. Let's pray, you know, as a family. It's a blessing.
But now, just to touch on collective prayer, let's go over to Acts chapter.
Four please.
Here the apostles have been.
Beaten.
They're under persecution and threats.
And.
Uh, in verse, uh.
23 It says, Being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had been had said unto them. When they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God. Notice their voice singular. 1 voice was heard. They lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord.
Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth in the sea, and all that is in them, in them is. So we have the rest of the prayer there.
So they prayed. But what I like to say is this is collective prayer and.
The person that stands up to pray in assembly meeting is the voice of the whole assembly.
That's why he says our blessed God and Father. It doesn't say my breath blessed God and Father. Sometimes there are those who are.
No, and don't distinguish that. But is the voice of the assembly. Not everybody starts talking at once, you know. There are places where everybody prays at the same time. That's not collective prayer, that's individual prayer.
So we need to understand this is something that Scripture speaks about. I listen to the brother that is praying and at the end I'm in agreement with what he's asked. I say Amen.
There are certain meanings I go to and, uh, I'd hardly ever hear any Amens, I like to encourage you to say Amen, you're in agreement. That's proper. That's scripture.
So the Lord help us, brethren, to be exercised to continue steadfastly in prayer, collectively in family life and individually. The Lord help us. Our time is gone. So we just close in prayer. Father, bless each one here. Help us to know what it means to walk.
In fellowship with the Lord Jesus. What a wonderful, tremendous privilege.
In a world that still gone astray, help us. We give thanks for the time together as Thee, for the meetings that are left today, Thy blessing on them as well. Our dear brethren that may be traveling, we ask all in that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.