Wanted: Help and Prayer

0:52When these college students remind me that, you know, if your birth date starts with 1900 something, you are in fact old. Anyway, the show is about a man named John Reed, and John Reed had a unit of Texas Rangers that was ambushed by a bunch of outlaws, and the outlaws killed everybody in his unit except for him, and they left him for dead. And so he, after he recovered, fashioned this black mask to conceal his identity, and he spent the rest of his days hunting down bad guys and bringing them to justice.

1:26And so to this day, when we talk about someone who likes to Work alone, we use the term lone ranger. The reality is that in our culture, we have lots of those, lots of lone rangers, even in the church. You see, many American Christians have been taught to think of Christianity primarily as a solo endeavor between you and God. Mainly a private relationship between the individual and God Himself. And so, when they think of Sunday worship, these believers don't tend to think of it as a time where you go both to give and to receive from the body of Christ, but instead, they tend to think of it as a time where I go to learn, where I go to get filled up, where I go to better fulfill my ministry.

2:21The focus is on them, and they are in many ways lone rangers. But that's not the way that things are supposed to be. Last week, we covered Romans 15:14 through 21, and we talked about godly pride and ambition. Paul took great pride in fulfilling his ministry among these regions that he had evangelized and where he had planted churches. And he had a great ambition to evangelize and plant churches where that work was not currently going on. And so, we saw that every Christian is called to develop a godly ambition to fulfill their ministry. So that once we have done that, we can take a godly pride in the work that we have accomplished for God.

3:09But Christianity is not a lone ranger religion. You can practice Eastern meditation by yourself. You can practice New Age spirituality by yourself. You can invent your own religion, as many people functionally do, and practice that by yourself. But you can't practice Christianity by yourself. Every Christian is a member of the body of Christ. And as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 12, all of the parts of the body need all of the other parts of the body. Take a look on the screen at verses 14 through 18 in 1 Corinthians 12.

3:48Paul says, For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

4:16But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. Paul understood that he was just one part of the body of Christ. Now, Paul played a very important role, but he was just one part of the body. He knew that he needed the other members of the body of Christ, and the other members of the body of Christ needed him if everyone was going to fulfill their ministry. So building on last week's text, it's important that every one of us understand our calling, understand our assignment, understand the ministry that God has given to each one of us. We want to develop a holy ambition to fulfill our ministry, the thing that God has called you to do, the thing that He has entrusted you to do. We want to develop that holy ambition so that we can take pride in God's work through us in the end.

5:14But we must understand that we cannot fulfill our ministries alone. We cannot complete the assignment that God has given to us without help from the body of Christ. We are not lone rangers. And so here's what we're going to learn today through Romans 15. Every Christian needs help and prayer to fulfill their ministry. Every Christian needs help and prayer to fulfill their ministry. So let's begin with that first truth. Every Christian needs help to fulfill their ministry.

5:49Look with me at verse 22. Paul says, this is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any reason, Room for work in these regions. And since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.

6:15So, in this first verse here, verse 22, Paul helps them to understand why he hasn't been to visit them after all of these years, the reason why he's been hindered from coming to see them. And if you look back at verse 20, which we covered last week, in verse 20, Paul says, and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. So, Paul's ambition was to go not just where there were unreached people groups, but where there were unengaged people groups. Not just where people hadn't heard of Christ, but where people had no opportunity to hear about Christ because there were no Christians and there were no churches anywhere near them.

7:04But now, Paul says, he has completed his assignment in the eastern part of that world. He has fulfilled his ministry there. There's no more work for him to do in those regions where he's already planted churches. And that's not because every person in those regions had been reached. It's simply because that now, thanks to his church planting efforts, there are Christians and there are gospel preaching churches in every ministry. Major city center. Now it was their responsibility, it was the responsibility of those Christians and those gospel-preaching churches to take the good news of Jesus into their community and into the communities around them.

7:46So Paul believed that the work in the East is finished, and so he plans to go to the far western edge of the known world, to Spain. And Spain was a strategic location for ministry. Spain had great farmland, and so it provided significant crops for the growing Roman Empire. There were several famous authors that came from Spain that wrote at this time. There were several future emperors who had come from Spain. And of course, it is the home of Maximus Decimus Meridius.

8:22But before he goes to Spain, Paul intends to finally come and visit these Roman Christians, whom he has longed for many years to meet. And in verse 24, he shares his two purposes in coming to them: to enjoy their fellowship and to be helped on his journey. So, first and most simply, Paul wants to enjoy the fellowship of the Roman Christians. You know, David declared in Psalm 133: Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

8:57Every believer knows the sweetness of Christianity. Fellowship. But you don't fully appreciate it until you don't have it. And I think that's why those who live in places with few Christians, those of you who work in industries with few Christians, those of you students who don't have many Christians in your major or in your classes, that's why Christian fellowship is so sweet to you. It's because all week long you're not surrounded by Christians. You don't have fellowship. You can't wait for life group. You can't wait for worship. You can't wait for Sunday morning and those other times you're with Christians because you get that opportunity to fellowship. But I think there are those of us who have plenty of opportunities for Christian fellowship and therefore we take it for granted. So when we get together, we gripe about the weather or Aggie football or whatever else.

9:55But when you don't have a lot of Christian fellowship and you get to enjoy it, you long for it. You can't wait for those opportunities and you spend them encouraging and building one another up during those times that you are together. And so Paul longed for that. He didn't have a lot of Christian fellowship at seasons of his life and he wanted to enjoy that sweet fellowship with the Roman Christians. But second, the second reason that Paul wants to come and visit them is because he knew he needed their help on his journey. Now, that That word translated helped in the ESV doesn't really do the Greek word justice. I want you to look at what John Stott has to say about that verb. He says the verb became almost a technical Christian term for helping missionaries on their way. It undoubtedly meant more than good wishes and a farewell prayer. In most cases, it also involved supplying them with provisions and money, and sometimes providing them as well with an escort to accompany them at least part of the way.

11:02That's the kind of help that Paul knew that he was going to need if he was going to make it to Spain at all, much less make it to Spain in a condition to preach the gospel and plant churches there. Paul understood what nearly every missionary understands, and that is, without the help, without the spiritual and emotional and financial support of a sending church, he was simply not going to make it as a pioneer missionary and church planter.

11:34And brothers and sisters, we can't forget that. Praise God for the men and women among us who have been called or who will be called to go to the unreached and unengaged peoples of the world. That's wonderful. But we cannot forget that without our help, they are not going to make it. Church planting pioneer missions is too hard. You are leaving Christian fellowship. You're leaving your family members. You are leaving your culture and language and everything that you know behind to do that hard work.

12:12You know, a few weeks ago, we did our spring gardening, which we do every spring. And so we get out there in the flowerbed and we're pulling all of the weeds and we're, you know, getting everything ready to plant new plants and pruning the ones that are there. And that work takes about a day. By the time you go to Lowe's 16 times and do all the things, it's about a day. But when we first moved into this house 12 years ago, getting that flowerbed ready the first time took a week. I was out there for days with a shovel and a hoe and a pickaxe and all kinds of stuff, digging up all of the grass that was there in front of our house, getting all of the rocks out of there, getting ready to plant. Planting is really hard work. And so, with few exceptions, missionaries simply do not last long without the help of healthy, sending churches like New Life. Paul knew that if he was going to get to Spain and be successful in Spain, he needed the help of the Roman Christians. And our missionaries, our global partners, the ones who are already on the field and the ones who will go to the field in years to come, need our help as well. So our hope at New Life is that every member would be involved. With our partners, our local, state, and global partners, in praying, giving, and/or going. If you want to learn more about that, you can go right across the hall to the connect room after worship, and this little sheet here says, Support our global partners. There's a QR code on there, it will tell you all about that. We've got, among other free resources, this one that is, How can I support international missions? If you don't know where to start, those are great places to start because they need our help. They can't do it without us.

14:06So, Paul intends to go to Rome to enjoy their fellowship and to be helped on his way to Spain. But first, Paul has to do something else. Let's pick up in verse 25. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed, they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When, therefore, I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you, I will come and see you. In the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

15:05Now, most scholars believe that Paul wrote the letter to the Romans from the city of Corinth, which we now know as southern Greece. That city is still there to this day. And so it's wild that Paul wants to end up in Spain, which is 3,000 miles to the west. But he says, first, I've got to make a quick stop over in Jerusalem, which is 3,000 miles to the east, the exact opposite direction. Now, this is the first century, folks. Travel was very hard. It took forever. It was super dangerous. So tripling the journey from 3,000 miles to 9,000 miles was no picnic. If you're going to do this today in an airplane, you are going to be worn out. Much less if you're trying to do this by boat and on foot and however else that you're going to get there. But Paul is absolutely committed to this trip to Jerusalem. And that's because in verse 25, he says that he is bringing aid to the saints. These Jewish Christians in Jerusalem needed help. They were poor due to famine or persecution or for other reasons. And Paul believed that the Gentile Christians should help them because they owed so much to them. He talks about in verse 27.

16:33And Paul made the same point earlier in Romans, didn't he? In chapters 9 through 11. He was arguing that God made many promises to the Jewish people, but because of their unbelief, because they rejected Jesus, God opened the door for the Gentiles to experience those spiritual blessings that were intended primarily for the Jews. And those spiritual blessings came to them through Jewish churches, Jewish missionaries like Peter and Paul. And so for years, Paul had been encouraging the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia, that would be like the Philippians and the Thessalonians, the Corinthians, the Athenians, to raise money for the saints in Jerusalem. And so that's exactly what they did. They raised a lot of money, and Paul was absolutely committed to hand-delivering that money himself for reasons that we're going to get into a little bit later. But for now, what I want you to see is that every Christian needs help to fulfill their ministry.

17:42Think about this. Without the help of the Jewish Christians, there would be no Gentile Christians at all. Without the help of the Roman church, there would be no Spanish Christians or churches. And now, without the help of the Gentile Christians, the church in Jerusalem may cease to exist when they still had work to complete, ministry to fulfill, where it all started. So, every Christian needs help to fulfill their ministry. And I think it would be appropriate to consider both how you are helping and receiving help from other Christians.

18:30I think a great application for this is evangelism. And here's why. We all know that we are called, that we have the holy privilege of sharing the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection with other people in our lives. But here's what I've seen as a Christian for the last 25 years and as a pastor. There are about 5% of the people in the church who feel gifted for evangelism, who feel like this is a strength of mine. I can do this. I love doing this. I feel equipped to do this. And 95% of Christians in the church do not feel that way. Isn't that true? Most of us do not feel gifted. We don't feel strong in that area. We feel like I don't know how to get started, whatever it would be. Okay? And so I want you to listen to how Tim Chester and Steve Timmis talk about how the body of Christ helps each other in the work of evangelism. Take a look at this.

19:32So often, the call to evangelism produces guilt and despondency. If evangelism is a community project, our different gifts and personalities can complement one another. Some people are good at building relationships with new people. Some are socialites, the ones who will organize a trip or an activity. Some people are great at hospitality. Some are good at initiating gospel conversations. Some are good at confronting heart issues. It is lovely to think of us making up for one another's deficiencies with our collective community strengths.

20:15How different would evangelism be if our collective goal was to reach this community? And we all embraced the part that we can play best in that goal. So the ones of us who are gifted in hospitality offer to host a barbecue at our house, offered to make dessert and have coffee available. Those who are connected with lots of non-Christians can invite their friends and their coworkers over. Those who are good at initiating gospel conversations can come and be a part of that evening and get into spiritual conversation. Those who are good at pursuing and following up with people can take on that work after the evening is over. If we all embrace our different Ministries, then we can all do the work of evangelism in our own unique ways together. Don't we think that's a better way than trying to be the one-stop shop for evangelism? I don't think most of us are gifted that way. So, brothers and sisters, you need help to fulfill your ministry, and others need help to fulfill their ministry. Lone Ranger Christianity is not just unbiblical, it doesn't work.

21:30So, let's embrace what is both biblical and what works. Let's commit to helping and receiving help as each one of us seeks to fulfill the ministry that God has assigned to us. Now, let's look at that second truth: every Christian needs prayer to fulfill their ministry. Verse 30: Paul says, I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

22:30In this final section, Paul appeals to the Roman Christians. That is, he earnestly implores them by the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit that they strive together with him in their prayers to God on his behalf. So this is a fancy way of saying Paul is making a prayer request, but his prayer request does not sound a lot like our prayer requests. First, he grounds his appeal in the Son and in the Spirit. In other words, he is reminding the Romans that they have the same Lord, and that is Jesus. And so what Paul is asking for is not Paul's will to be done, but the Lord Jesus' will to be done. Then he's reminding them of the love of the Spirit. And you might remember back in chapter 5, verse 5, he said, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. He's saying, friends, we share the same Spirit. We are miles and miles away, 3,000-ish miles away from each other, but we can still pray for each other. Second, Paul notes that he himself is praying for these things. He says essentially, pray with me on my behalf. I think sometimes we Christians can be lazy in our prayer requests. And what I mean by that, Is we ask other people to pray for stuff in our life that we're not praying for, or at least not praying very urgently or often. So it's essential that we understand what God has called us to do, the ministry that He's called us to fulfill, and not only ask for prayer for it, but to also pray earnestly for ourselves.

24:25And then, third, and this is what I really want to drive down into: Paul asks them to strive in their prayers to God. I want you to look at that word strive. The Greek word means something like to join with someone in vigorous effort. So, I think a better translation of that word might be wrestle. Wrestle together with me in your prayers to God. Now, some of you know my son is a wrestler. I don't know how he does it. Every time I watch him, I'm amazed. Wrestling requires tremendous strength and flexibility and endurance. Going as hard as you can for three minutes, three rounds in a row, most people just could not do it. You would give up after 30 seconds, you'd be twisted into a pretzel. Either way, you would stop. And so, when Paul says, strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, he is Not asking for a quick shout-out at the dinner table prayer.

25:35He is not asking for like a five-second mention during a yawn at your morning quiet time. He is saying, I'm begging you to go to battle with me in prayer. I am pleading with you to exert vigorous effort on my behalf. But most of us don't think of prayer that way. We think of prayer as a time for quiet reflection. We think of prayer as a time to present our wish lists to God. But Paul saw prayer as a battle, as an act of spiritual warfare. Now, it's not that prayer has to feel that way every single time, but if our prayers never feel that way, something is wrong. We've forgotten that we are in a spiritual war.

26:31So, what does Paul ask them to pray? He makes two requests in verse 31. First, Paul asks them to pray for protection from unbelieving Jews. Now, if you are familiar with the book of Acts, you know that Paul was arrested when he returned to Jerusalem. That was in Acts 21, and Paul is still under arrest when the book of Acts ends at the end of Acts 28. And as a result, there are Christians that read this prayer in Romans 15, and they conclude God did not answer this prayer.

27:09And if what Paul was asking for was protection from arrest, well, then certainly those prayers were not answered. But I believe that God did answer Paul's prayer to be delivered from the unbelieving Jews. And that's because three times when he got to Jerusalem, a crowd tried to lynch him, and he was spared. One time, the Roman soldiers tried to flog him, and God intervened. A third time, there was a plot from the Jews to assassinate him, and through a young boy who overheard the plot, Paul was spared from assassination. Every single time, God protected Paul, and in the end, Paul was taken to Rome under a Roman escort of soldiers and the official protection of Caesar himself. I think it's entirely possible that Paul doesn't make it to Rome at all if he is not taken under arrest, under the protection of the Roman soldiers, under the protection of Caesar himself.

28:16So I think it's good to remember that Jesus taught us to pray, your will be done. We don't pray, my will be done. We pray your will be done. I have no doubt that Paul would have preferred to. To go to Rome, not as a prisoner on his own timetable, but God brought Paul to Rome in his own timing and in his own way. So, friends, never conclude that God is not answering prayer just because he's not answering it on your timetable or in the way that you thought it should be answered.

28:58Second, verse 31, Paul asked them to pray that believing Jews would accept the offering of the Gentiles. So here in verse 31, Paul refers to my service for Jerusalem. And I think given the context of verses 25 through 28, he's referring to those offerings that he is bringing from Christians in Macedonia and Achaia. Those offerings that he plans to deliver by hand. That's part of the ministry that Paul has to fulfill, and so he asks for their prayer, that those Jewish Christians would accept the offering of the Gentiles. Now, that seems strange, doesn't it? Why would Paul ask that the Roman Christians pray that the saints in Jerusalem would accept this offering? I mean, after all, if they're poor, if they're struggling, if they're suffering, why would they reject that money that's been given to help them?

29:57Well, think about it for a minute. Human beings in general do not like to receive help. We don't like financial help, physical help, emotional help, spiritual help. Most of us would rather suffer in silence alone than to go to someone else and admit that we need help. And plenty of Christians do just that. You might be doing that right now. You might be suffering alone in silence. And that's because when we admit that we need help, we are admitting that there's something that we can't do. We are admitting that there is a problem that we cannot solve. We are admitting that there is a sin, try as we might have, that we cannot overcome.

30:48We are saying, I am not self-sufficient. And we don't want to admit that. We certainly don't want to admit that to people who historically we have looked down on. And so you need to understand the situation. A Jewish person asking a Gentile for help or receiving help from a Gentile would be akin to a 19th century plantation owner asking one of his slaves for help. Culturally, that was unthinkable. So you see, this offering was about more than just providing relief for the poor. It was a symbol of unity between the Gentile churches. And the Jewish churches together. The Gentiles were showing their gratitude to the Jews by extending this offering. And the Jewish Christians would be showing that they accept the Gentiles by receiving this offering. This was about much more than just financial aid. And so Paul asked that the Roman Christians would strive in prayer, that they would plead with God that the Jewish Christians would not be too proud to accept the Gentiles' gift and show the world that the Christian church's unity is not based on language or skin color or culture or background or anything other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what this was all about.

32:21So, friends, every Christian needs help to fulfill their ministry. But help alone, all the help in the world, will not do any good if God does not empower it and bless it. That's why we need prayer. Prayer is the key to success in every ministry endeavor because God is the key to success in every ministry endeavor. Our great danger as a church, as in many churches here in the United States, is not that we won't be successful.

33:01Our danger is that we will succeed apart from the help of the Lord, apart from his blessing, apart from the ministry of his spirit, who alone can change hearts, who alone can save souls, who alone can transform broken lives. That's what we need. And so we don't just need help. We need prayer. As we close this morning, I want to address those who are already following Christ. And I want you to think on how you are seeking to fulfill your ministry.

33:43Are you attempting to fulfill your ministry by yourself, on your own, without the help and prayers of other Christians? So many believers are. We have been discipled in our culture to value our rugged individualism. Our heroes, whether on the movie screen or real life, are people who seem to have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and either got no help or accepted no help on their way to being successful. And that might make for a great story, but it is no way to live the Christian life. Without the help and prayer of other Christians, we cannot fulfill the ministries that God. Has given to us. So I want to challenge you in two ways. First, I want to challenge you to invite others into your ministry. Invite others into your ministry. Ask other Christians to help you in your efforts toward evangelism and discipleship. Ask them for counsel. Ask them for resources. Ask them for money. Ask them for space to meet. Ask them, above all, for prayer. And when you ask for prayer, be specific.

35:09I think too often when we make prayer requests as Christians, we don't ask for specific things because we're afraid we're going to be disappointed. So we don't ask for prayer that this week we would have an opportunity to share the gospel with this particular coworker and that they would receive Christ this week. We're afraid to ask that because we don't want to be disappointed. But what does the word of God say? James says you don't have because you don't ask God. Jesus says ask and you will receive. So friends, it comes down to we either believe those words or we don't. Let's believe them. Let's ask for specific prayer. Invite others into your ministry. But then secondly, I want to challenge you to enter. Into the ministry of others. How are you helping other believers fulfill their ministries? Now, one obvious way is by praying for and financially supporting missionaries and Christian workers and pastors and churches and all of those kinds of things, and that's great. But let's not forget about the many other callings in life, the other 95% of callings out there. Let's not forget about the businessmen and women in our church. Let's not forget about the students, the healthcare workers, the lawyers, the mothers, and the fathers. What would it look like to enter into each of their unique ministries in some specific way? What if there was a text thread that you started that was just for teachers and administrators in the school? And you made it your goal to send an encouraging text once or twice a week to ask for prayer and to pray for those things.

37:05You know, we had a great story this past week at our Wednesday morning prayer meeting, 6.30 a.m. every Wednesday in the other building. I encourage you to come. Over spring break, there was a group of us that went down to Rosaka City Church, our sister church down in San Benito, Texas. And we went door to door sharing the gospel and inviting people to Rosaka City Church for a couple of events and for Sunday worship. And so we got back and we're at our Wednesday morning. Prayer meeting last week, and the group of us is praying specifically that those people who were invited that they would come and get plugged in at Versaca City Church. The prayer meeting had not been over for 90 seconds, and I open up my phone to a text message from Calvin, who is one of the students that was on the trip. And Calvin says, This morning, Nathan let me know that Gigi came to church again this past Sunday. She was a woman who my group met at Outreach the first night.

38:02Just like that. We asked, we received. And friends, there's so many opportunities just like that. So I want to encourage you to enter into the ministries of others through prayer and finances and service. Let's not live like Lone Rangers, but let's help each other fulfill the calling that God has given to us. If you're not yet a Christian, I hope that one of the things that stands out to you today is Paul's burning desire to see people from every tribe, every nation come to faith in Jesus Christ. He was willing to travel thousands of miles, endure endless difficulties, even to face death to see men, women, and children come to faith in Christ. My friend, that is not necessary if everything is fine.

38:55That is not necessary if the prevailing thought process of our day is. True, good people go to heaven. If good people go to heaven, we don't need to spend any more money. We don't need to exert any more effort. We are surrounded by good people. There are the Adolf Hitlers and the Stalins and the serial killers and everybody else. But 98% of people are good folks. And so, what are we doing? We don't need to do anything if that's true. But, friends, the Bible says that is not true. The Bible says that no one is good enough to go to heaven because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible says that every person is going to stand before God on the day of judgment, and we will give an account of our lives. Every word that we've spoken, every thought that we've thought, every action that we have taken. And unless you are perfect, you cannot go to heaven.

39:50That is why God sent his son, Jesus. Jesus came to live the perfect life that we have failed to live. He obeyed every one of God's commands perfectly and completely from the first day to the last. He offered himself in your place and mine on the cross. He died for your sins and mine. And on the third day, he rose from the dead so that any who trust in him and his perfect life, his perfect work, could be received into heaven, not because we've been good people, but because we trust in his son, the Savior, who is a perfect person. And so if you have not been able to do this, Yet, put your hope in Christ, understand that that is the way to peace. That is the way to the peace of God that Paul talks about in that last verse. May the God of peace be with you. The only way to peace with God, the only way to peace with others, the only way to peace with yourself is through faith in Jesus Christ. And so, if you haven't done so, put your hope and faith in Him this morning.

40:57Let's pray together. Father, we acknowledge that we have lived independent, self-sufficient, lone ranger kinds of lives. We have had too small of a vision of how we fit into the life and ministry of those Christians around us and how the Christians around us fit into our life and ministry as well. Forgive us for that. Help us to seek to help each other to pray and to give, to sacrifice, to see our mutual goal achieved, and that is people coming to faith in Christ and becoming mature disciples who can make more mature disciples. I pray that every one of us would play our Part in the body.

42:03I pray for those who have been Christians for a long time and they just attend. They just come, they listen, and they leave. I pray that they would join, if not this church, this body of Christ, another body of Christ where they can be a meaningful part. And God, we certainly pray for those who are not yet Christians among us. We pray for the men and women and children who have not trusted in Christ because they're trusting in themselves. They're trusting in religion. They're trusting in their performance. Oh, God, would you show them today that is not going to be enough?

42:50Would you show them your Son, his life, his death, his resurrection on their behalf? And would you grant them repentance and faith that they might turn from their sin to Jesus and receive eternal life today? In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.