In this sermon, Pastor Hopkins emphasizes the importance of prayer in the life of a believer. He explores the concept of praying without ceasing and explains that it does not mean praying 24/7, but rather living a life that continually brings everything back to God in prayer. He highlights the need for daily scheduled private prayer, prayer with family, and prayer with spouses. Pastor Hopkins also discusses the role of prayer in spiritual growth and encourages listeners to make prayer a regular practice in their lives.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Good afternoon once again. If you would turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, where we'll be standing and reading verses 16 through 18 together in just a moment. We'll be, Lord willing, returning to our verse-by-verse study of the book of Romans in Romans chapter 8 next week after several weeks on prayer.

And this will be the last of a three-part series on a call to prayer in 2024. And before we start, you know at the beginning of each year I typically encourage the congregation to Scripture memorization And you've heard me say it many, many times, one day the only Bible you may have may be the Bible in your head. And you know we have brothers and sisters around the world who understand that right now. I think of Wang Yi who's been in prison in China now for over five years in a nine year sentence. The only Bible he has is the Bible that's in his head.

We need to be memorizing scripture. And if you memorize even one passage of scripture with your family each week, just think about that, that's 52 right there, 52 verses every year. And we try to do at least that in our family worship time each week. But I'd like to just encourage you to family memorization of scripture as a family if you would stand with me for the reading of the word of the Lord we'll be reading verses 16 17 and 18 and focusing on Verse 17 this afternoon. Let's read together the word of the Lord.

Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Let's pray. Father, once again, Lord, we come before you, Lord, with humble hearts, seeking your face, Lord, seeking truth, seeking to be changed, Lord, by a work of your Spirit. And so we ask God that you would give the Spirit to them that ask again. And Lord, that you would conform us more to the image of your son in this time, for we ask it in his holy name, in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Amen. Let's be seated. So the title of the message today is A Call to Prayer, Part 3. Charles Spurgeon once said, I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach. In part one of this series on prayer we looked at Jesus' encouragement to his disciples to pray and to pray always and to pray in every situation of life to pray and not to faint or to grow weary in prayer.

When things are going well we need to be praying. When things are not going well we need to pray. When hope abounds pray. When everything seems hopeless we need to be praying. When all is light, when all around is darkness, when all is gain, when all is loss, we need to be praying.

And I began this series with a prayer that God might be pleased to make us a praying church and a praying people. And that he might be pleased to set every one of us personally on a course of daily scheduled private prayer alone with God that cannot be negotiated away by this world. And that We would be those who would pray always and never lose heart and never give in and never give out and never give up, even as our Lord Jesus also commanded us. And we looked then in the first session at the life of a man named George Mueller, a man known for his prayer life, a man who kept a journal of 50,000 answered prayers over the course of his life. And in our last session On prayer, I spent the bulk of our time encouraging prayer for the lost.

And it began with a story of communicating the message of the gospel a couple of weeks ago to a young man who had never even heard the word, who had never even heard the word gospel, who looked at me and said, as I was talking about it, I said, you understand what I'm saying when I say the gospel, who looked at me and said, no, I've never heard that word. And I said, you know, how we need to be praying for the lost and how we need to be sharing the gospel with the loss and and then I think we forget sometimes that our neighbors for the most part have never heard the gospel. Some of them have never even heard the word. They don't know who the one true God is. They don't know what man is and his sin.

They don't know who the biblical Jesus is or why he came into the world. And I said, we need to tell them and we need to pray for them. We need to tell them when we need to pray for them. This afternoon, we're going to be dwelling on verse 17 of our opening text and the command to pray without ceasing. And I think the best place to begin is to answer the question, what exactly does it mean to pray without ceasing?

What does it mean to to pray without ceasing? When the apostle says pray without ceasing, is he telling his readers not to do anything else throughout each day but pray? If so, of course, then I guess we could all we could all quit our jobs. Our wives could let the dishes and laundry pile up. No more diaper changing.

And all you children can stop cleaning your bedrooms. So a few of the children looking at me like, really? No, this is just a, if that's the case, you can all stop cleaning your bedrooms. No, of course not. The call of the apostle to pray without ceasing is not a call to do nothing but pray 24-7, but it's a call to a manner of life that is continually bringing everything back to God in prayer.

There's one thing that I've really emphasized with my family this past year is that we need to be bringing everything back to God in prayer. You and your personal life need to be bringing everything back to God in prayer. Couples, We need to be bringing everything back to God in prayer. You in your personal life need to be bringing everything back to God in prayer. Couples, we need to be bringing everything back to God in prayer.

Families, everything back to God in prayer. Continually telling fathers and husbands, we have this, such a special role, and it's God given office, and we need to be using it in accord with God's word. And one of the things that we need to be doing is bringing our families continually back to prayer, bringing everything back to prayer. Just saying so many times, just stop. Can we just stop and pray?

Let's just stop and pray. When things get crazy, let's just stop and pray. When there's a question about anything in our lives, let's just stop and pray. It's our place to be bringing everything continually back to prayer. But it is a call, The Apostle's call is a call to a manner of life that is continually bringing everything back to God in prayer.

Matthew Poole back in the 1700s says, the Apostle is speaking of quote, a constant course of prayer. We need to be engaged, each one of us, in a constant course of prayer. The man or woman who prays without ceasing is continually communing with God throughout the day, praying in the heart and speaking to God. No matter what's happening there is this awareness of God's omnipresence and the understanding that He is with us and the understanding that He hears us. And so wherever returning to God mentally and speaking to God.

And many times these will be but short praises or bursts of prayer, short offerings of thanks to God, short praises to him throughout the day, short cries for assistance. How many experience this type of prayer life throughout the day? It doesn't matter what's going on. You might be in the middle of work and something is particularly difficult and you find yourself going back to God in prayer, oh Lord, please help. Or there's something that comes to mind, oh Lord, I just thank you God and praise you for whatever it is, just continually coming back to prayer.

But the Christian finds himself continually communing with God throughout the day in prayer. John Gill comments on this passage back in the 1700s. And he says, there is a such thing as mental prayer praying in the heart Private ejaculations of the soul Which may be sent up to heaven while a man is engaged in the affairs of life. It's not, says Gill, it's not that saints should be always on their knees or ever lifting up their hands and vocally calling upon God. This is not required of them and would clash with and break in upon other parts of religious worship as well as the duties of civil life which are to be attended to but this is saying Gil says that believers should be daily and often found in the performance of this duty, besides certain times, both in the closet, closet prayer, as Jesus said, when you pray, go into that place that's secret, into your closet and pray, shut your door, and your Father who hears in secret will reward you openly.

But besides certain times, both in the closet and in the family, that is a family prayer, which everyone should be having every day, time for family worship, family prayer, family praise of God, family reading of the scriptures led by the head of the household, but in certain times, both in the closet and in the family in which they should attend the throne of grace, there is, he says, a such thing as a mental prayer. Besides these other duties that we have for daily prayer, to get alone with God, get alone with God in prayer every day and to pray with our families every day That there should be a praying in the heart That is throughout the day while a man is engaged in the in the affairs of this life And of course what he says a man also Talking about women as well How many times at home, you know, wives and mothers, you just continually brought back to prayer, continually brought back to prayer, continually brought to some praise, some short burst of praise to God, some short welling up of thanksgiving to God. This is praying without ceasing. Brothers and sisters, before we even get out of bed in the morning, our hearts should be turning to God in prayer.

Our waking thought, our last thought before we go to sleep should be of God. It should be communing with God in prayer. And before we even get out of bed in the morning, our hearts should be turning to God in prayer. Our waking thoughts should be directed to God. Our waking thoughts should be directed to God in prayer.

When we wake up and we realize, wow, I woke up above the ground again. I've been given another day of life. I've been given another day to commune with God on Earth. I've been given another day to commune with God on earth. I've been given another day to seek his face, another day to serve him, another day to bring glory to his name.

Our thoughts should be directed to God, our waking thought. Before we ever take off the covers we should be turning to God in prayer. A pastor once said, I roll out of my bed onto my knees. Now I don't do that but I find myself going straight to God in prayer from the waking moment to a place of prayer With my first thought every morning and then to private prayer Do you ever in your waking moments Do you ever think God I cannot face this day without you. I cannot.

I will not face this day without you. I need you. Maybe you're strong. Maybe you think that you're strong. Maybe you can take off running in the morning without strength from the Lord.

I can't. I need Jesus. I have to go to prayer. You know we are strengthened in prayer? You know that we receive strength in prayer?

You need strength for the day. You need strength to carry out all the things that God has commanded you in your particular office, in your particular situation in life. You need strength from the Lord. I need strength from the Lord. Prayer, this is the place where God strengthens his people.

We are strengthened in prayer. Psalm 28,7, David says, the Lord is my strength. He is my strength. The Psalms are prayers. They're Psalms and they're songs and they're prayers.

The Lord is my strength. The Lord is my strength. Brothers and sisters, five minutes of prayer will be of more benefit to you than five hours of labor without it. Psalm 127 one says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I think we labor in vain.

When we go forward, we take off running in the morning without setting it all before God and committing it all to Him. There was a man, you know, there man in Revelation chapter 3 who said, I'm rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing. It's not a very good attitude, place to be. The Christian realizes his dependence on God for everything. Our dependence is upon him for everything.

We realize our dependence is upon Him for everything. And we express it continually in prayer. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 3 says, commit your works unto the Lord. That's a prayer. That's in prayer.

Commit your works unto the Lord. How do we commit our work to the Lord? We commit our work to the Lord in prayer. Lord, these are the things that I have to do today. I want to commit them to you in prayer, God.

And it goes on, it says, and then your thoughts shall be established. That is, if you commit your plans to God in prayer, He's gonna guide your thoughts to become agreeable to His will. And that's what we want. We do not want to be in conflict with His will. He will guide our thoughts to become agreeable to His will.

Oh Lord, I commit my work to you this day. May my every thought, my every word, my every activity not only be pleasing to you but guided by you and dominated by you. Some people who are not Christians pray but it is impossible to be a Christian and not pray. The first prayer that was ever heard from your lips if you're a believer was, God forgive me, God be merciful to me a sinner. Some who are not Christians pray, but it's impossible to be a Christian and not pray.

Again, we need to begin every day in prayer. In Mark 1.35 we read, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, this is Jesus, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Now you may not get up a long while before the day. We may not go outside of our home to find a solitary place. But Jesus began prayer in the morning with those waking hours.

It says in either prayed in the morning he prayed. In Psalm chapter 5 David says, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning. O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Morning prayer prepares us for the day.

It prepares us for our work. It prepares us for our duties in the home and our duties out in the world. Morning prayer prepares us for the trials we will inevitably face throughout the day. No one, you know, we're told to put on the armor of God. No one puts on the armor of God each day without prayer.

No soldier of the Lord is prepared for battle apart from prayer. The old hymn says, put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer. Matthew 14 23 tells us that Jesus went up into a mountain apart to pray. What's significant about this is not the mountain, but that he went to a place where he was secluded to pray. In the Lord's Prayer, you know, he tells us when you go into your closet, pray to your father in secret, there's this example and this command to get alone with God in prayer, to get alone with God in prayer.

Jesus was the perfect man of prayer, and he was always getting alone to pray to his father. But we don't need a mountain to get alone with God in prayer. Just a heart like Christ in a closet that is just a heart after the heart of Christ and a place where we can pray without being distracted. All we need is a will to obey God and a private place to fall at our knees. In addition to our scheduled private prayer time each day and the prayers we offer during daily family worship time, the prayers we pray corporately with the church on Sunday and Wednesdays, and the prayer meetings of the church, we should be continually throughout each day consciously bringing everything back to God in prayer.

That's what I think the passage is speaking to. Bringing everything consciously back to God in prayer. Even as the needle on a compass always points to the north pole, even so our hearts should always be directed to communing with God in prayer. Spurgeon talks about this in one of his sermons. He talks about how one can take his finger and put it down on the arrow on a compass and he can hold it down.

And as long as he keeps his finger on that arrow, he can keep it from moving. But as soon as he takes his finger off of it, the arrow is going to point back to the North Pole. It's always going back to the pole. And so we should be in prayer, continually communing with God in prayer. Our prayer life, whether it's our daily scheduled private prayer time with God or this continual returning to communion with God and prayer throughout the day, is a matter of spiritual growth.

And let me put it again in Spurgeon's words here. Our growth in prayer may be to us the test of our growth in all other respects of our spiritual growth. Our growth in prayer may be to us the test, okay? So how am I doing spiritually? How is my walk with the Lord overall, he's saying.

Our growth in prayer could be to us a test of our growth in all other areas of our walk with the Lord. If Spurgeon is right, what does that say of your spiritual growth? What does that say of my spiritual growth? He goes on to say, I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this. That's it.

You want to take your spiritual temperature, look at your prayer life, is what he's saying. Look at the measure, measure it by your prayer life. Do you pray? Do you pray? Do you get alone with God in prayer?

Is that a part of your, is it your scheduled daily, non-negotiable activity? You get alone with God in prayer. Robert Murray McShane, minister in the Church of Scotland in the 1800s and known to be a man of prayer once said, what a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more. I have that hanging in my place where I go to pray. It's the first thing that greets me.

What a man is on his knees before God that he is nothing more. Do you pray? Do you pray? As we enter the new year 2024, resolve to pray. Resolve to pray.

Single men, many of you looking to one day be married, all of you who are single are looking to one day be married, praise God. If you aren't praying now, what makes you think that you'll start when you get married? Young ladies, the same thing. If you're not praying now, what makes you think that all of a sudden you're gonna somehow just get started after you're married? If not now, when?

I know I've said this many times before, but sometimes things don't register until we've heard it multiple times. We seldom do anything on a regular basis that we don't schedule. We just don't do it. Scheduled secret prayer should be the daily practice of every child of God. I know I've kind of gotten off the topic of praying without ceasing here, but Scheduled secret prayer should be the daily practice of every child of God.

I know I've kind of gotten off the topic of praying without ceasing here. But scheduled secret prayer should be the daily practice of every child of God. I'm sure there's probably those in this congregation whose daily secret prayer habits, if known, would convict and inspire all the rest of us, if we only knew. If that's you, pray for your church. Pray for the rest of us.

I've already said this, one of the things we should be doing as husbands and fathers as heads of our household is continually bringing everything back to prayer because things can get really crazy in this life. We're the ones who need to be saying so many times, let's just stop and pray. Let's just stop and pray. Maybe a situation comes up, conflict within the household, or disagreement, or relationship issue. Let's just stop and pray.

The phone call comes in if somebody's in need, somebody is sick, someone's going through something. Let's just stop and pray. Let's just stop and pray with our families, with our wives. Can we just stop and pray? In my wedding charge to Noah and Caroline this past week, I was just continuing to think about prayer and I said my charge to you, Noah and Caroline, this past week is just really simple.

It's a call to prayer. A call to commit yourselves to pray. To pray not only for each other every day of your lives, which every husband and wife should be doing. Pray for you. I pray for my wife every single day, every morning, every night.

I pray for my wife, I pray for my wife. And I know she prays for me, prays God she does, but not only pray for each other every day of our lives, but also with each other every day of our lives. Many years ago I heard a sermon by a very wise old pastor and he said, someone told me once, and I couldn't believe my ears, that there are actually Christian men who don't pray daily together with their wives. And I was just cut. I was just struck with great conviction.

I don't pray with my wife. We pray in the family worship time. You know, I pray for her, but I don't really pray with my wife. I don't get alone and pray with my wife every day. And I thought, wow.

So this is just understood by the older men of God that this is just something that Christian men do. This is what we do. This is what we do. And I told them this in the wedding charge, you know, after adopting this for many years, I said if you'll make it the regular practice of your married life together to pray alone together every day you'll experience an Intimacy and the vitality in your marriage that cannot be duplicated in any other way. I Said you will be able to know you're gonna be able to hear Caroline's heart and deepest concerns poured out before God.

And you know what? When each of you prays, inevitably here's what happens. You hear things that, well, I never really knew. I really never knew that she was thinking that. I didn't know that was a concern of hers.

And I'm sure my wife says the same thing, I didn't know it was a concern of his. I didn't know that was really burdening his heart. I didn't really know that that was on her heart heavily. But you do when you engage in that prayer together. And it can't be duplicated in any other way.

I said, Caroline, you'll hear Noah's heart and deepest concerns poured out before God and you'll be lifted up together before God in the throne of grace. And I quoted 1st Peter 3.7 that tells us that husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life. And the passage assumes that husbands and wives are praying together. It just assumes that. You're heirs together of the grace of life and then it goes on to give instructions about prayer and guidance about prayer so that your prayers won't be hindered.

It assumes that you're praying together. Are you praying together? Will you make that a standard of your marriage, of your household? Non-negotiable? Yes, pray for each other.

Pray for each other every day but also pray with each other. Philippians 4, 6 says, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the promise attached is that the peace of God which passes understanding will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You want the peace of God? I do. That passes understanding to keep your hearts and your minds?

Oh yes. Pray. And then I ended by saying this, I said, you know, everything will be tested in this life. How many understand that? Everything's gonna be tested.

Everything is gonna be tried. I'm old enough to know. Everything will be tested. Everything will be tried. The pure gold is what's going to emerge after it's all tested.

And it's all tried. And even our marriages are many times tried as by fire. And I told them in closing, if you're both so blessed, it's to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary one day, think about it, the year's gonna be 2074. And I can remember 1974, you know, when I was 13 years old or whatever, it'll be 2007 before. I'll be long gone.

Think about it. I said so much can happen over five years, how much over 50? So my charge is simple and singular. It's a call to prayer to commit yourselves to prayer to pray for each other and to pray with each other. Jesus encourages disciples in Luke 18 one to pray always and never give up So I encourage them pray Pray for better for worse just like your vows Say right pray for better for worse for richer for poorer and joy and sorrow and sickness and in health pray pray pray for each other every day and pray with each other every day.

And I said I can assure you that if you celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary in 2074 you will be glad that you did. You will. And so will all of us here today. You'll be glad that you prayed together. That you prayed together with your spouse.

Our families are gonna be tested, brothers, sisters. Our families are gonna be tested. Our families are gonna be tried. Our families are gonna be tempted. Jesus said to Peter, Satan is asked to have you to sift you as wheat.

How many are going to be sifted as by wheat this very year? Make 2024 a year of prayer. Be devoted to prayer as we close. Dedicate yourself to a life of communing with God in prayer, to secret prayer alone with God every day, to prayer with your family, to prayer alone with your wife, to the corporate prayer of your church, to praying without ceasing. Pray to the Father in the name of the Son and the power of the Spirit in accord with the word of God and be blessed.

And with that we'll close. Father, I pray God that no one's heart has been stolen away from prayer, that the daily grind has not taken the place of prayer, that even good things, Lord, like working and feeding the family have not taken the place of prayer. I pray, Lord, that nothing has come in and shoved prayer out in the lives of your people, And I pray that where it has, Lord, that you would grant conviction and atoning, O God. I pray, Lord, that we would be a people of prayer, a church of prayer, individual prayer, family prayer, husband and wife prayer, corporate prayer, Lord, and a prayer without ceasing. And Lord, that you would, in these times of prayer, O God, that you would strengthen us, God, for the days ahead, for the weeks ahead, for the months ahead, for the year ahead, Lord, and that we would be strengthened, Lord, to serve you, Lord, in this day and this age, this dark day and age in which we live, and bring glory to your name, for we ask it in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.