Arnie and Fred complete their discussion on what the Bible says about what Christians pray for in this episode. Paul noted that persecuted Christians were in need of the prayers of their brethren. We talk about the fact that this is still necessary today. We move on to what Jesus said about praying for our enemies. Jesus and Stephen both provide us with the example to follow. Paul talked about the danger of some taking personal vengeance. We note why this is not a good thing to do. There are always opportunities to pray for those who are sick and afflicted with various diseases. We look at what Paul and James said about this. James also discusses the need to pray for one another, which we look at. Jesus said that most people would be lost. We discuss the need to pray for them to have an opportunity to be saved. Our children always need our prayers, and we look at how Job handled that. We complete this episode by noting several passages that teach us that we need to pray for ourselves. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.
Arnie and Fred complete their discussion on what the Bible says about what Christians pray for in this episode. Paul noted that persecuted Christians were in need of the prayers of their brethren. We talk about the fact that this is still necessary today. We move on to what Jesus said about praying for our enemies. Jesus and Stephen both provide us with the example to follow. Paul talked about the danger of some taking personal vengeance. We note why this is not a good thing to do. There are always opportunities to pray for those who are sick and afflicted with various diseases. We look at what Paul and James said about this. James also discusses the need to pray for one another, which we look at. Jesus said that most people would be lost. We discuss the need to pray for them to have an opportunity to be saved. Our children always need our prayers, and we look at how Job handled that. We complete this episode by noting several passages that teach us that we need to pray for ourselves. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.
This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net Or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.
Arnie:Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred Gosnell and this is what does the Bible say, brought to you by church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina. And we want to study God's Word with us. We've been talking, with you, we've been talking about prayer. Had several lessons about that. And we've we've discussed Jesus' model prayer, what people typically call the, the Lord's Prayer. Don't know that Jesus ever actually prayed that, per se himself. But we looked at that and, and saw actually seven items in there that would serve as an outline for beginners to to begin to learn to pray. Of course they can develop, on on that themselves. We looked at various positions, petitions of the prayers, and in our last session, we were talking about, not just things to pray for, but but people that, that we should pray for. People like, like the rulers, or our nation, or the churches and, and disciples persecuted saints, there's still plenty of them. A lot of persecution is still going on in, in various places. And, in fact, I think we're actually going to talk about that this afternoon, aren't we Fred?
Fred Gosnell:Yes. I think we'll start out with that.
Arnie:Okay.
Fred Gosnell:And, of course, we have a record of, of the saints being persecuted in the first century. James, Herod had had taken James and killed him with a sword. And then he, he took Peter was going to do the same thing to Peter. And in Acts 12, verse five, we are told that, Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And of course, the result was that Peter was gotten out of the prison, by by a miracle, basically, and Herod was prevented from doing that, at the time that he wanted to. And then, Paul, when he wrote to the Thessalonians, in Second, Thessalonians, 1, 11, and 12, he had talked to them about prayer. And beginning in verse 11, Paul says, Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye and him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. So prayer ought to be made for those who are trying to teach the gospel to others. In our country, generally, we're pretty free to do so. And generally it works out pretty well, we're not usually persecuted. But of course, persecution in our society is a little bit different right now, it's not direct. But there are other ways that that people are trying to get others to quit talking about the Bible and quit teaching the truth. But nevertheless, prayer ought to be made for those who do so that they would have opportunity to do so that they ought to be safe in doing so. And that's one of the things that we learn from what is written concerning prayer and praying for others and praying for their safety and praying that they might be able to continue doing that.
Arnie:You know, thinking, thinking of Herod having put James to death. It's easy to get confused about the heritage. There were so many of them and not one of them as far as we know. was a was a good king or good official in in the areas where they were they were in charge. At this particular one isn't Herod, was not the same one that that slaughtered the infants when Jesus was born. This would be Herod Agrippa, the first, I think. And but all of them seem to have pretty much the same characteristics as far as their moral conduct was concerned, or lack of it. And as far as their violence against disciples. You might classify them as being our enemy. But there are others as well that are our enemy. Some of them are religious people, other religions, besides the Jews have persecuted Christians along the way. And people that are personal enemies, people that hate you, because you don't do what they want you to do. Or because whatever things they think of you, they think of you as, as being a Christian and have no use for for that, that kind of thing. So, certainly our enemies, are injur, individuals to pray for. Why should we do that? Well, if we pray for them, and we might just be able to convert them to the to the truth, and they won't be our enemies anymore. But even if they are, we want to see them, want to see them change and become people of God. So Luke tells us in Luke chapter six and beginning and in verse 27, actually, Jesus is doing the speaking here, not Luke. But Jesus says, I say unto you, which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them, that hate you, bless them, that they curse you. Pray for them that despitefully use you. And so here that's the best way to, to get rid of your your enemies, lower the number of them by doing good things, and at least, if they have evil to speak of you about, others will know that it's not true.
Fred Gosnell:Yes. And of course, Paul, Paul deals with that in Romans chapter 12, 17, through 21, he's, he's very specific about this. He says, Recompense to no man evil for evil, Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it'd be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men. And I'll stop right there. Of course, the the implication there is, well, it's not always possible to be at peace with everybody. But he says, Now, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he's, if he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. And of course, that sometimes, you know, we have to learn to do this, sometimes it's hard to, to want to do good to someone who is trying to cause you harm. But nevertheless, you know, his statement is that, you know, Vengeance is is not up to us, God's the one that will mete out the vengeance. So, just let him do that. And don't, don't step out of your lane as some, as some say.
Arnie:Well, you know, Jesus, of course, had enemies as as well. Some of those enemies are still foes of ours, in a manner of speaking. But for example, Jews don't treat us, treat Christians generally, as badly as they did during the the first century. There are other groups in in the world, that, that treat us about as violently as, as they possibly can, but not the not the Jews. And the reason I say that, because as badly as Jesus was treated by them, nevertheless, he still loved them and cared for them. And his prayer on on the cross. In Luke chapter 23. Verse 34, said, Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And then of course, the we read about the soldiers there that were in the execution detail, parting his his raiment, and casting lots for it. It's interesting, also in, in, in that certain context, verse 47, of Luke chapter 23, records what, what the Centurion has to say. And, surprisingly enough, we see this in several of the other other passages, but in Luke chapter, chapter 23, and in verse 47, the centurion, when he saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly, this was a righteous person, or a righteous man. And sometimes you wonder, who was that Centurion? And do we see him somewhere else? Does he pop up in other passages of Scripture? Does he, does he turn up turn up, for example, Learning the gospel and and obeying it? We don't know for sure who this Centurion was, but maybe there were a number of them that were affected positively, by the righteousness of Christ and by the righteousness of, of disciples. So we'll never know that. But as much as the as the Jews hated Jesus, this centurion understood. This is a good man. This is a good fella.
Fred Gosnell:Yes. And of course, that's what that's what Paul said. He said, Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good. And of course Jesus is, is a perfect example of that. Well, we have another example. Stephen, in Acts chapter 7, 59. And 60, Luke writes about what happened to Stephen and of course, Stephen was teaching the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin the truth there, and that and they didn't like it. And verses 59 and 60. It says, They stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord, Jesus receivedmy spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And of course, again, he's being stoned. And then he, he asked the Lord not to not lay the sin to their charge. And similar to what Jesus had said, on the cross. Of course, one of the individuals that that was there, Paul was there, Saul of Tarsus. And he was holding the clothes of those that were doing the doing the stoning. Of course, later on, Paul, Saul became Paul, became a Christian and became one of the greatest propagators of the gospel in the New Testament. So he and he had had said later on, about the things that he had done and, and he never forgot that and of course, he went, went on and served the Lord, teaching people the gospel, and evidently had that scene in his mind throughout his life.
Arnie:I would imagine, I would imagine that he that he did. That was probably the biggest regret of his of his life. Let's pray for those also that are sick, and those that are are afflicted. Paul, is, since you mentioned, him, Fred. Paul, was at, on on the island of Malta, King James version calis it Melita. But, but it's actually the island of Malta. And in in Acts, chapter 28, It came to pass that the father of Publius, lay sick of a fever and dysentery, to whom Paul entered in and prayed, laid his hands on him and healed him. So it was it was certainly a valid prayer. God understood that prayer and and answered that prayer, apparently right away or pretty quickly there, as Paul is praying for someone who's sick and someone who's afflicted and to our knowledge, he was not a, a Christian. But possibly that was some of the evidence that, that they were teaching God's will, correctly and others may have, have learned the gospel as a result of, as a result of that. In James chapter, chapter five. James speaks about the sick and the afflicted. In beginning in verse 13, when he said, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is he merry? Let him sing Psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. So, you know, to some degree, we tend to be limited in, in our knowledge of who the sick are. Usually there are people that live in the same community as we. Or thay you read about in the news. Or something along that line. There's kind of a limitation on, on whom we who we know. But but we also know some that while you might classify them as, as sick, they certainly are individuals who need the Lord and and others around them need them. I think, for example of, of the President of the United States now and in his elderly, elderly years, things have not been well for him, he's he's suffering some of the effects of, of old age. And let's pray for him. Whether you're a democrat or republican or have no, no political leanings, in any direction, it would be appropriate to, to pray for him. And it's up to the lord of course, to, to answer that prayer. But let's pray for whoever we know of that's sick and, and, or afflicted.
Fred Gosnell:Yes, and of course, that that goes for for people from a spiritual standpoint, as well. James in James Five, Verse 16, he says there, Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Of course, we all have faults, there's, there's no perfect Christian. And, you know, John talks about that, you know, if any says he has no sin, he's, he, he's, the truth is not in him. So So we ought to, you know, let people know, you know, I've got this problem, and I need your prayers, and we ought to do that. Pray for one another, and, and pray for, for the individual to do better. And then of course, the contingency there is the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So and again, that's, that, that's one of the things that we need to make sure that we focus in on as our own life and be righteous people do, do the best we can to obey the gospel, to follow what Jesus says, and to be righteous that and then once we continue to do that, then our prayers will be effectual, they will be effective. When we pray for someone that's said that I need your prayers, and so do so for sure. For the brethren,
Arnie:not necessarily individuals that are that are sick with some kind of disease that we're aware of, or maybe, you know, the effects of old age, or just injuries and things of that sort. They certainly would fall into the category of sick and, and afflicted. But think in terms as well of people who are spiritually eel, ill. When when he says, pray for one another, that you may be healed. I wonder if he really is thinking in terms there not of the, not of a disease, a physical disease, so much as a spiritual issue possibly needs spiritual healing. Let's be praying for that and be alert to that as as well. While you're in James chapter, chapter five, well, I guess he just you just read that. I'm looking, looking in the wrong direction here. Let me let me take us to to Romans chapter 10. And begin in in verse one, where Paul said, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, is that they might be saved. For I bear the record, record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And of course, he's not talking about righteousness as as man thinks of it, generally speaking, but God's plan with regard to to righteousness. If we haven't obeyed the gospel, we're not righteous people, no matter how good neighbors we might happen to be or how good parents or how good employees or whatever that we are. Spirituallylly righteous as well. And not establish our own righteousness. And that's exactly what what happens in a lot of religion, the Gospel, good religions. The gospel, the truth, the gospel, not some denominational, kind of form of of the gospel, where churches that kind of make up what they want to believe and ignore the things that they don't want to heed. But the Gospel itself is what can heal people spiritually. And certainly we want, we want them to become healed and become righteousness, become righteous as well.
Fred Gosnell:Yes. And of course, we also need to pray for our children. And probably one of the, one of the best examples for that would, would be Job. Course, Job lived in the Patriarchal age. And in Job one, four, and five, we are told by him, he says, And his sons, Job's sons, went and feasted in their houses, everyone his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone, were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Joe continually. Of course, he was he was the patriarch. And so so he, he wanted to make sure that had they done things that were contrary, had offered, had not followed the law that they were under, then he offered sacrifice for them just in case he said, Well, maybe that they sinned, that maybe they cursed God in their hearts and said things that they should not have said. And so he offered the sacrifices that were required under that system, so that they would be forgiven of those. And they notice it said, Thus did Job continually. Wasn't just a one off thing. That he did this continually, whether he knew what they did or not, and he just offered those, those sacrifices on their behalf. And of course, in our system, we are to pray for our children and to pray for their well being pray that they would obey the gospel if they haven't, and pray that they would remain faithful to the Lord. And so that's, that's what we need to do. And we need to remember that and not just once in a while, but continually just like Job did. Job did what he did continually on the behalf of his children.
Arnie:Job lived during the Patriarchal age, the first period of time, here since the world had been created. And it wasn't during the the Old Testament period. But he was before that. So it's interesting that, that people in that period understood the need to sacrifice and it was still something that was applicable among men, just as just as Abel, for example, had sacrificed and others as well that we read about in the Old Testament. So they they worshipped God in the manner that God intended to be worshipped. Even during that period. Though we may not think so much about that, we generally tend to think more of the Old Testament period when when Judaism was in, was the effect. Let's not forget to pray for ourselves. We're not talking about gimme, gimme, gimme types of prayers. But there are things that, ways that we want to grow, characteristics that we want to develop as, as Christians. There's so many things, so many areas of our life, that that we want to improve on. Then then it's a good thing for us to pray for these things, not just once or twice but but make it to something that's a frequent thing that we're that we think about. I'm looking here in, in the New Testament in Matthew chapter, chapter six, as Jesus is teaching disciples to pray. This was a part of the Sermon on the Mount, and one of the versions of what people refer to as the Lord's Prayer, was part of what Jesus taught. A little different from, from the way he taught on different occasion there in the book of Luke. But let's look at that. Matthew six beginning in verse 11; Give us this day, our daily bread. That's that's a prayer for the necessities of, of life, not, not just food, not just bread. But but food and clothing and the other things that we need. We need shelter, we need a lot of things. Speak about those to the to the Lord in prayer Verse 12, And forgive us, our our debts. We have incurred debts that we can never pray, that we can never pay. And the only way to rid ourselves of those is is through prayer. And through obedience to God's Will; we want Christ's blood to purify us. And so we need to pray that would be forgiven for our debts, or for our sins, in other words. And then He adds, As we forgive our debtors. Do we forgive our debtors? That's an important question to ask ourselves and maybe to make some changes about as well. Very often we may be delinquent in that regard. Lead us not into temptation. It's not that God will lead you into it. But if if you're intent on going somewhere or doing something without even knowing what you may or may happen to face, there could be temptation there. Evil is present everywhere in the in the world nearly. So, let's pray to to not be led into into that, and pray,, But deliver us from evil. Then praise comes in, in this these last phrase, phrases for guidance, The Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. And then Amen means, May it be so. And a lot of times we can conclude our prayers that way. And Jesus even taught that as well.
Fred Gosnell:Yes, and Jesus gave us an example of, of two people that were praying on on their behalf in Luke 18, 13, and 14. And there was a publican and there was a, there was a Pharisee. And Jesus speaking of the Publican says, And the Publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Course the situation with the Pharisee was the Pharisee was self righteous. And he stood over there and talked about all the things that he did, and, and looked at the Publican and said, See, I'm not like him. And, of course, he was exalting himself. But the Publican simply looked up into heaven. And he said, Father, forgive me, for, God be merciful to me, a sinner. So we need to be humble enough to just simply acknowledge the fact that we sin, and there is no perfect individual. In this world, the only perfect one was crucified over 2000 years ago. So pray for yourself, but be humble about it, and acknowledge your sins and then ask for forgiveness, and ask for mercy. And that's the way Jesus told us to do that.
Arnie:When Simon of Samaria had had sinned, Acts, chapter eight tells about that we'll let you look at that up. But in verse 24, he was admonished, to repent, therefore of this tie, we can just and pray God, if perhaps the thought of that heart may be forgiven thee. And then down in verse, verse 24. We see that Simon intreated the apostles and other saints that were there, saying, Pray for me. And that's a good idea to to do that. I think he was on the right track in in doing that. And then in Hebrews chapter four, and beginning in verse 14, Jesus of course is identified as as the high priest, spiritually speaking. And, Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the profession, our profession, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with, feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly, onto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Fred, I see that we're, that we're out of time. So we hope that these thoughts about prayer will be helpful to you that you can apply those in in your prayer life on a on a regular basis. And we hope that you'll tune in again next Lord's day. We hope that you'll have a good week.