"The First Great Commission" by Jon*

The one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

This is Strength to Strength. Welcome here again this morning to this talk. It's always a blessing to gather with the saints early on Saturday morning. For us here on this side, um, John, who is joining us this morning, is from the other side, so they're not sipping coffee there; they're sipping tea. It's evening time.

Um, so, but it's a blessing to network with people from all around the world. Um, so yeah, so a special welcome here to the ones who are on this morning and also to the ones who will listen to this later. Uh, we do have a lot of listeners, uh, on Strength to Strength anymore, and we we do welcome you, um, here, uh, as uh, as part of this part of this work of of going from strength to strength. Um, this morning I want to read a couple of verses here out of James 1. Just was in a Bible study with with someone in this book this week, and a couple of verses stood out to me, and I think it it actually kind of aligns here with our talk this morning.

John is going to be, um, contending that there was another commission before the Great Commission, and and he actually says it's it's it's a Great Commission. The first one, the earlier one, is is just as the the the Great Commission's great; this one's really great as well. And and so I think this these verses align with what he is going to be, um, contending here this morning. So verse, uh, James 1, chapter 1, verse 5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." And so that verse, um, is has so much hope in it, uh, has such a beautiful, uh, picture of who God is. He gives liberally. He just gives with with with all he's got, does it without reproach. Um, so he he's a God who wants to give.

But he's helping us see too here is that it is a partnership. The one who's doubting, the one who's wants to follow God but yet turns to the arm of the flesh, the one who's not willing to to, um, discipline his his body, the one who's not willing to discipline his mind, the one who's not willing to kind of enter into the upside-down way of Jesus, uh, and and see the world change that way.

Um, yeah, the one who who so so quickly just turns to the things that make sense. That person's a double-minded man. And so James is is just exhorting the saints the whole way through this this book to to be those who who turn to Jesus. Uh, and as we know, um, James, the writer of this book, was was a man, as as, um, history tells us, that was a man who was a man of prayer, uh, who was a man who spent much time on his knees.

Uh, and so this morning we're together here. Um, we're we're anticipating this talk. Um, we'll have prayer right shortly about to introduce, uh, our speaker, John, and his wife. Uh, yes, are currently in Southeast Asia. We're not sharing their name or picture, um, due to their their the purpose of being there. Uh, John is a translator, a Bible translator. Um, he works with All Nations Bible Translation, which is based right here in State College. Um, he's been in training for the last six years.

Um, not all that time he's he's been in college, but, uh, in that time, yeah, working with his church, which is actually here in Pennsylvania, his sending church, um, and just preparation. So to go into a part of the world where there's not much light, um, to pioneer a project for the next 20, 30 years takes a lot of preparation. And John is somebody who cares deeply about prayer. I've seen him, uh, live that out, and, uh, he's somebody who's who is, um, yeah, who can speak on on this subject. So it's so good to have you here, John. Um, John's going to be joined by several other families, um, in in the next month, uh, there too, and then with the focus of of getting this project, this work started there.

So, so John, good to have you here with us this morning. Before we start, let's go ahead and have prayer. Let's pray. Father, thank you, uh, for the privilege of being here together this morning. Father, we don't want to be double-minded. We want to be men and women of faith. Men and women who are not who don't even think of turning, um, to the arm of the flesh or, uh, to the things around us that so quickly appeal to us. We have we have so many things that we can do. Uh, we we have so many resources right at hand. Um, but Lord, we don't want to we don't want to trust in this. We want to trust wholly in you.

And out of that trust, respond to the needs of our day and to the needs that that face us. So Father, we I ask, Lord, that this talk this morning would be one that would strengthen us, that we could truly go from strength to strength. We become stronger in you, uh, that we could, uh, in a more powerful way, exemplify you, uh, to the world around us. Father, we live in a time when there's so many needs, and our world is rapidly getting darker. But Father, we know that you're with us and that you you've you've you promise you'll be with us. And so we are relying on that today, um, those promises. And so Father, we ask a special blessing on John as he gives this talk, Lord, on the the the the ones that are here on this talk, and also, Lord, the ones who will be, um, listening to this later.

Father, blessing on each one. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. Back to you, John. Um, go ahead. Good morning to, uh, most, if not all of you. I don't know if there's anybody in the evening on my side of the world. I'm going to try to get used to speaking without people being able to see my face, but at least I can see, uh, many of yours, and that makes me feel a little more comfortable. I want to start with a story of the Kun Apam, story of the Kun Apam.

I have a friend who actually may be on this call. I'm not sure, but I'll call him Sam. He was living in the western United States, working, I believe, on the business. And, uh, but the Lord was moving in his heart to pray and to pray for unreached people groups, those who not only are lost, unsaved, but who don't have access to the gospel, to the scriptures. And, uh, as the Lord was beginning to, uh, do this work in his heart, he had a dream one night, uh, a vivid dream.

And he said, he he told me, uh, it started kind of like almost exactly like Google Earth. You know, you you first see the the the whole globe, and, uh, and it started coming closer and closer, this globe. And and it came in, it zoomed in, came closer and closer to Asia. I saw that we were going into Asia, closer and closer to India, and zoomed closer and closer, went all the way down to the state, down to where I could start seeing, uh, features of the land, and then and then cities, and then villages. And I came down into this village and sort of like landed on the street of the small little village right in front of a woman.

And her face was so clear. And I, uh, again, this is my friend telling me the story. And he said, and she was only saying two words, Kun Apam, Kun Apam, Kun Apam. And he didn't know what that meant, but he did believe that the Lord had given him this dream so that he could pray, uh, for this woman in this village. And he began to do that. He began to pray for, um, for these people, not even knowing what Kun Apam meant.

And later he was reading, uh, he got a hold of, I think it may have been, um, Peoples of the Buddhist World or Operation World or something like that, was paging through, praying for one people group a day and came to a page entitled Kun Apam.

And the photo, uh, in that book was the woman that he had seen in his dream. He saw that this was the name of the people group that he believed the Lord was calling him to pray for. And he, um, took that as confirmation and began to pray for them more in earnest. And years later, years later, he was over here in Southeast Asia, uh, in the city where we live right now, and was able to, through a series of miracles, including phone calls between several national pastors who didn't even know each other and didn't know who initiated the call, was able to meet some people, uh, who were part of the Kun Apam group and found out that in the last few years, there have been the first converts.

There is, uh, work started on scripture materials in their language. And he was able to travel to that area and meet some of the fledgling church leaders.

All of this, as I remember the story, beginning, uh, since the years where he began to pray. And I guess I want to ask a question. Uh, what sort of reward, uh, do you think Sam has, uh, the Father's going to reward him openly because of his prayers? He actually never believed that he was, as I understand it, came to firmly believe that he wasn't called to go to this group himself.

Um, he felt that he was called to pray. In fact, now he's gone to a different part of the world to work with a different unreached people group and left left the United States. But he felt he was called to pray. And it was through his prayers and who knows how many others that this people group, um, has seen the first fruits of souls for Christ. And I believe Sam is going to, uh, be one of those who comes in, uh, reaping with shouts of joy. And in the resurrection, we'll see him having his reward. I share that because, Amen, of a message that, uh, this is actually a photo of the the people, message that I feel like the Lord has been, um, I don't know, making me a bit of a one-string banjo for the last few months.

And I I typically don't share the thing the same thing repeatedly when I share in different forums, but this is something that I have felt the Lord continuing to, um, drum into my own head. And this comes out of, um, yeah, the Lord really speaking to me. And I'm I'm entitling this the First Great Commission. So we all probably know the Great Commission. Maybe somebody on this call can go ahead and unmute and shout out the reference for the First Great Commission. I put the words up there, but what where does this come from? What chapter in the Bible?

Matthew 28. New Bryant would come through if no one else. Matthew 28. Go ye therefore into, uh, all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. This is the Great Commission, and we are trying to fulfill the task. But there's another commission that I believe is a Great Commission, and it has to do with the same task. It has to do with reaching all the world, going into all nations. But it comes before this. And I believe in some sense, it is it is as universal as this commission or even more universal.

And that is the command, pray ye therefore. This comes out of Matthew chapter 9, verse 38, where it says, when he saw the crowds, this is Jesus, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless. Then he said to his disciples, sorry, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray.

And the King James, pray ye therefore. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. This, I think, is the first Great Commission Jesus gives regarding reaching the nations, reaching the unreached ethnicities of the world. I believe it applies to every believer in some way, just like the more famous Great Commission, go ye therefore does.

And I think that although I disagree with what's often said about the Great Commission, that it means, uh, start at home and move out from there. You have Jesus saying, you know, beginning in Jerusalem and, uh, and going into Samaria and then into the uttermost parts of the earth. Sometimes that's preached as if Jesus is saying, start here at home, uh, move out and just make disciples as you go.

The, the, as far as I can find, Jerusalem was home to exactly zero of the disciples. And I think it's quite the contrary. I think the reason they were in Jerusalem at the strategic time Jesus told them to wait was because the Lord was gathering people from every nation under heaven, is Luke's words, for Pentecost so that all these nations will be reached. So Jerusalem was strategic, not home.

So I believe that go ye therefore does apply in some sense to every believer. But I think that Paul clarifies the chain that is needed to fulfill it in Romans, uh, 9 through 11, where he says, how will they hear without a preacher? You know, there's the actual physical going. How will they preach if they are not sent? So while the Great Commission applies to every believer in some way, and reaching the lost certainly applies to everyone, um, how will they preach if they are not sent? Just like an air, you know, uh, an aircraft, uh, a flight, you need much more ground crew than flight crew, uh, pilots in order to keep a a fighter plane, uh, running.

So we need, so the Great Commission, um, doesn't mean that everybody actually needs to physically move, is what I'm saying there. There are multiple ways along the chain of fulfilling this commission so that we can find our way in different ways. But I think maybe pray ye therefore, the First Great Commission applies more, uh, unilaterally to every believer because we can all pray wherever we are.

And we are all instructed to pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest. And so this is, this is universal. It's, it's not as contextualizable. There's no other way to pray than to pray. And Jesus has commanded me just as much as he has commanded each one of you to pray for the harvest and for laborers to go into the harvest. This applies to you just as it is written, and just as he spoke it. How important is it?

How important is the First Great Commission? If it is important, why? How much does Jesus care about it?

I think he cares about it enough to get angry.

I, uh, this slide only shows the the bottom of this photo because sometimes I get, uh, irritated at some portrayals of of Jesus. Uh, but I also like the chaos that is shown in just in the bottom of this painting, the, uh, some of the expressions, but the the resulting chaos from Jesus clearing the temple.

And there he says this, my house should be called a house of prayer for all nations.

Now, when Jesus cleansed the temple, the commentaries that I've read point out that, uh, it was likely the court of the Gentiles where the merchandising was taking place. And I think that's significant. Uh, the court of the Gentiles, the court of the ethne, the court of, uh, the nations.

R.C. Sproul put it this way. To make things worse, these merchants, who Jesus drove out, set up shop in the court of the Gentiles, making it useless as a place of prayer due to the hustle and bustle the buying and selling created. Therefore, Jesus drove out the sellers. These merchants and the priests who allowed their presence cared nothing for true worship as long as they could make money and keep up the rituals. Our Savior hated this sacrilege, which, and get this, which kept the nations from learning about the living God in his sanctuary. It's easy to miss this. And to be honest, it only got a passing mention from Sproul in two whole devotionals on this phrase, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

And I find that when I've heard this passage preached and when I've, you know, in devotional materials or that kind of thing, I think the emphasis is often on everything but the last three words of this phrase.

We can turn Jesus's anger and action into a lesson on personal piety or corporate purity. We could talk about how materialism interferes with spirituality, how sin can pollute our own bodies and our church bodies. And that's all true.

That's all true. But we stop there. I think when we stop there, we miss Jesus's point. And in the summary section, I think this, uh, this devotional, uh, that I'm kind of singling out is what I think is representative of how we can tend to read this passage. This devotional also misses it. In the summary, it says this, our Redeemer's cleansing of the temple, at the very least, illustrates how concerned he is with the purity of worship. Our corporate praise and prayer is something that is always in need of reformation, for it is easy for anti-Christian practices to slip in and unnoticed. Consider the importance of pure worship from a devoted heart and make it your aim to show reverence and awe when you praise the Lord alongside his people.

Is there anything missing from what the summary here is, from what Jesus said and what Jesus's passion is? Again, not to pick on the specific one, but to point out, I think, a representative sample. Did we know Jesus is quoting something when he says this, my house should be called a house of prayer for all the nations? Or are we like the guy saying, uh, I don't, I don't get that reference?

If we don't get the reference, we, we don't get Jesus's point and we don't get at the heart of God. We can think that, uh, subconsciously that Jesus is launching a new program, bringing a new missions program to the table, changing the focus, you know, expanding the plan of God, but he's not. He's angry for the same reasons God sometimes got so angry at his own people, because they have failed to care about the peoples around them and they have failed to be alike to them. He's angry because they have crowded out the nations from their place of prayer.

And this is not a new idea. It's as old as the scriptures themselves. Jesus is quoting this passage. He's talking about the non-Jewish nations in Isaiah. And he says, and the foreigners, these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. This has always been the heart of God. This isn't new with Jesus.

The foreigners will make them joyful in my house of prayer. How beautiful is that? It'll be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

This is older than the prophets, though. This is older than Isaiah. Because if you go back to the Lord's covenant with with Israel, he says this, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples. For all the earth is mine and, or but you, all the earth is mine, but you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Well, what does a priest do? Israel had priests. What did they do? Well, they made intercession for the people. They served as mediators between God and the people. They were God's representatives to the kingdom. So if Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, who were, who were they to intercede for? Now, I read the context here in Exodus 19, and there are priests, specific priests in Israel mentioned in this chapter. So Israel had priests already, but God is telling the whole nation, you're going to be priests.

Who are they priests for them?

For all the nations. I'll give it away. This is seen even in a very familiar passage that we all probably know, but maybe miss the significance of the command to not take the name of the Lord in vain. And I have heard this, you know, we often simplify this command.

You shall not, I think King James, take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And it is, the Hebrew is a bit interesting.

So we say take the name and we think about saying God's name in a way that doesn't bring him respect. I think that has something to do with it. I once saw a, I don't know if any of you have seen the, you know, like the cowboy 10 commandments or, you know, this kind of contextualized for, you know, an Americana context. And I saw one once. And this command was was rendered as in the cowboy 10 commandments was rendered as, uh, quit your cussing, uh, with an apostrophe at the end of cussing. So quit, quit your cussing is the summary of you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Um, what is this passage about?

So in the Hebrew, the, uh, this word bear or carry, uh, it means, it means something like, usually means to lift up, uh, yeah, to lift up or carry. And so scholars have wrestled with this. What does this mean? Some suggest that, uh, I think this is quoting a scholar, uh, Imes. Some suggest that we should assume the name is being lifted on the lips, i.e., spoken.

So, so that's where this idea comes that the main idea is don't say God's name in a way that's disrespectful, which then led to the idea that let's just not say the Lord's name at all, even though he tells us to repeatedly in scripture, in order to show him reverence or to avoid violating this command.

The problem is, again, quoting the scholar, that virtually all of these interpreters overlook the closest and most relevant passage of all, one that illuminates this command without adding anything. So you, so if you're going to say it means being lifting, lifting it on your lips, that's not how Hebrew usually works. Others suppose that a hand is being lifted to the name, like raising the right hand to swear an oath in God's name.

But these are adding to, to what's actually being said here. Don't, don't bear the name. So we can, we can figure out what this means by looking at the closest and most relevant passage of all. The passage is Exodus. I have it here on the slide, Exodus 28.

Again, quoting, buried in the instructions for building a tabernacle is the plan for what the high priest will wear. His most striking item of clothing is an elaborate apron woven with golden threads and set with 12 precious stones, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the 12 tribes. And Moses is told that the high priest is to bear or carry the names of the sons of Israel as he moves in and out of the tabernacle.

He also wears the name on his forehead, the name Yahweh. You can see sort of watercolored etchings on the, on the headband here, tied to his turban as a gold medallion engraved with the words holy belonging to Yahweh.

So my point is that if we want to understand what this phrase means, bear the names, the context shows that it's something about representing people to God before God in his house of prayer and also making intercession on behalf of them in the Lord's house of prayer. So to summarize, Carmen Joy Imes says this, the key to understanding the name command is right here in Exodus. The high priest represents the entire nation before Yahweh.

Israel's vocation, the thing they were born to do, is to represent their God to the rest of humanity. And I would add to intercede and mediate in the house of prayer or as a holy nation as God's dwelling place for the nations.

Of course, we should have expected this. The vocation for God's people to intercede for the nations precedes even this, precedes even Israel. It goes back to the original covenant, God's covenant with Abraham. And in your offspring, show all the nations of the earth be blessed. They were chosen, they were elect for the purpose of being a light and reaching, interceding for the nations in the place, the camp, the people, and the temple that was to be God's house of prayer.

Lest I be accused of taking this priesthood idea too far, I'm not the first. The apostle Peter makes the same point, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Look at this, look at this terminology of chosen. A people for God's own possession. There's the top line, right? What about the bottom line? So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

First Peter. Amen.

Now this slide repeated, I suppose, for emphasis. I don't remember. My point is this. God's people have always been called to stand in the gap on behalf of the nations. Jesus's command to pray ye therefore stands in a long line of Torah and prophetic calls for God's people to make space for the nations in God's temple and in their prayers.

What is God's temple? I think many of you could have filled in the next slides for me. What is God's temple?

But you, I failed to change the reference here, but this is Ephesians 2, I believe. You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation. Notice all this temple language. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the holy structure, the whole structure being joined together, it's not just implicit, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So my point, you and your assemblies, your churches are the dwelling place, the temple of God, the house of prayer for all the nations. And Jim Cymbala on this note says this, does the Bible ever say anyway, from Genesis to Revelation, my house should be called a house of preaching?

Does it ever say my house should be called a house of music? Of course not. The Bible does say my house should be called a house of prayer for all nations. And I love that in a book about revival in the church that Jim Cymbala includes these last three words that are often left off for all nations. Then he goes on, preaching, music, the reading of the word, these things are fine. I believe in and practice all of them, but they must never override prayer as the defining mark of God's dwelling.

James Fraser, one of my heroes, he worked with the Lisu people in mostly in China. It's a community that has fled to many countries in Southeast Asia. And I personally have met Lisu believers. So I forget how many decades downstream from this man who first went to reach them, but I've seen the fruit of his ministry and really recommend, I don't have a slide of it, but the book, Mountain Rain, about the life of James Fraser and his dedication to prayer. And he said this, can it be that a great work for God involving, this is in a support, in a support letter he wrote, involving thousands of souls devolves upon our prayer life half a world away?

I believe. Now I want I want to call to mind that story of the, I'm calling them the Kon Apam. And you know, the sort of the fact that often, and even in this case, we may not see fully the fruit of those prayers until the resurrection. But Fraser says this, I believe it will only be known on the last day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home.

Solid lasting missionary work is done on our knees. What I covet more than anything else, again, this is in a support letter, is earnest believing prayer. And I write to ask you to continue in prayer for me in the work here.

Finally, he said this, I'm not asking you just to give help in prayer as a sort of sideline, but I am trying to roll the main responsibility of this prayer warfare on you. I want you to take the burden of these people upon your shoulders. I want you to wrestle with God for them. I shall feel more and more that a big responsibility rests upon me to keep you well informed. The Lord Jesus looks down from heaven and sees these poor, degraded, neglected tribes of people. The travail of his soul was for them too. He has waited long. Will you not do your part to bring in the day when he shall be satisfied?

Must we think he was trying to absolve himself of responsibility to pray? He said anything must be done rather than let this prayer service be dropped or even allowed to stagnate. We often speak of intercessory work as being of vital importance. I want to prove that I believe this is in actual fact by giving my first and best energies to it as God may lead. And he said at the end of his life, he said, I have been firmly convinced that the first work of prayer, sorry, the first work of the missionary is prayer. The second work is teaching and evangelism and on down the line. And he said, I was wrong about that.

He said, I now believe firmly that the first work is prayer and the second work is prayer and the third work is prayer. And everything follows after that. And if you read the account of his life, certainly shows his humanity, but shows that he lived this, shows that he dedicated himself to prayer, to fellowship with the Lord and to intercession for the families he was trying to reach with the gospel.

So in a few minutes here, you know, I think if we have this heart and if we see this and and and and want to seize it, I think there are some also some practical things I want to talk about. What does this look like? Well, how do we do this?

And I've been talking about corporately to this point. And I think first of all, when it comes to prayer meetings for the lost, when it comes to helping our churches to have a vision for for this, it does start with worship. Because missions, as John Piper says, missions only exist because worship doesn't in some places.

The goal is, the goal is worship to the Lord from every place. And we see this in the shortest chapter in the Bible in Psalm 117. Here's the shortest chapter in the Bible. You know, what's what what does the Lord want to inspire the psalmist to say in the shortest chapter? What's important to communicate and what is it? Four verses, I think.

Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise ye the Lord. It begins, this begins and ends with worship. It's got the nations in the middle along with his merciful kindness toward us. This this prayer needs to begin and end with with worship.

Because it is all about God. He elected his people. He redeemed them. He saved us and called us to be his representatives to reach all people, every man, woman, boy and girl with the gospel. Because he died for each one of them. Not because people are worth it in and of themselves, but ultimately because he is worth it, because he is worthy of all their worship. And only when as a church we see the worth and excellence and beauty and love of Christ, only when we see that as a church will we be able to have our hearts moved to pray for his kingdom to come on the earth.

What does it look like? Worship, pray together. Corporate prayer is so powerful when it comes to, especially with people leading, you know, groups of prayer who who know what it means to be in the secret place, who know what it means to intercede and who can model what that looks like. Pray together, pray the scriptures. So whatever whatever guides you've found, I'll suggest a couple here, but there are many resources to help us to pray prayers that the Holy Spirit's already inspired in the scriptures. Let's pray the scriptures.

David Platt compiled this list just from my goodness, two chapters in Acts on how to pray for missionaries. And if anybody wants these, you can reach out to Bryant and we'll get those to you.

Intimation is not working quite right here, but missional prayers in Acts 13 and 14. And this can be helpful. All of the Apostle Paul's intercessory prayers, this is something that's impacted my prayer life perhaps as much as anything, is praying with the words that that Paul prays for the people he's writing to.

Really powerful. And then the Lord's prayer to to apply the Lord's prayer to specific needs. You know, it always begins with, again, worship our Father in heaven. You know, let your name be set apart as holy. Your kingdom come, your will be done. And these people, and going on from there, praying for their needs. It's a powerful way of praying, I think, in the Spirit, because it's what the Spirit has already inspired for us.

So pray the scriptures. Worship, pray together, pray the scriptures, pray specifically. So this is this is going to be very specific to different of us personally in our in our closet prayer life and also as churches, what the what what needs in our local communities he's called us to intercede for, to pray specifically for those and not just be gathering together to pray for some vague, you know, missions need, the need of the unreached. But if we do want to come pray for the unreached, let's choose a people group or do a, you know, pray for the unreached people group of the day when we come together or take a region and pray for for people's there.

Pray specifically, not just for something amorphous. So those most of those are having to do with corporate prayer. But there's this also this reality. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you when you have from God? So what does it look like? Ask the Holy Spirit to help us by his Spirit. We know not how we ought to pray, but the Spirit makes intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered.

What does it look like? Again, worship, pray together, pray the scriptures, pray specifically and read books. Read To the Golden Shore, the life of Adam Aram Judson. Read Shadow of the Almighty, Jim Elliott. Read I mentioned Mountain Rain, Jayo Fraser, and read books. I should have said biographies here or autobiographies of men and women.

Amy Carmichael comes to mind who lived Rosalind Goforth, one of my favorite missionaries who's written on prayer and the prayers they saw answered. Read books and learn from the lives of those who are sort of taking the hall of faith in Hebrews 13 and extending it into our day and help that to have that jumpstart your prayer life.

It certainly has mine. In your personal prayer, this is talking personally, ask God to give you his heart for the unreached. Maybe you've had it. Maybe you look back at a time in your life where you have been able to be moved to the Lord's, you know, burden into tears with with his heart for the lost and the unreached. And whether you can remember having that or not, ask him to give it to you again to fan those flames, to give you his heart for all the nations. Those who so in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. Here's the here's the promise to those of us who who so in tears, whether that's in in in going physically somewhere or in intercessory prayer.

Those who so in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. We're going to, in the resurrection, rejoice together at the fruit that's come in. And we'll see how the Lord has used the prayers of the saints to do it. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

And this is the promise. These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful. This is the vision. These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.

Because my house of prayer is to be a house of prayer for all the nations. And around the throne, it's going to look something like this. We're all going to cry out together, intercessor and missionary, evangelist and every tribe and nation and people. And we're going to say this together. For you were slain. Worthy are you, Lord, for you were slain. You have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

You are worthy.

So that's all I have. That's my presentation. I'll turn it back over to Brian. Hey, brother. Thank you so much, John, for that message. And it's prophetic. It's powerful. And it's needed. And I really feel like we should just bow our heads and have prayer right now. And John, could you could you lead us in prayer?

Yes, let's pray.

Lord, you're the Lord of the harvest. Yes. And you're the one that does the sending out and the casting out of your people to reach these fields that are white with no one to gather them. And so I pray that you would work in the hearts of everyone listening.

Now, my heart again, Father, to see your heart for the nations and to by faith take hold of what you have for us in prayer. Yes, Lord. The fruit that is to be added to your kingdom when we believe your promises and when we come to you in faith for even something small, family in a village or family in our community or a small little people group in the Amazon.

Yes, Lord. Or something big, people groups of hundreds of thousands. Lord, would you help each person to seek you for what you want them to intercede for specifically and help us, Lord, to do everything, our intercession, our evangelism, our mission work out of a place of abiding in you. Lord, I pray that you would teach us all to pray by the Spirit and to pray in your Spirit according to your will, believing that we have received it. And Lord, we want to join in Christ. We we we we claim this promise that you gave to your Son. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance.

Lord, we are those who are unworthy, but you've transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son. Amen. And so we want him to receive his inheritance, all the nations. And you've promised them to him. And you said, ask of him. So with him and for him and through his blood, we ask you to give the nations as his inheritance. And we long for the day when around the throne we worship you for everything that was done through prayer, through the prayers of the saints. Thank you, Lord, for setting this up in a way that you allow us to be co-laborers for the gospel with you.

I pray that we wouldn't shirk from that call or that duty, that we would seek first your kingdom, your righteousness, out of a love for Jesus because he's worthy. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. Thank you for that touching message. So powerful. And one of the ways that it's so meaningful and so powerful, John, is how you took us into the Old Testament. You took us back there to show us that God has always been about all nations. And that's not a new thing.

That's not a new thing. And John, when you say nations, what do you picture when you say nations?

Yeah, well, I think we can tend to picture geopolitical entities. But the the Greek word in most of those texts is ethne. And I picture something more like I see just like in that in this text in Revelation, I see the biblical authors trying to use every sort of term they can to communicate to us that it's down to the smallest cultures. So we have every tribe, every language, every every people, right? So so I think it has more to do with different ethnic and cultural groups than it does with obviously large specific reasons. So yeah, I'm thinking of unreached people groups, however that that might be defined.

Yes. Thank you. And I think that's so important for us is, yeah, you're not talking about, you know, yeah, a geopolitical nation. It's an ethne. It's the ethnos. It's the people. Yeah, very good.

Very impacted by your talk. Again, I've heard you give this one other time. And again, it just really sobers me of my responsibility individually to be praying for the ones right around me that I'm attempting to see brought from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And also to be praying for those in other parts of the world. And your your story at the beginning is a is a beautiful, powerful story of that Anabaptist brother who received that vision and followed through with it, continued to pray. And then amazingly, he was able to see some of the fruits of that. And there's many people who you don't get to see that. And so that's that's very meaningful as well.

Then also then corporately too, as a church, how can we be praying as a church in a corporate prayer? There's there's there's something very powerful about that when you can have that that unified heart together for a specific people. And you know, we really, you know, in Acts, we see the church starting out with a 10-day prayer meeting. You know, they spent 10 days in the upper room. And then what happened? The Spirit came on them. And then it went out from there. And they continued to see there in Acts 4. And they had these continued to have these powerful prayer meetings. And so there's something very powerful about that unity in prayer and that God sees that and he blesses that.

So yeah, may God raise up congregations, assemblies to spend time in prayer, in meaningful prayer. So yeah, thank you for for your thoughts here. Any any any questions? Any encouragement for our brother here this morning? Please speak up quickly.

I want to tell John, thank you very much. In my life, it was a needed message. It seems with the busy schedules and full, yeah, full schedules that we have and everything, we can get so busy. Yes, we pray, but are we really diligent? Are we really setting a time? Do we do we pray for an hour? And it was just a good reminder and a challenge for me. The Lord bless you, John, for sharing that and as you labor in Asia.

Thank you so much. Yeah, I used to have good times of intercessory prayer in the evening, but that was back before I was married and had any children. And I don't I don't really believe people who tell you you can just pick your time of day. My prayer life rises and falls on the time I get up in the morning.

And that's certainly what it's what it's required some some earlier mornings for me. So probably preaching to the choir with the group that got together at 6 a.m. on a Saturday.