In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the pivotal moment in history when Jesus was about to face his crucifixion. Despite the appearance of failure, Jesus had a message for his followers in times of distress and grief. The speaker emphasizes the importance of watching and praying, as weakness and temptation can easily lead to sin. He urges listeners to be on guard and diligent in protecting their hearts from deceit and sin, drawing from biblical examples such as Eve, David, Jonathan, and Nehemiah.

Matthew 26 please. I would like to try to speak briefly. Kenny back there is a farmer from northeast Iowa and he said his corn crop was pretty good and he filled his barn a little bigger than normal and both ends broke out and so we don't want to overload but here we are dealing with matters of eternity. If Paul were here and he heard me say that I would try to speak more briefly he might he might rise up. Don't do it. Matthew 26 verse 36. The garden of Gethsemane. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed, saying, father, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, so you men could not keep watch with me for one hour, keep watching and praying. That you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, my father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. And then he came to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. We'll be concentrating on verse 41. Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Look at verse 36. Then Jesus came with them. The situation here is very unique, very important, very weighty, very awful. Formerly, up till now, we see the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, very poised, dignified, in control, calm and authoritative. But now we find our Lord Jesus distressed. It says here, grieved and distressed, distressed to the point of death. We find the Lord on his face, like a beggar, destitute, on his face. It is a scene of blood, sweat, tears, agony, grief. The Lord, no doubt, it would appear he wanted out. If it is possible, take this cup from me. Likely, he was tempted to call on seventy-two thousand angels and get out of it. The cup was being pressed to his lips. Soon he was to be spit upon, and slapped, and slugged, and scourged, and stripped, and spiked, and speared, and sentenced by men, and sentenced by God. Condemned by men and condemned by God, and die what would appear to be a miserable failure. We are so concerned about success, I mean, we can hardly play a casual game of basketball and miss a basket without having to make a comment about it. And here is the Lord, dying an apparent failure. It was such a pivotal point, it is an understatement to even try to say it, a pivotal point in the history of the universe. Lord Jesus, what would you have to tell us at such a time of deep distress? What would you have to tell us at such a time of grief, at such a time that is so crucial? What would you have to tell us, we, us, in the battle of the ages? What would you have to tell us when sin is crouching, when the masses of hell, when the hosts of hell are gathering to try to upset us as they were him? What would you have to tell us in this battle, in fighting the good fight? I'm centering in on verse 41, keep watching and praying. Let's look at first, the word weakness, and then secondly, the word willing, and then third, the watch and pray. Those are the three key words as far as an outline here. The Lord gives this instruction, we'll start from the back end of the verse and work forward. He said, the flesh is weak. Have you ever taken the position of weakness? Have you ever seen yourself as a weakling? You know, Paul says in Galatians 6.3, if anyone thinks that he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself, and whatever strength we have, mark it down, it's likely to be, it will be our greatest weakness. Are we strong in looks? It's likely to be our weakness. Strong in musical abilities? It's likely to be a danger to us. Whatever gift we have, mark it down, right there will be a danger. That'll be a weakness for you. Watch out, it says that King Uzziah was greatly helped until when? Until he became strong, and then God had to knock him down. I remember a preacher that I've respected, he told a group one time as we were sitting around talking, he says, don't think highly of me, if you do, God will have to reduce me. Weakness, how can it be that, in what way are we weak? Are we not inhabited, as we heard this morning? Are we not a habitation of God through the Spirit? Christ in us, the hope of glory, a habitation of the living God? In what way are we weak? I mean, it sounds like if the living God dwells in our heart, it's a wonder we don't just strip gears like an overpowered tractor. How is it we don't explode when we've got the living God abiding in our heart? How can that be that we are yet weak in some sense? Well, he says, the Lord says, the flesh is weak. The flesh is weak. Sometimes the Bible talks about flesh as just the body, you know, flesh and blood. God was manifested in the flesh. Sometimes it uses the word flesh with reference to all humanity. Acts chapter 2, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Quite a way of describing humanity, isn't it? But another way, at least three ways, it describes flesh as fallen human nature. That's why in Galatians chapter 5, it says, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality and envy and jealousy and strife. The deeds of the flesh. We know that envy doesn't come out of our little finger. It goes deeper than that. And so it's man in his fallen condition. And so here we have got a reference, I think, to the body. I mean, outer man, inner man, the flesh and the spirit. I take it as little s. And so our bodies in our fallen condition, in our body, our bodies yet unredeemed, are weak. There is a part of us that is not yet redeemed, a part of us that is not yet regenerated, made new, and that is our bodies, our flesh. And I am persuaded that the sin problem, yet, even for the Christian, goes deeper than the body. But nevertheless, in our embodied state, there is a weakness. Our body is a vehicle for sin and for lust. And so the Lord says, John chapter 6, the flesh profits nothing. Romans chapter 7, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. And this word weakness here, interestingly, it sounds like, you know, it's weak. It does have some benefit. It does have some virtue. It does have some strength, but it's just weak. That's not really an accurate translation. You look the word up in the Greek, and I don't know Greek, but I see it does mean no strength. Ah, such and such. That means no strength. It doesn't contribute a thing. Matter of fact, as I say, in our unregenerate condition, it is a vehicle for powerful forces, the lusts of the flesh, the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The flesh is weak. It is a hindrance even. It says that we cannot, the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that what? You cannot do the things that you would like to do. It's like somebody who wants to take, a family wants to take a vacation, and you've got some livestock, and you can't, you can't leave them. You've got to take care of them. You can't get away. They've got to be fed, and that's the way the lusts of the flesh are. They make it such that we cannot do the things that we would like to do as regenerates, as born-again Christians. They've got, these lusts are there demanding to be fed, wanting to be fed, waging war against the soul. 1 Peter 2.11, war against the soul, and so they are quite a hindrance. A hindrance really is a mild statement. I mean, it is a mighty continuous struggle. There is not in this life any complete eradication of sin. There is not in this life any perfect sanctification, and so it is a struggle against old Amalek, way to the end. It says in Exodus 17, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. It is a fight to the finish, a mighty struggle. The lust, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. You might live in a Muslim land with all this external adversity, but that really is no, that is not your main battle. The main battle is still in the heart, in our lives, in this struggle against sin, in this striving against sin. That's where the real battle is, is dealing with this weak flesh. I remember hearing a John MacArthur telling about a man who was converted on his deathbed, I believe it was, in a hospital at age 73, and one of the things that he said was that he was still ruled by lustful thoughts. It doesn't matter how old you are, that is no solution to the lust of the flesh. It says in Titus that we were formerly enslaved by sinful lust. Enslaving, they enslave. You cannot dabble in sin and think that, count on the fact that you cannot walk away from it. You don't touch sin without being affected by it. You don't touch it without it hurting you. They enslave us, they affect us, you see. Think of Daniel, I'm sorry, think of David. David, the godly David, he fell. Abraham fell, Noah fell. These men, these testimonies are there to warn us, watch out, watch and pray, the Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, watch out so you don't enter into temptation, into a place where you'd be tempted and then sin in it. Paul says, after I have preached to others, he says, I keep my body, I buffet my body, lest after I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away. These lusts, I say, they are mighty, these fleshly lusts, mighty, powerful, strong, aren't they? You know that. Seeking for a thrill, so perverted, always seeking for some thrill, always seeking for some new adventure, always seeking for some new feeding, always seeking and coveting the forbidden, not necessarily wanting the object, but just wanting the want. After getting the person like Ammon, he was not satisfied, immediately was not satisfied and wanted something more. These fleshly lusts, they're like the leech, they're like the open grave, they're like the dry earth, they're like the fire, they will not be satisfied, they are always demanding more and they intend to kill us, that is the latter end of fleshly lusts, they intend to kill us, we either kill them or they will kill us. They intend to drag us right down to hell. There is only one solution and that is to mortify them through Christ. How do we think that we will stand? Perfect Adam fell in perfect paradise. How do we think that we'll walk the world in white? How do we think that we'll make it through this waste howling wilderness? How do we think that we'll make it through? But lambs we are in the midst of wolves. Let's look at this next phrase. The spirit is willing. The flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing. The Christian can say that. The Christian can say that his spirit is willing. Before that his spirit was not willing. You will not come to me that you may have life, but now we have been wrought upon by the spirit of God. He has worked in us to will and to do of God's pleasure. And so now we have a willing spirit. That is wonderful, that is priceless, that is precious. To have a willing spirit, willing to do God's will. You know David prayed in that prayer, Psalm 51, Renew within me a willing and free spirit. We cannot talk about perfection in this life, but we can talk about direction, we can talk about a willing spirit. A person may be a new convert and be doing better than an older convert who has gotten loose and sloppy and some hardness set in in his heart. Here's a new convert, he's willing, he's walking in all the light, he's eager, he's zealous, he's there, he's willing. And that is precious in the sight of God. The spirit is willing. We have been wrought upon by the grace of God. Sin will not have dominion over us, for we're not under the law, weak as it is to the flesh. Not under the law, but under grace. Grace ruling and reigning in our heart. His name will be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sin he has given us. He has wired us up entirely differently, so that we are saints by nature, not sinners, holy by nature. The deepest reality of who we are is a willing heart. I was talking with a Baptist preacher up there in Missouri the other day. And in the course of the conversation, we got onto the matter of carnal Christianity. And it was going back and forth, and to try to define where he was at, I asked him this question. I said, let's take a fellow that is just a real gutter drunk. And he gets arrested for some crime, and he gets thrown in jail. And there in jail, somebody brings him the gospel. And he receives the gospel, he believes on Christ. And he's out of jail now, and he lives a clean life, a different life. He lives a clean life for five years. He's free of drink. But in the course of time, I say after five years, he falls back into drink. And he lives the rest of his life a drunken sop and dies that way. I asked the pastor, will he go to heaven or will he go to hell? And he said, you can't say. We don't know a man's heart, you can't judge. But I quoted him 1 Corinthians 6, Do not be deceived, the drunkard will not inherit the kingdom. Man, you're deceived. You wouldn't be deceived about somebody that didn't even profess. It's the professing Christians that are living like children of the devil. They're the ones you'd be likely to be deceived about. So Galatians chapter five, it says, walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the loss of the flesh. The spirit of God, you see, affecting our spirit. And that is the key to victory over the loss of the flesh. The weakness of the flesh. Brother Bill brought out Ephesians chapter three this morning. He says, I pray that you might be strengthened with might by God's spirit in our inner man. See there, the spirit in the inner man, the spirit working upon strengthening our spirit. That is the key. That is the secret to victory. Have you ever seen cattle out in the pasture, swatting flies? The flies are on them thick. You feel sorry for them, being bothered by those flies. And there isn't any cow that's got a tail long enough or fast enough that can chase all those flies away. And so the farmer puts out an oiler and the cow gets all oiled up and the flies stay away. And so you see that if ye through the spirit demortify the deeds of the flesh, you'll live. We need the spirit of God working on our spirit. When the river is high, the canoe doesn't drag. Stay filled with the spirit. That is the secret to victory. Temptations lose their power when you are near. I need you every hour. Stay nearby. Temptations lose their power when you are nigh. Third point is watch and pray. Watching and praying, that is instrumental in obtaining the fullness of the spirit of God, affecting our spirit that we not give in to the weakness of the flesh. Watch and pray, instrumental in knowing and having the blessing of the spirit of God, the fullness of the spirit affecting our spirit. There are other things. Admittedly, this is not any exhaustive treatment on sanctification. There are other things like fasting. There are other things that are mentioned throughout the word of God that are effective and instrumental in walking in victory. But here the Lord is saying watch and pray. Three times, did you notice? Three times this word watch comes up. It means vigil. It means stay awake. It means stay on the alert, be on the alert. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. This matter of watching, it's woven in. God has woven it into all of life. Now, I mean the farmer has got to watch his crops. The athlete has got to keep his head up. Watch, be on the alert, the coach says over and over again. Are you asleep? The mother must watch her children. I tell my children one by one as they start driving a car, you've got to stay on the alert. Watch, watch your speedometer. Watch what the other driver is doing. Watch the road conditions. You've got to stay on the alert if you're going to stay alive. They must watch. The shepherd must watch his sheep. They were watching over their flocks by night. They watch for your souls. A soldier must watch if he's assigned to guard duty in crucial times. In certain nations anyway, if a man falls asleep on guard duty, they'll kill him. It's death penalty. Watch, stay alert. We're in enemy territory. The scriptures are replete with this exhortation to watch. Matthew 24, watch. 25, watch. Acts 20, watch. 1 Corinthians 16, be on the alert. 1 Peter 4, watch. 1 Peter 5, watch. Be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, is prowling. And so all over the Bible, we've got this exhortation. Stay on the alert. It's real. It hurts if you don't. Eve, if she'd only watched and been on the alert. David did not watch and he got fooled by Doeg. Jonathan was on the alert. He watched, he observed the countenance of his father Saul and probably saved David's life. Nehemiah was on the alert. He said, I perceive that God didn't send him. And so we have exhortations like this. Proverbs 4, watch over your heart with all diligence. How much stronger language could be given us? Watch over your heart with all diligence. Watch out for the choices you make. Watch out for inroads of sin. It's crouching at your door. Watch out for deceitfulness and lies. Why did you say it that way? Come on, be honest. Watch over your heart with all diligence, you see. In Matthew 16, Satan whispered, that's subtly in Peter's ear. But here it says, watch and pray. These two are often found together. Ephesians chapter 6, watch and pray. Colossians 4, watch and pray. First Peter 4, watch and pray. Luke 21, watch and pray. These two go together. Watching is a partner with prayer. It says in Luke chapter 21, watch, be on your guard, that your heart may not be weighted down with the dissipation that is being spread too thin and drunkenness that is excesses. And the worries of this life, decisions. And it says, keep on the alert and pray at all times that you may have strength to escape the things that are coming upon the world. For it will come upon all those like a trap. And so pray and watch that you may have strength to escape. In a football game, if a fellow's strong enough, he can break away and escape the tackle. An animal, if they're strong enough, they can break away from the trap and escape. Pray that you may have strength to escape the things that are coming upon the earth. So watch and pray. Let's think about prayer here. Again, they often go together. Even in the songs we see that, put on the gospel armor and watching unto prayer. I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Think of the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter four. He was led about by the spirit to be tempted. We're talking here about being tempted, lest you enter into temptation. He was led about by the spirit to be tempted by the devil. And overcame those temptations. But notice in the previous chapter, he was praying and received an anointing of the Holy Spirit. And even here in the garden, we find the Lord praying and then strengthened by an angel. And thus he overcame. In Acts chapter four, they gathered together for prayer. They cried out to God. They lifted up their voices to God. And it says that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And it was in a time of distress. They were threatened. Their lives were in danger. In Psalm 73, the psalmist was being tempted, all right? He was tempted to think, why should I try? I've tried and I've tried. I've washed my hands in vain. I've chafed and chastened every morning. And look at the worldling. He's doing so good. He was envious of the wicked. Until what? Until God came into the sanctuary of God. He had a meeting with God and his whole mindset was changed. And he escaped that temptation. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. Prayer bringing the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God strengthening our spirit is what I'm saying. When the arms of intercession were held up, Israel prevailed over Amalek. When they went out in prayer and praise, and 2 Chronicles chapter 20, it says the Lord set up ambushments against the enemy in the way. It says in Psalm 138, in the day that I called on the Lord, he heard me and answered me and strengthened me with boldness in my soul. David was feeling it and he found had a meeting with God and thus escaped the tempter snare. I one time heard a woman, Riona Peterson was her name. She gave her testimony how this was in Germany. She went into communist Albania back in 1975 and to smuggle Bibles. And there she was caught and stuck in a room and sick and under demonic attack. They were choking her. She could hardly get her breath. And she was despairing and she began to eke out just a little bit of praise to the Lord and a little more and a little more. And the powers that were choking her let off little by little by little. She won the victory and through angelic provision was able to walk out of Albania. Prayer, bringing, securing, instrumental in obtaining help from the throne of grace. In seasons of distress and grief, my soul is often found relief and off to escape the tempter's snare by thy return. Sweet hour of prayer, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. How many, how many professing, even pastors are falling into miserable sin. We better watch and pray now in closing. Why is it that what are the hindrances? What are the obstacles to keep us from watching and praying? Why the Lord says, could you not watch with me one hour? What, why could they not watch and pray with him? I mean, there they were in that last moment. It was as J.C. Ryle says, it was the last service they could have rendered for the Lord. And yet they missed it. They were why they were sleeping. They were sleeping because of sleep. They missed helping the Lord in his agony because of sleep. They missed the Lord in his glory on the mount sleep in Luke's account. It says it this way. Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation. Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray. So often that is one reason that we fail to watch and pray is flat out. We're just sleeping. We're sleeping. Something's got to give in our schedule. And, and there's where you're going to find the relief. There's where you're going to find the opportunity and the occasion to watch and pray is to sacrifice some sleep. They were sleeping. What a thing. Rise up. Why are you sleeping? Lest you enter into temptation. Stonewall Jackson and Robert Dabney and two of his generals were held, were pulled up in some farmstead with the army. They were, those four generals were staying in a farmhouse. And Jackson told his three men that we will rise at such and such a time. Jackson and Dabney rose at the appointed time. They were dressed and they were ready, but the other two laid in and they were attacked with a surprise attack from the enemy army. Jackson and Dabney escaped. The other two got caught with her pants off and they were apprehended and put in prison. There's an example. It happens the same way in the spiritual realm. It's that real. It's that real. I mean, I have seen it so many times in my own life that I gave an occasion to the devil an opportunity for the enemy come in and scratch me good because I laid in bed and didn't get up and have a meeting with God and spit it all out, put out my letter. My heart's burdens get unloaded to start the day in prayer. It's that real. We're in a spiritual battle. These are some helps. I'm not trying to put anybody in bondage, but it is written here what we can do. Another enemy to watching and praying adver. I mean, a hindrance to watching and praying is just old self-sufficiency. Peter said just before this, although all deny you, not me. I won't. I can handle it. You see, prayer is an admission that we can't handle it when you don't pray. You're saying I can handle it. I don't need God. I'm adequate. Self-sufficiency. It'll not happen to me. And Peter, after this, went right ahead and did the very thing he said he wouldn't do. He fell. He denied the Lord. The devil was out to sift him like wheat. He had been raked bad. The Lord prayed for him that his faith fail not. What are some helps to watching and praying? One thing that helps, at least it helps me, is to find, is to have a place of prayer. The Lord came with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and it was his custom to go there. The Lord Jesus had some customs. He had some habits. Nothing wrong with some good habits. I try to find every bit of routine I can. Wherever it's possible, it helps. Some don't need it. I do. Routine can help you. And he had a place where he could get alone with God, where he could cry out to God, where he could roar to God, where he could lift up his voice to God. He had a place of prayer. Have a place where you can get alone. It will help you. I remember when I was driving truck for a couple years, I made it my habit, on the last load before coming home, I made it my habit, after unloading my last load, to find a park to walk in and pray to unload my heart. It was a great help to come to find my own garden and unload my heart before I came home and was all spread out and thin. It helps. I like to go to cemeteries and seek the living among the dead. It's pretty quiet there. Another thing that will help is to take others with you. The Lord came to the Garden of Gethsemane with others. He brought his disciples and Peter and James and John in a special way. Be regular at the church prayer meeting. It will help you. One will chase a thousand and two will put ten thousand to flight. It will help you. Mack has just given us a whole load of examples regarding the church prayer meeting. Isn't it amazing that some churches do not even have a prayer meeting? What on earth is going on? Someone told me about a big church out east. They've got a prayer meeting, but it's only a half an hour long for 600 members. You cannot do any business with God in a half an hour. It's a joke. It's a laughingstock of demons. I remember Terry and I going one time. We were visiting somebody and it was on a Wednesday night. We went with them to their church prayer meeting. The pastor spent about 20 minutes taking requests. And I mean, we could have used that 20 minutes putting our requests up to God rather than the pastor. And finally it came time to pray. And so things were quiet. And then we heard a little bit of mumbling. And I thought, well, if nobody else is going to pray, I'll pray. And as I was about to open my mouth, after five minutes we had been there, all of a sudden the chairs rustled and everybody got up and the prayer meeting was over. That is no prayer meeting. It does not scare hell at all or impress God. We need a time where we as a church can get right down and do business with God, where everybody can feel free to pour out their heart, where there's liberty. John Wesley says at three o'clock in the morning as he continued instant in prayer, the Holy Spirit of God fell. Three o'clock in the morning. I don't know about that, but we need more than a half hour. Could you not watch with me an hour? It takes a little time to do business with God. A hurried prayer is a, it's a hindrance to real prayer. It's a curse. You either do, God doesn't fall when the wind is blowing. You've got to settle in, take others with you in prayer. Is it scriptural? It's all over the Bible. Acts chapter one, they were meeting together for prayer before Pentecost. After Pentecost, they were continuing steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. Acts chapter three. Apparently they had a daily prayer meeting three o'clock in the afternoon. Acts chapter four, they were threatened. And what did they do? They got together with their own company and lifted up their voice to God. And Acts chapter 12, they gathered together for prayer fervently on behalf of Peter. And he escaped the edge of the sword. Chapter 13, it says they were ministering to God and fasting, group prayer. Acts chapter 14, they prayed together and fasted before the appointed elders. Acts chapter 20, they meant for prayer after the pastor's conference, Paul to the Ephesian pastors. Acts chapter 21, they got together for prayer and knelt down on the beach to say goodbye to Paul. Everywhere, gathering together for prayer and yet we do it so little. It seems to help in the economy of God. He has set things up that way. The Lord took with them disciples, took with him some disciples. Another thing that will help us is to take the word of God in prayer. Now, admittedly, that's not in our text or in our context. This has been mentioned a little before. I believe it was Brother Bill that mentioned that. But I'll tell you what little I know. I know that it helps. It helps to know the Bible. It helps to memorize all the scripture you can. It helps to have the sword of the Spirit handy on your tongue. It helps to have ammunition to shoot at the battlements of heaven. It helps to know the word of God and have it ready. Why can't we sustain prayer very well? I'll tell you one thing that will help, and that's to know, to memorize the word of God. Be rich in the scriptures. Be mighty in the scriptures like Apollos. Why not memorize young men, young women? Memorize Ephesians, memorize Romans, memorize Hebrews. Get it down. Take it in. Write it on your heart. Sure, it will take some investment. It takes some work, but the rewards are so great. It just takes a little diligence. You know, isn't it something where you've been to a certain location many times? You've driven that road many times, and yet when you go to tell somebody how to get there, you can't think how to tell them. And the reason is, is because you've never fixed it in your mind. And the same way of reading the Bible. You've read it a lot of times, but you can't really say it. You can't really repeat it because you've never fixed it in your mind. It will help you to fix scriptures deep in your heart. That way, hide them in your heart. Have them ready to use against the hosts of darkness. This is just practical, some practical things that will help us to watch and pray that we might not enter into temptation that will strengthen our spirit by the spirit of God and avoid the weakness of the flesh. Prayer is such a mystery, isn't it? Such a mystery. Here we believe in a God that is sovereign, has foreordained everything, and yet listens to the voice of a man. Matter of fact, in that prayer meeting in Acts chapter four, when they gathered together, they lifted up their voice to God. And what did they do? They used scripture. Said, Lord, you said, why did they even rage in the people? Imagine a vain thing. In other words, they realized this was foreordained of God. This is that which God had foreordained and told about ahead of time. And yet they lifted up their voice. They didn't just say, well, whatever will be will be. They said, Lord, would you spread forth your hand to heal? Would you grant your servants with boldness? We might be able to preach your word. We go out and preach as though men were responsible, utterly responsible. We go home and pray to a sovereign God. It's a mystery. Bingle, Samuel Bingle, he said, when I meet a man of God, the one thing, the most, the main thing that I want to find out from him is how does he keep up communion with God? Don't you feel it? You'd like to ask, how do you keep up communion with God? How do you watch and pray? What are your secrets? And they won't tell you because it's too personal. And they realize each one's got to wear his own armor. Here we are talking about the weapons of our warfare. Mighty through God, mighty through God. We are the kings. We are the true kings who are able to control our spirit and conquer our fleshly loss. We are the real kings. You look at the philosophers with all their philosophy, and here they are believed by the masses of humanity, ruling the world with their pen. With their paper. And yet you read the lives of these philosophers that everybody knows about. Marx and Hegel and Kant and these fellas and they can't do a thing. They're wicked, rotten, filthy men. But here we're talking about mighty weapons that God has put in our hand for conquering sinful fleshly loss and ruling and walking the world in white. The weapons of a worker are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Strongholds in our heart. Big sins, Goliath sins. Pulling them down to the power of God. Watching and praying. Peter, watch and pray. You're on dangerous ground. You're an enemy territory. We can never watch over our heart with too much jealousy. We ought to take these words in verse 41 and let them be a trumpet in our ear. The Lord bless you, my dear fellow saints. My love to you. You are here. It's just I can't help but look out upon this congregation without thinking of Ephesians chapter one, the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints. It's just a poor taste of heaven. Hallelujah. What a day when the saints will be gathered from north, south, east and west. A massive redeemed humanity. The bride of Christ. The meal is probably ready and but. I would like the young adults to go first as we dismiss you from here and again, meet up in the youth area. We do. I mean, the conference is not over and we do need to watch and pray still there. There's some things that are going on right now. There's still souls at stake that this conference has has something to do with. And there's there's youth meeting. You know, during this meal. And so we need to be in prayer about that. And there's the final meeting with Brother Bill. We need to be in prayer for him. And for the message that the Lord will put on his heart. I'd like to ask Brother Charles Leiter to bless the meal for us.