We Need Intercessors in the Church! - Tim Conway

Notice, Paul is praying,

but he's not praying for himself.

Brothers and sisters,

how desperately, desperately we need

men and women in the church like this.

Paul is interceding.

Interceding is what you call it

when you bow your knees to God

for the sake of others
and not for yourselves.

How we need intercessors in the church!

And I'm concerned!

I'm concerned.

When I got saved,

honestly, I hungered to
have time with the Lord.

The first three years
of my (Christian) life,

I was able outside of work -

and even times at work

during breaks and lunch;

I wasn't married -

I was able to give my life to
communion with the Lord.

And I moved down here to Texas,

lived with John Sytsma -

very business oriented family.

And things were working at a pace

that I just felt like -

John was very much given to devotions

in the morning,

and before the family got together,

and I like to walk in the evenings

and be out in the field

and away from the heat.

And John's schedule and mine
were a little bit different.

I remember just panting
after having that time back.

And I recognized that I
needed to move separate

so that I could get back
into my own schedule.

And I longed for that.

And I guess my sense was that,

well, that's how it is
with all Christians.

We don't live by bread alone,

but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.

We want to abide in Christ

and we love walking with Him

and meeting with Him

and there's things to confess

and there's worship;

and just getting to meditate before Him

and praying and interceding

for the sake of others.

I just assumed that.

And then I got married,

and my wife basically lived that way

day after day.

I guess my assumption has largely been:

Well, of course...

that's how Christians live.

I am, I don't know,

I'm guess I'm kind of
baffled by the frequency

at which I hear that people in this church

have a real difficult time maintaining

just a consistent intimacy with the Lord.

And I guess my concern is this,

I'm not sure what lies
behind this difficulty.

Is it immaturity?
Is it worldliness?

Is it busyness?

Is it just that there's no hunger there?

I know this:

intercessors don't come

from marginally spiritual people.

Why?

Because interceding requires love

and a level of maturity

and a lack of selfishness.

Selfish people - their prayers
are all about themselves.

Very little worship.

Very little confession.

But a lot of give me, give me, give me.

Now, I know there are prayer
warriors in this church.

I know there are.

I know there are some of you -

your walk is close to the Lord.

I want there to be more.

I want this to characterize
the church as a whole.

Intercessors.

We desperately, desperately need this.

And if people can barely
manage to find their way

into the secret place of prayer each day,

I know this -

you're not interceding for anybody.

It's not happening.

Where do intercessors come from?

They come from people that live

in the presence of God.

You think about it.

Paul - you can imagine
the guard walking by.

The guards are talking to each other.

"What's the guy doing in there?"

"Every time we walk by
there, he's on his face."

He wasn't idle.
He wasn't wasting his time.

He wasn't wasting his time in prison.

He was crying; he was bending his knee.

He was pleading; he was crying out

for the sake of others.

You find in just about every
single one of his epistles,

he cried out for people.

He called upon them.

Where do intercessors come from?

People who don't live by bread alone.

People who are desperate.
People who are abiding in the Lord.

People who are talking to Him
and walking with Him.

Where does it come from?

That somebody says:

"for this reason."

I know them to be a Christian;

for that reason, I'm on my knees for them.

They're beloved of God.

Something is released in my heart.

I need to pray for them.

I'm thinking about
other people all the time.

I'm thinking about their needs.

I'm thinking about them glorifying God.

Where do intercessors come from?

Intercessors - not
marginally spiritual people.

You know, if we don't have intercession

happening commonplace in your life -

I'm not just talking about in the church -

if intercession is not happening

as a commonplace thing in your life,

one of the great manifestations

of sacrificial love is missing.

And listen, that's important:
sacrificial love.

You think about Judgment Day.

Jesus talks about what you did for others.

"I was in prison and you visited Me."

You know, one of the ways
you can visit people in prison

is by praying.

The thing is as long as
you have life and breath,

and you have consciousness,

you can pray for people.

We need it.

We need this desperately.

Where are the men and women -

I know we've got some.

I know.

But oh God, help us to have more.

Men and women who live
in the presence of God

on bended knee whose voices

are familiar to the Father;

whose voices go up

in familiarity to the Father

on the behalf of others.

I mean, you can imagine,

God from God's perspective:

"There's his voice again...

and sure enough, he's asking for a job.

He's asking for a wife.

He's asking for a raise.

He's asking..."

Those who God hears his voice:

"Lord, help so-and-so,

Lord according to the riches of Your glory

please strengthen that brother

down there in Mexico.

Please Lord, open that
door for that brother

that's trying to get
from Costa Rica, Lord."

How often is the Lord hearing that voice?

"Lord, I'm not here to
pray for my own needs.

You know I have them,

but Lord, Brother Matt
needs Your help today.

He needs Your help.

Johannes. Lord, remember Johannes."

Those who can't sit comfortably
reading the book

or fiddling with their phones

because they're feeling a burden

for Andy and Rebecca, or you heard -

those of you that weren't
here on Wednesday,

Trevor Johnson wrote, I think,

one of the most powerful
missionary letters

that he's ever written.

Men and women not constantly asking

for their own needs.

The church needs intercessors.

We desperately need them.

Why?

Because God answers prayer.

Listen, I'm telling you this.

I know this for a fact.

I'm so convinced.

I've seen it over and over and over again.

God answers prayer.

And when people are praying for you,

things happen in your life

that would not happen if
they weren't praying for you.

Mark it down.

The elders in this church preach

or perform or oversee better

when people are praying for them

than when they're not praying for them.

That is a reality.

People live more holy lives.

People live closer to God.

People are more prayerful.

People are more loving

and charitable and kind

and tender and forgiving

when people are praying for one another

than when they're not
praying for one another.

That is a fact.

I'll tell you, I was thinking about

our brother coming here

on a week from Wednesday

and sharing his needs.

If I was on a foreign mission field,

I would want to visit as
many churches as I could,

and I would tell the people,

"Look, I'm not here for your money.

I'm just appealing, if there is one person

or two people or three
people in this church

that are prayer warriors

and you have any burden for India,

I plead with you: pray!"

And if on Judgment Day it can be found

there were three people
in that church over there

and there were two people
in that church over there

and five in that church over there,
and they held that rope.

Not because they were sending
me all their dollars all the time,

but they prayed for me.

They prayed for me all the time.

Prayer meetings did not
go by in that church

they weren't praying for me,

and oftentimes, every
single day of the week,

they were holding me up.

We need this.

When we pray for one another,

I'm telling you, we end up doing things

that would not happen

if people weren't praying for us.

This is the reality.

Bending our knees to the Father

on behalf of others.

We are the priesthood, brethren.

Have you never read that?

That fire was not to go out on that altar.

And if that was the symbol;

if that was the hyperbole;

if that was the metaphor,

we are the true priesthood.

Don't let the fire go out.