Participants: John Lomacang, John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL130021
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00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend
00:02 and sit back as we explore God's word together 00:05 on this edition of "House Calls." 00:21 Welcome back or welcome to the first time, 00:24 if you are just tuning in 00:26 and you've never been here before, welcome. 00:28 We ring the bell for you that you are now joining us 00:31 on the best Bible program anywhere. 00:34 Don't you believe that, John? 00:36 Well, we wouldn't be here 00:37 if we didn't know the Lord was with us. 00:39 Exact-- Best Bible program ever. 00:41 He is reluctant to say that, 00:42 but he believes that I know. 00:44 Well, anyway thank you so much for tuning into House Calls. 00:46 We enjoy what we do. 00:48 As you can tell I'm John and he is John, 00:50 we share that and we also share 00:52 our passion for sharing the word of God. 00:54 So sit back with us for the next hour 00:56 or so that is under an hour 00:58 and we're gonna walk through the word of God together. 01:01 And get your Bibles, get your pens, 01:03 invite your family and your friends. 01:04 It's kind of become a mantra of my own 01:06 and join us for a very exciting program. 01:09 We're gonna be taking your questions and your comments, 01:11 but before we do anything we always like to have prayer. 01:14 And John has been designated to pray on the air. 01:16 I do pray, I pray off the air. 01:18 He prays on the air. Pray for us, John. 01:20 All right, let's do that. 01:21 Father in Heaven, we invite Your presence to be here with us 01:25 send Your spirit to guide and lead us through the study today. 01:29 May the presence of Jesus fill us with joy, 01:32 with happiness, with a confidence 01:34 that His word is not only transforming our lives, 01:37 but will bear fruit and will help us 01:39 to know Him better, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. 01:42 Now may of you sit down when this program starts 01:46 and you go, get your laptops or you're sitting at your desktop 01:49 or you have your iPad or your iPhone, 01:50 your android or whatever you have, 01:52 whatever kind of device you have and you think, 01:54 hey, I've got a question that I want to send to these guys. 01:57 And some of you guys try to stunt us, 01:59 some of you guys send us doctoral dissertation. 02:02 We don't really take time 02:03 to read those multiply long documents. 02:05 Do we, John? No. 02:07 The question or the scripture or something 02:09 and always as best, yeah. 02:11 And some people just send us comments, 02:13 but for those of you who have questions, 02:15 you can send those questions to this following email address, 02:18 housecalls@3abn.org. That's housecalls@3abn.org. 02:24 And we will do our best by God's word to answer these questions. 02:28 So, John, swing the bag today for us for the first time. 02:31 All right, I'm gonna cover a question here 02:34 that is brought to us by Harry and he is asking, 02:38 "Please, tell me if forgiving yourself 02:41 is just as important as forgiving others 02:43 in order for God to forgive you?" 02:46 Good question, and I think this question 02:49 really comes from a lot of discussion in psychology today 02:53 as to guilt and other things like that. 02:56 But I understand what he's saying. 02:57 It is important to "forgive ourselves." 03:00 Technically, we cannot do that, 03:02 only the Lord can forgive us of our sins. 03:04 But it's important in other ways to recognize 03:07 and have confidence in Christ' forgiveness. 03:10 And when we have confidence in His forgiveness 03:13 then we can let it go in an essence forgive ourselves. 03:18 And I'm gonna go to a text, John, 03:19 that is probably the most confident building text, 03:21 on forgiveness at least in my life has been 03:24 and that is 1 John 1:9. Okay. 03:29 A text that many of you I'm sure 03:30 have heard, have read, have known 03:33 and it says, "If we confess our sins, 03:37 He, that is Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 03:43 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 03:46 This is, John, a promise. That's right. 03:50 That if we confess, if we say, "Lord, I have sinned, 03:55 I am sorry, I give that sin to You, 03:58 I'm gonna turn and walk the other direction 04:01 with You as my strength." 04:03 That He will in response according to this promise, 04:06 forgive us of that sin and cleanse our lives 04:09 from the sin that's affected us. 04:12 And in that respect, that confidence 04:14 we have in Jesus to forgive us 04:16 allows us to "forgive ourselves." 04:20 One of the things that I know that has been a struggle, 04:23 I think for some is, is when people asks for forgiveness 04:27 and they seem to have to ask for over and over again 04:30 because of something that just, 04:32 it's a strong hold the enemy has on their life 04:35 and that sin whether it'd be anger, whether-- 04:38 You know, Jealously or gossip or something keeps coming back 04:43 and they keep asking for forgiveness. 04:44 And you get to a point where you almost feeling like, 04:47 "Boy, I guess I'm just never forgiving 04:49 'cause I just can't seem to get over this hump." 04:50 Well, first of all know that when you ask for forgiveness, 04:54 when you get up off that floor, off your knees 04:59 that you are forgiven in Jesus. 05:01 The more you bring it back to Him, 05:03 especially if you've asked for forgiveness, 05:05 if you haven't committed the sin again, 05:07 don't keep brining it back up to God, 05:09 be confident that He has wiped your slate 05:11 and He's blooded that sin out and that you are forgiven. 05:15 The other part of this to is-- 05:18 Was a big help to me at least in this area is, 05:21 if you remember when Jesus was asked by the disciples, 05:27 if my brother keep sinning against me 05:30 how many times do I need to forgive him? 05:32 That's right. And he said, seven times. 05:36 And Jesus said, "Seventy times seven." 05:41 which, I mean, if you read that in a literal way 05:44 it's 490 times, right? 05:47 I think the point Jesus was making there though 05:50 was in regard to the continual extending of forgiveness 05:55 and how He's willing to do that to someone 05:57 who is truly, contrite and repentant. 06:00 So just because you've committed the sin before 06:02 you've done it again, don't get in your mind 06:05 that this time He's not gonna forgive me. 06:07 Repent, confess that sin, turn from it, 06:10 trust in God to be your strength 06:12 and be confident that He has forgiven your sin. 06:15 You know, it's amazing 06:16 that you're talking about the sin question 06:18 because a lot of times people hold on to something 06:23 longer than God holds on to it. Yeah. 06:26 And I have people that call me sometimes and I-- 06:30 They would say, "Pray for me." 06:31 And I say, "Well, have you prayed? 06:33 They say, "Yes, I have, 06:35 but I don't think God is hearing me." 06:36 And I'd say, "Why?" 06:38 "Because I feel so depressed, I just feel--" 06:42 And they go through this whole retinue of feelings they have. 06:46 I don't feel, I feel, I don't think, I think. 06:53 And I say, "Well, here's where faith comes in. 06:56 You know, Hebrew 11:6. 06:58 But one of the things we have to keep in mind is 07:01 as John just read 1 John 1:9. 07:04 He is faithful, God is faithful. 07:07 All we have to keep in mind 07:08 is when God makes a covenant with us 07:10 it's not based on our faithfulness, 07:12 it's based on His faithfulness, He makes the covenant. 07:16 And although the covenant, our fulfillment is conditional 07:19 to us being willing to follow the parameters of the covenant. 07:23 God still doesn't break His covenant with us. 07:25 We often break our covenant with Him. 07:27 And so keeping this in mind or the Lord even reminds us again. 07:31 There is a text 07:35 that talks about the way that God looks at sin 07:37 and I just really appreciate 07:39 the way that David brings this out. 07:42 I want to go ahead and let me see how far back. 07:45 Okay, I'll start with-- Psalms what? 07:48 Psalms 103 verse, starting with verse 8. 07:51 Starting with verse 8 because a lot of times 07:55 God has depicted us as agree guy, 07:57 they just has an attitude and He just wants to get at us. 08:00 Right, He's waiting for you to mess up. 08:01 He's waiting for us to mess up and give us this divine aha, 08:05 but verse 8 of Psalms 103 says, 08:07 "The Lord is merciful and gracious, 08:11 slow to anger, and abounding in mercy, 08:16 He will not always strive with us 08:19 nor will He keep His anger for ever." 08:22 But here's the beautiful news. 08:24 "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, 08:28 nor punished us according to our iniquities." 08:30 And that's true, if God dealt with us 08:32 the way we should be dealt with, 08:33 you know, sometimes parents say, 08:35 I'm gonna let you get away this time, 08:37 but you know that what you did was not-- 08:43 is not right or was not acceptable to this family. 08:48 God doesn't let us get away, but praise the Lord 08:53 in His correcting of us, there is an abundance of mercy, 08:59 there is the grace, the graciousness of God 09:02 all mixed into that so He does not 09:05 grab us by the collar and just throw us up against the wall 09:08 and handcuff us until we repent. 09:10 Sometimes people see that picture of God 09:13 and then he says in verse 11 and 12 and I love these. 09:16 "For as the heavens are high above the earth, 09:19 so great is his mercy toward those who fear him, 09:24 as far as the east is from the west, 09:27 so far has he removed our transgressions from us, 09:33 as a father pities his children, 09:37 so the Lord pities those who fear Him, 09:41 for He knows our frame He remembers that we are dust." 09:45 And when you keep going, I mean just continues to unfold 09:50 and God compares His mercy with so many attributes 09:54 that we can identify with, 09:56 but he's in essence saying to us I'm not that kind of guy. 10:00 I mean, wherever you got that idea from that 10:01 I'm just perpetuate of tournament 10:03 or there's perpetuate-- I got you, that's not who I am. 10:06 I'm a God who forgives. 10:08 And our confidence in that forgiveness 10:11 that He promises to us is in the covenant that He's made with us, 10:17 the covenant is giving to us we respond to that covenant 10:20 and we live according to that covenant 10:22 and then we can be confident 10:24 in fact if you read down a little further 10:26 in Psalm 103 it says verse 17, 10:30 "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting 10:32 to everlasting on those who fear Him, 10:34 and His righteousness to children's children, 10:37 to such who keep His covenant, 10:39 and to those who remember His commandments to do them." 10:42 So if I'm willingly disobeying God 10:47 and I'm asking for forgiveness for other things, 10:49 but I'm not giving up something else 10:52 that hurts my confidence level 10:55 and trust that God will respond to me according to His covenant 10:58 because I have not kept my part of the covenant 11:00 and I think you mentioned that. Yes. 11:02 It's very important for me to make sure that 11:04 I'm living in harmony with God's word 11:06 then my confidence I can sure, I can be-- 11:10 I can have a strong faith that what I read what He promises, 11:13 He will do and that is to forgive me. 11:15 But just to live with known disobedience 11:19 and then pray and ask for forgiveness, 11:22 you can have a lot of confidence there 11:23 because first God asked us to obey Him, to follow Him. 11:27 Now there will be times where you make mistakes, you do sin, 11:30 but then get back on that road to obedience to God 11:34 and you can be confident that that sin that you've committed 11:36 will be forgiving you. That's right. 11:39 And we have to accept that fact 11:41 because the opposite side of that is 11:45 we become prisoners of our own, 11:48 I don't think or I think or I don't feel and I feel. 11:51 You have to lay that down and lean on the mercy of God. 11:54 If God said He is gonna forgive you and you confess your sins 11:57 and you acknowledge you are wrong before Him. 12:00 He will forgive you, cleanse you from all unrighteousness 12:04 and then restore to you as David talked about, 12:07 restore to me the joy of my salvation 12:10 and he would not take His Holy Spirit from you. 12:12 Praise God for that. 12:14 You know, we have another question here from a gentleman. 12:16 Anyone-- Anything else you want to add there, John? 12:18 No, that's good. 12:19 We have another question from a guy named Kenneth. 12:22 And I want to leave his last name out. 12:24 And this is a very good question. 12:26 He says, "I have a question about John 20:23. 12:29 I was listening to a speaker on 3ABN talking about 12:32 the identifying characteristics of the little horn-- 12:35 Of little horn power of Daniel 7, 12:38 one of the characteristics is that 12:39 the little horn power would blasphemed, 12:42 the biblical definition of blasphemy 12:44 is found in the story of the paralytic. 12:47 Jesus tells the paralytic. 12:48 Your sins are forgiven, arise and walk. 12:50 Jesus is accused of blasphemy 12:53 because only God can forgive sins. 12:56 In John 20:23, Jesus tells the apostles 12:59 that they the right to forgive sins, 13:01 if the apostles can forgive sins why not a modern day priest?" 13:06 Beautiful illustration. 13:07 Thank you so much for that question. 13:09 What is missed here in the story between the-- 13:14 Between the priests stepping in the place of God 13:17 and the apostles are establishing 13:19 the authority of the Church of God? 13:21 There is a different dichotomy here all together. 13:23 If that were the only particular passage 13:25 then we could say, wow. 13:27 Well, you know, God has really given the apostles, 13:31 the power that belongs only to Him. 13:34 But if you look further, the Lord was establishing 13:37 the authority of the church, the authority of the church. 13:40 And as pastor I've been in situations 13:43 where we've had to talk to people 13:44 about certain things they've done. 13:45 And we've had to extend to them leniency 13:49 not so much in that we have the right to-- 13:53 I want to use this word in the-- In the improper sense. 13:56 Have the right to vindicate them because of this sin 13:59 or absolve as the word is used in certain faiths. 14:04 We don't have that ability to do so, 14:06 but we have had to deal with matters 14:09 where forgiveness of sin was necessary. 14:11 And we're now saying to them, 14:13 my child, I forgive you of your sin. 14:16 We're leading to the-- We're leading them 14:18 to acknowledge their forgiveness of sin 14:21 is what they need to seek. 14:23 And the difference between this passage 14:25 and the authority that is identified as the little horn, 14:29 the little horn is taking in, 14:31 usurping the power that belongs to God alone 14:34 and that is the power to forgive sin. 14:36 In other words, the Bible said John-- 1 John 1:9, 14:39 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful 14:42 and just to forgive us of our sins." 14:43 Now the confession here is not confessing 14:46 to the confession spoken on this, 14:48 confessing to God if we confess-- 14:50 Or confessing to another as we have wrong one another. 14:53 But in the case of little horn, He is saying, 14:55 "Okay, you confess your sin to me 14:57 and I'll extend forgiveness to you." 14:59 Well, that's not what God has 15:00 established here for the apostles to do. 15:03 The Lord is simply saying to the apostles in the-- 15:05 In the exercise of the authority of the church, 15:09 you'll have to speak and deal with various matters. 15:13 And one of those is leading people to understand 15:15 the importance of the forgiveness of sin 15:17 that's what this passage is talking about here 15:19 rather than-- rather than taking on for themselves. 15:24 The role of forgiving the sins 15:26 of all of those who maybe in their presence. 15:28 Secondly, what is bringing out even more directly is, 15:31 if somebody sins against you and you forgive them, 15:34 it's gonna be forgiven, 15:35 but if your retain it, it's gonna be retained. 15:37 He is speaking about the personal, 15:39 the personal insults and the personal attacks 15:43 that each of the apostles will have to deal with. 15:45 That's why if you read the text here says John 20:23, 15:50 "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them 15:54 if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 15:57 He didn't say, "Go around forgiving people's sin 16:01 when they need to be confessing those sins before God." 16:04 And this is talking about personal attack on the apostles 16:06 and you may remember one of the illustrations 16:08 where the Lord talked about, the Lord talked about 16:11 they were going from city to city 16:12 and the people gonna be receive them. 16:14 He said, "Shake off the dust from your feet." 16:16 And in other words, that's gonna be 16:19 a symbol of judgment against those 16:21 who refused to receive you as apostles or disciples of Christ. 16:25 But He's not talking about this general booth setup where, 16:29 "Okay, guys have sins that you need to confess, 16:32 we're going to forgive them 16:34 and then take God out of the equation." 16:37 That's not what this is talking about here. 16:38 That's not what's been talked about here at all. 16:41 It's very much the personal dynamic relationships. 16:44 And we are ambassadors of Christ 16:46 in the ministry of reconciliation. 16:49 So if we're ministries of reconciliation 16:52 then we need to do all we can 16:53 especially in the forgiveness arena 16:55 to make sure that the barriers are removed 16:57 and when you forgive somebody else 16:59 who extend forgiveness to somebody else, 17:01 you're removing a barrier between you and them. 17:02 Right, that's what this is talking about. 17:04 That's an important thing, yeah. 17:05 Because Jesus made it very clear like in Matthew 9, 17:07 when He talked about the paralytic who couldn't walk, 17:09 He says, "Your sins are forgiven you." 17:12 You know, and then He said, 17:13 "Take up your bed and walk arise, 17:14 take up your bed and go to your home." 17:16 That was an exercise and the power 17:18 that only has the power and the authority to exercise. 17:21 But what He is saying to the disciples here is, 17:24 if anybody wrongs you and you forgive him, 17:26 I'll accept it, if you retain it I'll accept that 17:30 and that is on the authority of the church. 17:32 And He is speaking to men 17:33 who are being imbued by the Holy Spirit 17:35 that's what the verse prior to that is talking about. 17:38 The Holy Spirit is gonna be working through your lives 17:40 to carry out these functions in your life 17:44 as apostles dealing with large groups of individuals 17:48 as the New Testament Church is being established. 17:50 What else do you have for us, John? 17:52 I've got a question from-- Let's see. 17:57 Well, he doesn't actually give his name, 17:59 so I'll go ahead and just read the question here. 18:00 It's from Leviticus 10:1-5. 18:05 "Fire went out from the Lord and devoured Nadab and Abihu, 18:09 since the fire devoured them, what was left of them 18:13 for their brethren to pick up by their tunics 18:15 and remove from the sanctuary. 18:18 If God inspired it then I believe it, 18:19 it seems I'm missing a vital point here. 18:22 Will you please explain? Okay. 18:24 So I went through here and looked at this passage 18:26 and it says exactly as presented there. 18:30 "Nadab and Abihu were offering profane fire before the Lord." 18:34 It says in verse 9. 18:35 "Something the Lord did not command." 18:39 And it says in verse 2, "So fire went out from the Lord 18:42 and devoured them and they died before the Lord. 18:45 And Moses said to Aaron, what is the Lord-- 18:49 This is what the Lord spoke, saying 18:52 'By those who come near me I must be regarded as holy. 18:55 And before all the people I must be glorified.'" 18:59 Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan and sons of Uzziel-- 19:05 The sons of Uzziel and the uncle of Aaron, 19:09 and said to them, "Come near, carry your brethren 19:12 from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 19:15 So they went near and carried them out 19:17 by their tunics from the camp, as Moses had said." 19:22 We read elsewhere when the fire 19:25 that comes from the Lord devourers people, 19:29 especially in the end, referring to the end. 19:30 Malachi Chapter 4 says that 19:34 it will leave them as ashes under our feet. 19:36 I believe that that's a pretty good 19:42 description of what would've happened here. 19:45 The only reason to mention the tunics 19:47 carrying them out by the tunics was 19:48 because what was left were the ashes of Nadab and Abihu. 19:53 There will be no reason if it was body themselves, 19:55 itself to be carried out by the tunic. 19:59 They're no need to do that, but because they were ashes 20:02 and they were devoured the tunic, 20:04 they were able to carry the ashes out from the sanctuary 20:07 and deposit them outside the camp. 20:11 Consumed or devoured does not me disappeared. 20:15 It's an important thing as well. 20:17 So it's not just they were suddenly vanished 20:19 or they were totally gone, but there were ashes remaining 20:23 that were evidence that they had 20:24 been devoured by the fire of the Lord 20:25 and it was those ashes that were carried out by these gentlemen. 20:32 Which the names I had a tough time pronounce. 20:34 Nadab and Abihu? No, no, no the other one. 20:37 Mishael and Elzaphan. Okay. 20:40 I'm so glad we use the names like John, Rick nowadays. 20:44 I know the names had a lot of meanings. 20:46 If your name was Elzaphan, I'd find some nickname for you. 20:49 El. El. 20:51 And not to be little 20:52 but the significance of those scripture names 20:54 because the names had so many 20:57 spiritual connotations connect to them 21:00 and that's why today, what's in your name. 21:04 Boy, that was huge in scriptural days. 21:06 One other question, Isaiah 45:7. What is this saying here? 21:11 This question comes from a person name Vince, all right? 21:17 And let me go ahead and answer this from Vince. 21:20 Let me go ahead and read the context of it 21:22 because you know, a lot of times we read a single scripture 21:24 and you could say a ton of things that is by itself 21:27 like the absent from the body, present with the Lord scripture. 21:30 You could read that by itself and you can insert in that 21:33 while the soul is absent from the body, 21:34 therefore the soul must be present with Lord. 21:37 But it didn't say anything to that affect at all, 21:39 nor does it even support that even. 21:41 It doesn't even support that ideology. 21:43 Let me go and read the context to you. 21:45 I'll read the text Isaiah 45:7 21:48 and then I'll go and read the context, all right? 21:51 "I form the light." Verse 7 of Isaiah 45. 21:55 "And create darkness. I make peace and create calamity 21:58 I the Lord do all these things." 22:02 Now when you look at the context God had chosen Cyrus. 22:09 If you look at verse 1, 22:10 "Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, 22:16 whose right hand I have held." 22:18 Or King James says holden "To subdue nations before him, 22:23 to loose the armor of kings, to open before him 22:26 the double doors so that the gates will not be shut." 22:30 What God is talking about 22:31 is the arsenal He's using in behalf of Cyrus, 22:34 as Cyrus goes for concurring, as Cyrus goes forth in war, 22:38 as Cyrus goes forth to encounter the force of any other nation. 22:44 The Lord says, "I'll use calamity, 22:46 I'll use darkness, I'll use light, 22:48 I'll use anything that I need to use 22:50 in order for Cyrus to be victorious. 22:52 Thus the context of that. 22:55 But in fact, let me just even go outside of the context of that. 22:59 There are times when calamity does come. 23:02 And not all the time does calamity come 23:05 as a result of Satan's arm, 23:07 but sometimes God allows this calamity to come. 23:10 And you'll find the Lord talks about. 23:12 He says, "For those who ignore His law, 23:14 He will laugh at them when calamity comes 23:17 from the presence of the Lord." Yeah. 23:19 And the other thing to that always jumps out of me with 23:21 when it comes to disasters is this picture 23:24 that Paul paints of earth groaning. Right. 23:26 The earth groans and it moves 23:29 and it is really struggling to sustain itself 23:32 and disasters are truly natural in some cases. Right. 23:36 God can withhold those and keep those from happening, 23:38 but a lot of times He allows them to happen 23:40 and it's not necessary Satan who is doing them, 23:43 but the earth is groaning. 23:44 We are seeing more and more disasters. 23:46 This earth is falling apart. I mean, can you image? 23:48 Here we are at the time of the year 23:49 where it should be very much colder than it is now 23:53 and the weather is just heating up all over the place. 23:55 But does God have the ability to create calamity? Yes. 24:00 Can God create darkness? Yes. 24:02 Can He create light? Yes. 24:04 So when He says in verse 7, 24:06 "I the Lord do all these things." 24:08 He is simply displaying the fact that 24:10 because He is the Lord, He can do whatever He wants to do. 24:13 He can use any of these-- 24:15 any of these attributes in His spiritual arsenal 24:19 and you find that for the sake of the children of Israel. 24:22 Let me use the example 24:23 when He led the Israelites out of the Land of Egypt. 24:26 How do you think He kept the Egyptians at bay? 24:29 He created a pillar of fire that was a wall 24:33 separating them continually from the destruction 24:35 that Egyptians wanted to bring to the Israelis. 24:39 They just could not get to the children of the Israel 24:41 'cause God created this wall of fire. 24:44 And also not only that God created calamity through the sea 24:48 the very sea that became a medium of deliverance 24:53 for the children of Egypt, for the children of Israel, 24:56 became a destructive force to the Egyptians. 25:00 Who created that calamity? God did. 25:02 But in whose behalf? In behalf of His people. 25:05 And so you find all the plagues that fell upon Egypt. 25:08 All of these were directed by the hand of God. 25:11 Was He able to create calamity in Egypt? Yes, he did. 25:14 Did he use darkness? Yes, he did. 25:16 Will he use darkness again in the seven last plagues? 25:18 Yes, he will. 25:19 So God is saying, "I have got the capacity and the ability 25:23 to create all these things, but in the story of Job, 25:27 there were not done by the Lord. 25:28 So you have to understand the context of it. 25:31 Is this in behalf of His people? 25:33 Is He protecting His people from an adversary 25:35 were something that could consume their lives. 25:37 If the answer is yes, 25:39 then God is the one creating these calamities. 25:43 Wisdom is very much needed, but when the insurance companies 25:46 blame everything on God, I don't support that. 25:49 Because we have a world 25:50 that's on a natural course of destruction 25:52 because of the presence of sin 25:54 and not everything that happens in our world 25:56 like earthquakes, disasters, 25:58 fire, floods and you go down the list. 26:00 These are not the instrument of God's hand 26:03 bringing torment and death and suffering to humanity. 26:07 But can God create calamity? Yes, He can. 26:11 Anything else for us, John? No, I don't think so. 26:14 All right. And we're ready for our topic. 26:15 Okay, Well, we're doing pretty good today. 26:18 Well, you know, friends, we may have opened a can of worms, 26:20 or we may have just stimulated a thought on your mind 26:23 or maybe have your own thought that you want to share with us. 26:25 If you'd like to do so, we have an email 26:27 send us questions or comments to housecalls@3abn.org 26:31 That's housecalls@3abn.org 26:35 And we thank you for all you do to support this program, 26:39 to keep this network on the air 26:41 and we surely do appreciate that from the bottom of our hearts. 26:45 John, take us into-- Take us into our topic today. 26:48 Try to get my throat clear. You know, there is a-- 26:52 Yeah, flogs come up sometimes. 26:53 Yeah, sometimes they show up uninvited. 26:55 You know, we as a church 26:58 and pastors of the Seventh-Day Adventists Church had been doing 27:02 and engaging in a united effort for revival and reformation, 27:07 we believe that our church has arrived at a time, 27:10 we are living in a day where we need that spiritual revival 27:14 and the question always comes to those that hear that call, 27:19 the clearing calls for revival. What does that mean? 27:23 And we interpret it differently. 27:24 What does revival look like? 27:26 Well, I think it's important to go through and see scripturally 27:31 what a revival look like in the period of the early church 27:36 because this church went forth to conquer 27:39 victoriously in Christ by supporting the gospel. 27:42 They were inspired by the Holy Spirit 27:45 and engage in the work of Christ and His mission 27:51 giving specifically for the church. 27:53 We will experience that "Pentecost" 27:57 latter rain outpouring. 28:00 The Pentecost is the early rain, 28:01 but we will have a Pentecost type of experience 28:03 in the latter rain as it's poured out 28:04 to revive the church in the last days. 28:07 So I think it's good, maybe take a look at true revival. 28:10 What does it look like? What it look like then? 28:13 What can we expect here in the future? 28:15 And, John, I actually moved one of our things in our handout 28:20 they are down a little bit, 28:21 so maybe I'll iterate which one's 28:22 and you'll be able to follow on very easily. 28:25 But these are 12 characteristics then 28:28 of what true revival looks like. 28:30 I don't know, if we'll finish in one program, 28:32 we may a take a couple of programs 28:33 which will be just fine. 28:35 But let's dive right in. Okay, go for it. 28:37 All right. Here's number one. 28:39 The revival began in the church. Okay. 28:43 When God is about to bestow spiritual blessings upon people 28:47 specifically His people, 28:49 it is His usual method 28:50 first to awake them out of a spiritual sleep. 28:54 They recognize their spiritual need. Wow. 28:58 He begins with the church. This is where He goes. 29:01 There's not any isolated groups. 29:03 He starts with His people in His church 29:06 and He awakens them to a need. 29:09 And in response to that then He can begin to work. Wow. 29:15 And I think we see that clearly in the New Testament, 29:18 specifically The Book of Acts. 29:19 All right, you want to go to the Book of Acts. 29:22 I think it's kind of a good ground work 29:23 because Acts obviously is where Pentecost occurred. 29:28 And Jesus said to His disciples before He left them, 29:32 after His resurrection before He left 29:33 and went to His father He said, 29:35 specifically that He'd have come together 29:38 and they were to unify do other things. 29:40 And we'll cover these things in specific details, 29:43 but they were to come together as a church, 29:46 recognizing their need and depending upon Him 29:49 for spiritual revival. All right. 29:51 What text are you turning to there? 29:55 Well, let's see. Let's start with Chapter 1:4. 29:59 Okay. "And being assembled together with them, 30:03 He commanded, that is Jesus, 30:05 commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, 30:07 but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 30:10 which, He said, 'you have heard from Me', 30:13 for John truly baptized with water, 30:14 but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit 30:17 not many days from now. 30:19 Therefore, when they had come together, 30:21 they asked Him, saying, 30:22 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' 30:27 And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons 30:29 which the Father has put in His own authority. 30:32 But you shall receive power 30:34 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you 30:36 and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, 30:39 and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'" 30:43 Okay, so that revival primarily, 30:46 that began was a spiritual blessing. 30:50 You know, the disciples and the apostles 30:52 could not go into the work of God without having a power 30:56 and that power had to come out of the sin, 30:57 so the spiritual blessing that the Lord poured upon them. 31:02 I like that, It's usually His method to awaken His people. 31:06 I saw, I saw another passage here in Psalms 138. 31:10 Let's look at that, Psalm 138. 31:14 Okay, I'm turning there and here I am. 31:19 Okay, Psalms 138. And... 31:27 Let me see if that's the right one to that one. 31:29 Okay, here it is. 31:33 Okay, Psalms 143:11. 31:36 Actually that's the one I'm looking to, Psalms 143:11. 31:41 This is the one I'm actually looking at. 31:44 I like the two words that begins within the verse, verse 11. 31:48 Revive me. Notice what it says. 31:50 Revive me, Revive means wake me up. 31:53 "Revive me, O Lord, for Your name's sake. 31:56 For Your righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble." 32:01 David was using this here in the context 32:03 of delivering him from his enemies, 32:05 but what I want to use 32:06 in this particular passage is the revive part. 32:09 You know, we've talked about reformation. 32:11 You cannot have reformation unless you have revival. 32:15 So who is doing the reviling? Only the Lord does. 32:19 When we talk about The Parable of the Ten Virgins? 32:21 How many of them slept? They all slept. 32:24 So in order for God do a work in the church, 32:27 one of the first things he has to do is, wake up the church. 32:30 Revive me and then reform me, 32:34 get me back on track, strengthen me. 32:37 And whose names sake is that being done for? 32:40 For His name sake. 32:42 And that's at the request of the church corporate 32:44 that is come together recognizing 32:45 they have this need for spiritual revival. 32:48 You know, I think one thing that is 32:51 a powerful statement about revival and reformation 32:54 and the need for both hand in hand 32:57 is that revival without reformation. 32:59 In other words, a changed life, 33:01 a reordering restructuring of the life. 33:02 Revival without value brings nothing but fanaticism. 33:07 It's a shoot in the dark of firing off of the emotions 33:11 and trying to figure out how God's working. 33:14 But reformation without revival is nothing but cold formalism. 33:19 It's a dead faith. 33:21 It's a doing the works for the works themselves, 33:23 but it's relegated to a legalistic approach 33:26 to our faith in following God because we have to 33:29 or we have to follow these sets of guide lines. 33:32 In those cases, we need a revival of the spirits. 33:34 So revival of the heart, the spirit of God 33:37 poured out on us with a response of a changed life 33:40 and then reforms changes made in our lives in response to that 33:43 is what's needed together, they go hand in hand. 33:45 Okay and another one in David's writing, Psalms 139. 33:49 Psalms 119:37 he says, "Turn away my eyes 33:54 from looking at worthless things and revive me in Your way." 33:59 Excuse me. One of things that we do often times is people that-- 34:04 People that are wasting their time, 34:05 looking at worthless things. 34:07 Today, we could easily transit that 34:09 it's a televisions, it's movies and just a waste of time. 34:13 The Lord is in essence being beseeched by David. 34:17 He says, "Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things 34:21 and revive me in your way." 34:23 In other words, give my eyes a new focus, 34:25 give my eyes a new direction 34:27 that is so indicative of what God does. 34:30 And one of the needs of the church Laodicea is open my-- 34:34 Anoint my eyes with eye salve 34:37 and I would need to say this fits so wonderfully 34:39 into the context of revival and reformation 34:41 because the question of the prayer 34:43 turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, really. 34:48 What's worthless in our generation? 34:49 There are so many worthless things in our generation 34:53 that gropes for our attention 34:56 that that cries out for our attention 34:58 and when we give them attention or when we give it attention, 35:02 we fail to be alive unto the things of God. 35:07 So David is saying turn them-- Turn my eyes away 35:09 from worthless things from looking at them 35:11 and revive me how in Your way. Psalms 119:37. 35:17 So the revival comes, there is a change 35:19 not only in the things we say and preach, 35:22 but in what we spend our time looking at. 35:25 And that's actually one of them coming up. 35:27 All right, go for it. 35:28 Well, no, when we get to that list, 35:30 I'm just saying that what you're saying 35:32 is very, very true about that. 35:33 In fact, it's identified here as one of the true revival elements 35:37 which is both their pursuits and appearances, 35:39 it's their lives, you can see the noticeable change in their-- 35:43 in what their desires are. 35:44 I think a lot of reasons why people need revival is 35:46 because they are generally spending their times 35:49 on things that are not spiritually uplifting. 35:52 They're spending their time doing things that are just-- 35:55 It saps their energies. 35:56 And let me also talk about the caffeine effect 35:59 and I'm not talking about diet here at all 36:00 nor am I literally talking about the actual caffeine itself. 36:04 But what happens is the world has this thing I call, 36:07 I call it the caffeine effect. 36:08 It pumps us up on this level of excitement 36:11 and drama and intensity 36:14 and it keeps us in that arena all the time, 36:16 looking for a new high. 36:18 When our eyes are focused on that new high 36:20 and then all of a sudden when it comes down 36:22 to studying the word of God which is just sitting here 36:26 asking us to spend quality quite time in the word of God 36:33 without all this drama, it gets to be-- 36:36 Boring, yeah. Right. 36:38 So the world is killing off a person's desire 36:42 to even sit down and look into the word of God 36:44 and spend quality time focusing his or her eyes 36:48 where they would as the text says teach me to do your will. 36:52 But you got to study the word of God. 36:54 And if your eyes are focused on all those things are just, 36:57 oh, look what happened, who is next. 36:59 I'm giving you the starry look. 37:02 Then it becomes a laborious task 37:06 to sit down and study God's word. 37:07 And so that's why today, John, I think one of the challenges 37:10 the church has in general is reason why Bible studies, 37:14 the desire to have Bible studies. 37:16 The desire to show up 37:18 and have cooperate studies together is dying out 37:21 because we have been trilled by a world 37:23 that's taking sapping all of our energies 37:26 except leading us into the things 37:27 that God wants us to pay our attention to. 37:30 Very, very, true. You know, it's just-- 37:32 Let's look at number two here. All right. 37:34 Nothing was said about dreams and visions, 37:38 hearing voices or seeing signs 37:41 at least as the evidence of revival. 37:44 No extravagance, either in gestures or outcries appeared, 37:47 no wild enthusiasm intended the revival. Yeah. 37:51 It was not just-- It was not bedlam of noise in other words. 37:54 No, it wasn't an emotionally driven charged thing. 37:57 It wasn't based on feelings. 37:59 It was based on the knowledge of the presence of God 38:02 and what was happening in the life to change the life. 38:06 1 Peter 2:1-3, let's take a look at 1 Peter 2:1-3. 38:16 Okay, let's do that. All right. 38:19 1 Peter 2:1-3, read that for us. 38:22 Oh, yeah, that's a beautiful one. 38:24 This is really-- This is a wonderful text 38:28 indicating what happens when rival is taking place in lives. 38:32 Go ahead and read that one. 38:34 "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, 38:36 hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 38:38 as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word 38:43 that you may grow thereby, 38:45 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 38:49 If indeed, that's right. 38:51 So what's happening here in revival? 38:52 What happens people get together 38:54 and begin to pour out their hearts before God 38:56 and what gets laid side? 38:58 Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, all evil speaking. 39:06 It is not possible for a church to seek revival 39:10 without seeking to put away these things in their lives. 39:13 You know, all of a sudden the new birth 39:14 is a fresh anointing from the Lord 39:17 and then these babies that are coming back 39:19 into the realization of how beautiful it is 39:21 to be in the presence of God, their desires change, 39:24 they begin to desire now the pure milk of the word 39:28 that now there's gonna be some growth 39:31 because they have now realized that God is gracious. 39:35 So when you talk about this, 39:37 I like the point that John is making here 39:39 is the key element of the strength 39:43 of the New Testament Church was 39:44 that they studied the word of God 39:46 and they prayed for all these things to be laid aside 39:49 that's how they were able to in one accord 39:51 when the Day of Pentecost came. 39:53 Absolutely, good. Okay. 39:56 All right, number three, 39:58 it began with an emphasis on the grace of God 40:01 and bestowed, as bestowed by the work by the Holy Spirit. 40:05 Now, John, this is an important piece of this 40:08 because when we use the word grace, 40:10 sometimes we don't understand the fullness of what that means. 40:16 All right. 40:17 And over the last few years, 40:20 about the last two and a half, three years, 40:23 I have began to share a different definition of grace 40:26 'cause typically when you say, well, what is grace, 40:28 what is the response you here? 40:29 Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor, okay. 40:32 And that's a good definition, 40:33 but it doesn't expand really much, 40:35 doesn't give a picture of God's grace. 40:37 It kind of gives it a pretty straight just a pure definition. 40:41 But here is-- Here is my definition of grace. 40:44 I felt the Lord really impress me with this 40:46 I was studying this topic. 40:48 Anytime God reaches down to something for us 40:52 that we cannot do for ourselves that's grace. 40:55 Okay, all right, I like that. 40:58 Whether it's to save us, whether it's to help us, 41:03 to protect us, to strengthen us, to empower us-- 41:08 Anything He does to reach down to do something for us, 41:11 we can't do for ourselves, that's God's grace. All right. 41:15 And so this expands grace from just a realm of saving us. 41:20 Justification to sanctify and working to grow us 41:26 in every area of our life, it's all because of God's grace. 41:30 He does something for us, we cannot do for ourselves. 41:34 And so the emphasis in revival on grace is, 41:38 it brings about other complete dependence upon God 41:42 for the change that we want to take place. 41:45 Well, I could support that in the God's grace truly. 41:49 First of all, I want to go back 41:50 to the unmerited favor aspect of it 41:53 because we really don't deserve it, 41:55 but because of God's grace. 41:57 He is gracious, longsuffering toward us. 42:01 Because of His grace He sees our need 42:04 before we even realize the depth of our need. 42:07 He sees where we are before we realize 42:09 or even where He wants us to be 42:11 and then that grace begins to activate in our lives, 42:15 the power that sometimes we don't really have 42:17 an experience of with this power knowing that 42:21 it could change our hearts and change our lives. 42:23 And the way that Paul says this in the Book of Titus. 42:27 "This is for the grace of God 42:29 that brings salvation has appeared to all men." 42:32 What is that grace do as John was saying just a moment ago. 42:35 It does for us the things that we will not naturally do. 42:38 Teaching us, He teaches us. What does He teach us to do? 42:42 "To denying ungodliness and worldly lusts 42:46 that we should live soberly, righteously 42:49 and godly in this present age." 42:51 What passage is that? 42:52 This is Titus 2:11 down to verse 13. 42:59 So when you look at the grace of God, what is it do? 43:02 You know, it teaches us. 43:04 Not only does it bring salvation, 43:05 but it teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts 43:09 and live soberly, righteously and godly. 43:12 And that is revival that brings these things back to context 43:15 because there's some people-- and this always troubles me 43:17 when I think about statements, some people say, 43:20 "Well, we'll be sinning till Jesus comes." 43:23 And it almost leads this hopeless, 43:28 it leaves us hopeless table there. 43:30 I like this table of-- is my table going to be dirty 43:32 every time guest come over to have dinner with us? 43:35 Is our hearts and live gonna be dirty 43:37 every time you go before the Lord? 43:39 Are we gonna be hopelessly bound by the chains of sin? 43:42 Is they're not gonna be any change in our direction. 43:45 This shows us what grace really does. 43:48 You know, it can make a serious change in your life. 43:52 You may sin by your motive 43:55 and your desire is always to not sin. 43:58 Right. You may stumble it. 44:00 You may stumble or you may fall through, 44:03 but you're not practicing sin, that's where this is-- 44:06 When it says teaching us that denying. 44:11 Got to deny ourselves. 44:12 The Lord told His disciples, "Deny yourselves everyday, 44:16 deny yourself because if you don't, 44:19 godliness and lusts will have a constant battle 44:23 if you don't deny yourself." 44:25 That's what that cross 44:26 in the Christian life really is all about. 44:28 So the other one is that's a very important point, denying. 44:33 You know, as we're taking about this stuff, 44:35 I'm adding a few things more to this list 44:38 because I think there is so much in scripture on what the-- 44:43 The New, the early church, 44:44 this fledgling church that God established, 44:47 what it went through as the Holy Spirit 44:49 came down upon the people 44:50 and revived them not just your Pentecost, 44:53 but even going forward that empowered them to do this work. 44:56 We want this in our churches today. 44:58 We want our people to experience it. 45:00 So it's good to go back 45:01 and look at what was happening in their days well. 45:04 Are we down to them five? Let's see. 45:08 No, this on here is one of the last changes 45:11 I made in moving order here. 45:13 Number four is, it was the work of God, 45:16 there was a mark change in the lives of the people 45:19 both their pursuits and appearances. 45:21 And I just added this because of your comment. 45:24 They began to practice righteousness, 45:27 that's first, John, okay. Okay. 45:29 So their pursuits, their desires and things, 45:32 they didn't out things in front of their eyes 45:33 that would draw them away from God, 45:35 they put things in front, 45:36 they fed off of the things that were righteous and holy 45:39 that was what marked their life as revival king. 45:45 That's important, John, because I want you to share 45:49 that text with me again, which one is you add to that? 45:52 The practicing righteousness, 1 John, I believe chapter 3. 45:56 While you're turning there, the one that I added to that 45:58 was in Psalm 139:23 and 24. 46:02 You know, it was the work of God, 46:04 there was a mark change in the lives of the people 46:07 both their pursuits and appearances. 46:09 Now, how could that change happen? 46:11 This is the way that I see it happening, 46:12 David, when he prayed the pray. 46:14 And he is I tell you by far 46:17 one of my favorite Bible characters, 46:19 one of my favorite Bible personalities 46:21 because David in order for the change to come, 46:24 he used these two words, "Search me." 46:27 He said, "Search me." 46:29 Now, I tell you If anybody could thoroughly search you, God can. 46:36 But not your pockets and to see if you have any contraband, 46:39 but he said, "Search me, O God, 46:42 and know my heart, try me 46:46 and know my anxieties or my thoughts, 46:49 and see if there is any wicked way in me, 46:52 and lead me in the way everlasting." 46:55 So David was asking God here 46:57 for the marked changed to be manifested in his life, 47:00 both in pursuits and appearances, 47:02 God starts searching His church, 47:04 He starts, the eyes of the Lord, go to and fro on the earth. 47:09 And that's what he talked about in the book of Revelation. 47:11 Zachariah talks about that. 47:13 "The eyes of the Lord are going to and fro on the earth, 47:15 the lamb with seven eyes." 47:17 It's talking about the searching ability of God, 47:20 looking into the lives of his people, 47:22 seeing where they are and seeing where they need to be. 47:25 He changes their pursuit as well as those things 47:28 that appeared before him that are not acceptable. 47:31 Amen. All right. 47:32 What do you have for the next one 47:33 or do you have anymore? 47:34 No, number 4-- No, number 5. 47:36 Okay. Prayer becomes precious. 47:40 There was a commitment to corporate prayer. 47:43 Now there is a lot on this. 47:46 And I think one of the places to go is Acts Chapter 2 47:50 and so we all part of that and of course, 47:52 if you can have some other things there as well. 47:54 I have another one. So as I'm turning here. 47:59 Prayer. Who doesn't need prayer? 48:02 For those of us who just use prayer 48:04 for our dinner, our breakfast, our lunch 48:06 or just when we wake up in the morning, 48:07 which one of us doesn't need prayer. 48:09 Prayer is one of those things that you can't rush through. 48:14 Sometimes, when I get held up for meeting 48:17 and I arrive at the meeting a few minutes late, 48:21 the reason is I was on the phone. 48:25 But when it comes to time praying for God, 48:27 you've got to put your phone time with God aside 48:30 so that nothing else interrupts that time. 48:33 You got to put your prayer time aside with God 48:37 so you can sit down and really talk to the Lord 48:40 then after you speak to the Lord, 48:42 you beseech Him and wait for Him to impress upon you, 48:46 His will and His way and His desire 48:48 to guide you to make a difference in your life. 48:51 The text that you're gonna read is in Acts 2? 48:54 Actually it's Acts 1. All right, Acts 1. 48:56 Which one is it? Acts 1:14. 48:58 All right. 49:00 And it says, just the first part of this especially. 49:02 These all, speaking of the disciples, the apostles. 49:06 "These all continued with one accord 49:10 in prayer and supplication." 49:14 So in response to Jesus saying come together, what do they do? 49:18 They came together to pray. 49:20 Matter of fact, that's what the Day of Pentecost, 49:22 that's what they did in preparation 49:23 for the Day of Pentecost, they prayed. 49:24 That's right. They got together and prayed. 49:26 Now I have taken a different approach to that 49:30 which is in harmony with that. 49:32 I've gone to the favorite passage for prayer, 49:36 2 Chronicles 7:14. 2 Chronicles 7:14. 49:40 You remember Jesus also indicted Pharisees 49:43 and the religious leaders of his day, 49:45 he said, "My house shall be called 49:47 a house of prayer for all people, 49:49 but you've made it a den of thieves." 49:51 Prayer is so significant 49:53 in the strength and direction of a church. 49:56 2 Chronicles 7 and I start with verse 12. 49:59 "Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night 50:01 and said to him, 'I have heard your prayer 50:06 and I have chosen this place for myself 50:09 as a house of sacrifice.'" 50:13 Notice what he says and this is the context of it. 50:16 That's why I'm reading the verses before that. 50:18 "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, 50:22 or command locusts to devour the land 50:25 or send pestilence among my people." 50:27 Talking about God sending calamity now. 50:30 So he is saying, "If I disapprove of the way 50:33 that my people are living these things I am going to do, 50:36 but what should your response be 50:38 when you see these calamites coming?" 50:40 John, read verse 14 for us. 50:42 "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, 50:46 and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, 50:50 then I will hear from heaven 50:51 and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 50:55 If you keep going, you'll find 50:56 that the word My continually shows up. 51:00 I could say the word My in verse 15. 51:03 My, my, 16. My, my, my 17, 18, 19, 20. 51:09 Always continually, my commandment, 51:12 my judgment, my statues, my heart, my name, 51:15 my eyes, my lamb, my site. 51:18 The Lord is an essence saying, I am the one that-- 51:20 I am one that assessing the inventory of my people. 51:24 And what they need more than anything else. 51:26 That word if is a huge word because if is the bridge 51:32 that keeps me on this side of failure 51:34 or on this side of success. 51:37 If, and so many people that-- 51:39 Two letters, but big, big words. 51:43 I mean, it makes the difference between 51:45 a person who is willing to humble himself 51:47 or willing to humble herself 51:50 or if my people will humble themselves, 51:52 if my people will do this, then here's what I will do. 51:55 So now, John, asking a question. 51:57 The burden of action is on the side of the people, 52:02 but God promises, there's that covenant again. 52:04 I've made a covenant, this is what I am going to do, 52:07 if you're willing to do that. 52:11 Formally working in the insurance industry, 52:14 they have in policies, homeowner's policies, 52:17 other policies, various things, conditions. Causes. 52:22 Well, no, specifically conditions. 52:23 It says conditions of this contract. Okay. 52:28 But if you do this, we will do this. 52:31 And you need to meet those conditions 52:33 before the policy itself will be engage or kick into affect. 52:39 If you don't meet those conditions, 52:41 it won't happen, they won't do their piece. 52:43 And God is essentially with the word If, 52:45 He is putting in a condition there. 52:47 This is conditional, if you pray, seek my face, 52:51 humble yourselves and seek my face, I will respond. 52:54 Right. 52:56 And part of prayer isn't just the words, 53:00 it's the act of humbleness 53:02 and it's the act of turning from our wicked ways, 53:05 it's the act of warning what God has to provide, 53:08 not warning what we want in our prayers that causes Jesus, 53:13 the Lord to respond to us 53:15 and to pour out his blessing upon us. 53:17 Because God wants to bless us, 53:18 but He doesn't do so arbitrarily. 53:20 God blesses us always on conditions. 53:22 Let me turn to another If, 53:24 all the way in the New Testament, 53:25 1 John Chapter 5. 1 John Chapter 5. 53:29 That I like to read verse 14 and verse 15. 53:33 1 John 5:14 and 15. 53:37 And pay particular attention to the word, If, all right. 53:42 notice what it says in verse 14. 53:43 "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 53:47 that if we ask anything according to His will, 53:52 He hears us and if we know that He hears us, 53:57 whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions 53:59 that we have asked of Him." 54:01 See, what's the condition here? Asking according to His will. 54:06 If you do that, here's what I'm willing to do. 54:10 God makes the covenant on the condition 54:12 that we follow His prescribed method of beseeching Him 54:18 or coming into oneness with Him. 54:19 If we do that, I will do this. 54:22 And there is another piece to this too with prayer. 54:25 It's not just individual prayer, it's corporate prayer, 54:29 it's coming together to prayer. 54:31 The evidence is throughout scripture 54:34 that corporate prayer does things 54:36 that individual prayers won't do. 54:40 God response in a way for His people 54:42 to corporate prayer that He will not do 54:46 when we're just praying individually. 54:49 And I believe that it's time that we, 54:52 if we want revival as a church, as a people, 54:55 we need to come together and pray. That's right. 54:59 And seek God's face and spend time together in united prayer. 55:02 And I tell you as a pastor, 55:04 this is one of the most challenging things to do. 55:06 To get the people out, outside of our 55:10 normal worship services there for the week, 55:13 to get people to come out and to pray together. 55:15 When you say we're gonna have 55:17 a prayer service coming up on Wednesday night, 55:21 you get five or six people that show up. 55:24 To me, everybody needs to show up. 55:27 It's like the guy that-- the pastor that-- 55:30 was in the middle of a town 55:31 and they hadn't had rain for a long time. 55:34 There's a lot of spiritual analogies to this. 55:36 Hadn't had a rain for very long time 55:38 and they were desperate for rain. 55:41 And he said to the towns' people that we're part of this church. 55:43 He said, I want you to come out 55:44 on Wednesday night and we're gonna pray. 55:48 We're gonna pray for rain, and many, many came out. 55:53 And as he looked out he said, "I think we're in trouble." 55:58 People said, "Well, we know we're in trouble." 56:00 But he said, "No." 56:01 He says, "We're in trouble because I look around 56:03 I don't see many umbrellas here." 56:07 Anyway, that's a kind of a thing about faith and trust in God, 56:10 but coming together to pray is what God wants us to do 56:14 and it moves upon His heart to do for His people corporately 56:18 and it's a very important thing. 56:19 Yeah, we take it very lightly I think as a church many times. 56:21 What I'm getting out of that analogy 56:23 is that you just used was I saw it in a different way 56:26 where a little boy showed up with an umbrella 56:28 and he asked the adults, "Where is your faith?" 56:30 You know, if you believe God 56:32 according to His promise and His covenant He has made, 56:35 we have to have some external evidence 56:37 that we believe that God has made a covenant 56:40 and God will promise and honor that covenant. 56:42 If you're praying for rain, man, at least get an umbrella. 56:46 Show up with some evidence 56:47 that you truly trust and believe the will of God. 56:49 Show up with some evidence that 56:51 you believe in the power and the advocacy of prayer. 56:56 That's right, we'll move upon the heart of God, 56:59 not to make Him do something He doesn't want to do. 57:02 That's not what prayer is about. 57:03 Prayer changes us and builds confidence in us. 57:06 Faith in us to trust Him at His word 57:07 that He will do according to what He says. 57:10 I was in Arizona and I was-- We were coming down 57:12 on a big, big, big mountain there 57:14 I mean, it was like, thousand of feet up 57:15 and I thought, I love to take a ride on the outside 57:19 'cause there was one person up there 57:20 and I said to see the world in a way that God sees it finally. 57:23 Well, friends, you know, 57:24 God is gonna make a house call on your life. 57:26 And if you are a praying person and trust in God, 57:29 you will meet the Lord in peace. 57:31 Make that decision today. God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17