Participants: Shelley Quinn
Series Code: PHP
Program Code: PHP000012
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00:01 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:02 Please join us today on Pressing into His Presence, 00:05 as we will learn how to plead for the perishing. 00:29 Welcome to Pressing into His Presence. 00:32 This series on prayer is based on a teaching that I was 00:35 privileged to share in a book that is titled the same, 00:39 Pressing into His Presence. 00:40 And if you're following along in your resource book, 00:44 today we're going to begin on Chapter 7, as we begin our 00:48 discussion on intercessory prayer. 00:51 You know, I recall that first day when the Lord was teaching 00:57 me to press into His presence. 00:59 I was sitting at His feet learning how to pray. 01:02 And after pressing in through praising Him, and then pouring 01:08 out my heart in repentance, I was primed to ask God 01:12 for His help to overcome the problems of my life. 01:15 But pausing, I remember that it was the Holy Spirit who was 01:19 to be directing me. 01:20 So I said, Lord, how do you want me to advance in prayer? 01:25 Please teach me. And suddenly a Vacation Bible School banner 01:30 came to my mind. And this banner said, Joy, J-O-Y, and it stood 01:37 for Jesus, others, and yourself. 01:40 Simply put, this profound message implied that true joy 01:45 was attained only when our priorities are ordered such 01:49 that Jesus is first, our fellow man is second, and then, 01:54 only then, is it safe to focus on ourselves. 01:58 I felt God was calling me to intercede on behalf of others. 02:03 Now my habit during intercessory prayer had been to start with 02:10 family members, and then friends, then I would advance to 02:14 broader circle of humanity. 02:16 But the Holy Spirit ordered my prayer, and to my surprise, 02:20 He reversed my typical pattern. 02:23 I was led to pray for world situations and leaders, 02:28 the destitute, and the down trodden, believers around the 02:33 world, then associates, then church, family, friends, 02:37 and extended family, and then my close family members, 02:41 and finally, for my precious husband, J. D. 02:44 And after several weeks of praying like this, I understood 02:49 why God ordered my prayer in this fashion. 02:52 I'm going to save that and share that thought with you 02:56 on a later program. 02:57 But it's special! It's an understatement to say that 03:02 I did not have a good understanding of intercessory 03:05 prayer when I began. 03:06 My feeble attempts were, to say the least, lackluster until 03:12 I learned the inherent power of affirmations, which is what we 03:17 talked about in our last program. 03:19 When I began pleading God's promises over others, 03:24 He practiced, He polished my practice of prayer 03:28 to a new brilliance. 03:30 So beginning today, I'd like to share a few highlights of what 03:34 the Lord has taught me about intercessory prayer. 03:37 This important topic is going to take several programs to cover. 03:41 And I want to first give you a preview of seven key points 03:46 that we will be considering. 04:31 When we have completed our closer look at these points, 04:34 I hope that your hearts will be stirred to spend seasons 04:38 in earnest intercession, lifting others up 04:42 before His throne of grace. 04:43 It's so important! 04:45 Now, as a matter of observation only, we have been considering 04:50 how the progression of our prayer segments correlate 04:54 with the ministry of the sanctuary of old. 04:56 Let's see how intercession is related. 04:58 A priest entering into the Holy Place, which was the first 05:02 compartment of the sanctuary, would see to his left 05:05 the table of showbread. 05:06 Then over to his right would be the golden candlesticks. 05:11 But directly in front of him was the altar of incense, 05:15 at the far end of chamber. 05:16 And that was centered directly before the veil, 05:20 the hanging door between the Most Holy Place 05:24 and the Holy Place. 05:26 And this Most Holy Place that this veil separated, 05:31 was what contained the ark of the testimony. 05:35 Everything in the sanctuary was representative of Christ, 05:40 and of God's plan of redemption. 05:42 As we discussed in our last two programs, the table of 05:46 showbread, and affirmations, are connected in type. 05:49 Now we will see how intercession, and that golden 05:55 altar of incense are likewise connected in type. 05:58 The altar of incense represented Christ's intercession. 06:03 A special incense burned upon this golden altar 06:07 morning and night. 06:08 And it was a compound of fragrant spices, 06:12 and it had gums, and it was a unique formula that was 06:16 given by Moses to God. 06:17 And it was required for that golden altar. 06:21 Pronounced Most Holy, this special incense could be used 06:26 exclusively in the Holy Place, and for absolutely no other 06:30 purpose. As the sweet spices burned continually with fire 06:37 taken from the brazen altar of sacrifice, 06:39 the perfume of their fragrance permeated the Holy Place. 06:44 Now in the earthly days of sanctuary services, 06:48 Aaron, the High Priest, burned this incense 06:52 upon the golden altar. 06:53 But later the Levite priests assumed the responsibility. 06:57 The perfumed smoke rising from the burning incense in front 07:02 of the veil was an emblem of prayer, and representative of 07:08 Christ's continual intercession for us. 07:10 Let's look at three scriptures for reference to this. 07:15 First is Psalm 141:2. David said: 07:31 And then in Revelation 5:8 it says: 07:52 And Revelation 8:3 tells us: 08:11 Please note that a special incense was mentioned 08:17 in Revelation 8:3. 08:18 This incense was added to those prayers that were offered... 08:23 It was added and offered to the prayers of the saints 08:26 when they reached the throne room of God. 08:28 And, by the way, let me just take a sidebar here. 08:31 The word saint means set apart for God, and it is applied to 08:36 all of God's people in both the Old and the New Testaments. 08:41 So, anyway, as we are praying in intercession, and we exhaled 08:47 the aroma of our prayers, Christ adds His prayers to ours 08:52 to give them the perfumed fragrance that is 08:55 pleasing to our Father. 08:56 His Most Holy incense added in heaven is the required 09:01 ingredient of God's special formula. 09:04 It is presented with the offering of the Lamb of God 09:09 at Calvary's cross as symbolized by the prescribed fire 09:13 from the altar of burnt offering. 09:14 Only through Christ can our prayers have efficacy. 09:19 His intercession results in the release of God's blessing. 09:24 The Bible tells us that there's only one mediator, 09:28 only one who stands as our advocate with the Father, 09:33 Jesus Christ. He alone can make our prayers acceptable. 09:38 And it is in His name only that we must pray. 09:43 Christ, our great intercessor, pleads for the perishing 09:48 before God on the merits of what He accomplished at the cross. 09:54 Isaiah 53:5, 12 says this: 10:23 Christ assigns the duty, and grants the privilege of 10:30 intercessory prayer to His disciples. 10:34 Not because of our merits, but on the grounds of trusting 10:39 in the One who died for our sins, who lives to make 10:43 intercession for us, and is able to save us to the uttermost. 10:47 Our prayers are acceptable to God because 10:51 of Christ's intercession. 10:53 You know, in John 14:13, 14, Jesus instructs us to ask 11:02 in His name, which pleads His intercession. 11:06 The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray, and Christ's intercession 11:11 makes it possible for our prayers to be answered. 11:14 Now before we advance in this teaching, let me share an 11:19 interested and related note about the temple that stood 11:23 during Jesus' days. 11:25 Herod the Great, the king of Judea at the time, 11:29 built this temple, restoring it to the former glory of Solomon's 11:33 temple in an attempt to gain favor with the Jews. 11:38 Now M. G. Edwards, excuse me, M. G. Easton's, 11:44 Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible, contains a drawing 11:48 of the layout of Herod's temple. 11:51 And depicted in the outer court were the place of the 11:55 slaughtering, and the laver between the outer court 11:57 and the Holy Place, which is a portico. 12:00 There was a portico. 12:01 And that was kind of a, sort of a open entryway porch. 12:07 Three doors are labeled there. 12:10 And what it says is that the first door leading to the 12:15 portico was called the door of life. 12:18 Then the second, leading to the Holy Place, 12:21 was called the door of truth. 12:24 And the third door to the Holy of Holies, 12:28 was labeled the door called the way. 12:31 So there was the life, the truth, and the way. 12:37 Do you remember who is the way, the truth, and the life? 12:41 We'll get to that in a moment. 12:42 But gazing on this glorious temple, Jesus said in 12:47 Matthew 24:2, Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall 12:55 be left upon another. 12:57 Everything will be cast down, He said. 13:00 And true to His prophecy, Roman legions ransacked this temple 13:06 in A.D. 70. It was utterly destroyed, 13:10 and it was never rebuilt. 13:12 In fact, I've been to Israel, and the summit of Mount Moriah, 13:16 where the temple once stood, is now occupied by a 13:20 Mohammadan Mosque, the famous Dome of the Rock. 13:25 There is no need for an earthly edifice to serve 13:29 as God's temple now. 13:30 The sacrificial system of the old covenant came to an end 13:34 on the day Jesus offered Himself up once for all. 13:38 When Jesus died the ultimate sacrifice was made 13:43 to atone for the sins of humanity, 13:44 and Christ became our eternal High Priest. 13:49 All genuine believers become members of His royal priesthood. 13:55 God's throne of grace is in His heavenly temple. 13:59 And Revelation 11:19 says, Then the temple of God was opened 14:06 in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. 14:11 The earthly temple was merely a copy of the heavenly temple, 14:17 and it was made according to the pattern that God showed Moses 14:22 on Mount Sinai. But now, on earth, God's Spirit abides 14:28 in living temples; in Christ's disciples, in you and me. 14:33 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 says this: 14:59 What an amazing thought to think that we are the living temple 15:03 of the living God. 15:04 I submit that we also are a copy, made according to the 15:08 pattern shown on the Mount. 15:10 Not Mount Sinai, No, but the Mount of Calvary, 15:15 where our true pattern, Jesus Christ, revealed the summit 15:20 of self sacrificing love. 15:23 As He is, so must we be in this world. 15:27 God has no desire, and no need for any other earthly temple. 15:33 In fact, the book of Revelation discloses that at the end 15:36 of time, when the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, 15:40 descends from heaven to the recreated earth, there will be 15:44 no temple in it. Our almighty God, and His beautiful 15:50 sacrificed Son, are its temple. 15:52 In John 14:6 Jesus said, I am the way, 15:59 the truth, and the life. 16:01 No one comes to the Father except through Me. 16:05 And He also said, in John 10:9, I am the door. 16:10 If anyone enters by Me, He will be saved. 16:15 Man labeled the three doors of Herod's temple the life, 16:20 that's the outer door; the truth, going into the 16:26 Holy Place; and the way, going into the Holy of Holies. 16:30 Only one door: Jesus Christ, is necessary to gain access 16:35 to God today. He is the way, the truth, and the life. 16:40 As we press into God's presence in His heavenly temple, 16:44 we enter in the name of Jesus, our door to life and truth. 16:50 He is the new and living way to approach our Holy God. 16:55 And when we intercede for others, we symbolically stand 17:02 in the Holy Place before the throne of our king, 17:06 and here we enter into an entirely different sphere of 17:12 prayer. We reach a higher plane; a place that is very near 17:18 the heart of Christ. 17:20 Christ became flesh that He might become our perfect 17:24 sacrifice, understand our every weakness, and sympathize with us 17:29 as our great intercessor before God. 17:32 Hebrews 4:15 says: 17:48 To offer us the gift of salvation Christ humbled Himself 17:54 even lower than the angels, and to a humiliating, agonizing 17:59 death on the cross. 18:01 You know my friend, Evangelist Kenneth Cox, 18:04 explains it this way. 18:05 I heard it once and I'll never forget it. 18:07 He said, in God's present order of created beings, 18:11 there are first of all angels, then man, then animals, 18:15 and finally insects. 18:16 He compares Christ's incarnation as a man 18:20 which is that there's angels, then there's man, so being a man 18:26 is a level lower than an angel. 18:28 So he compares though that Christ becoming a man was like 18:34 a human being becoming an insect. 18:38 Can you imagine, can you imagine loving an insect 18:43 so much that you would be willing to humble yourself 18:46 and become a bug just so that you could intercede for him? 18:53 Thank God, He doesn't ask us to. 18:56 He simply invites us to open our doors to the world's lost 19:01 and suffering souls. 19:02 To open our hearts, and to boldly fill them with prayer, 19:07 and to lift these people up before His throne of grace. 19:11 The word intercede means to plead for, or make petition 19:19 for another. The word perish describes someone who has a loss 19:24 of well being, or is in a state of ruin or destruction. 19:28 So I refer to intercessory prayer as pleading 19:32 for the perishing. 19:34 From the Bible the Greek word for intercession is enteuxis. 19:39 It is a technical term for approaching a king to meet 19:44 and converse with him by bringing a petition before him 19:48 to plead on someone's behalf. 19:50 As we are pressing more closely into His presence, 19:54 this portion of prayer represents acting as a 19:58 spokesperson for others in a hearing with the King of kings. 20:03 Let's look at two scripture passages that the apostle Paul 20:07 wrote to explain our duty to pray, not only for the saints, 20:13 but also for all of mankind. 20:17 Let's look at Ephesians 6:17, 18. Paul says: 20:44 So here's Paul saying, pray for everyone, all the saints, 20:48 all your brothers and sisters in Christ. 20:50 But then in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 Paul says to Timothy: 21:06 For whom? for all men, not just for your brothers and sisters 21:10 in Christ, but intercede on behalf of all men,... 21:28 In assurance of salvation, and armed with the sword 21:34 of the Spirit, we are to pray especially for our brothers 21:38 and sisters in Christ. 21:40 Still, Paul's exhortation to Timothy applies to us. 21:44 We're not to limit our prayers only to fellow Christians, 21:48 but we should pray for all, even men of authority. 21:53 And if you stop for just one second and think about this, 21:57 Nero, the heathen enemy who persecuted Christians, 22:02 who killed so many, he was in office at the time that Paul 22:07 wrote this instruction in 1 Timothy. 22:09 That makes it even more stunning. 22:11 Paul was saying, pray for Nero, your enemy. 22:14 Obviously, we don't have to agree with a persons political 22:19 undertakings, or even approve of his moral standards, 22:22 to pray for him. Why pray for all? 22:25 The Bible says there's only one reason. 22:28 The God of all mankind, and one mediator, Christ Jesus, 22:32 who died for all, and that our God, our Savior, 22:37 desires all men to be saved, and come to the 22:41 knowledge of the truth. 22:42 Paul had the same heart for the lost. 22:46 He held intercessors in high esteem. 22:50 Referring to one disciple named Epaphras, who interceded on 22:57 behalf of others, he called him our dear servant, 23:01 our dear fellow servant, and he's called him a faithful 23:06 minister of Christ. 23:07 And here in Colossians 4:12, 13, this is what 23:15 he wrote about Epaphras. He said: 23:44 Epaphras labored in prayer with the same 23:49 intensity as Elijah did. 23:52 And the results of such prayer are powerful, 23:56 as James 5:16, 17 promises. 24:01 Here James writes: 24:09 And, by the way, don't worry thinking, 24:11 Well, I'm not righteous. 24:12 If you're in Christ, that righteousness has been credited 24:15 to you. It's righteousness by faith. 24:19 And then James goes on to say: 24:34 Elijah prayed earnestly. 24:40 If you look at the literal translation of that it says, 24:45 He prayed with prayer, or in praying he prayed. 24:51 Epaphras was always laboring fervently, meaning to strive 24:58 as in the agony of a contest. 25:01 In other words, there was nothing casual about their 25:06 coming before the Lord. 25:07 These men who prayed with the great energy supplied by the 25:13 Holy Spirit, are examples for us in intercession. 25:18 Theirs were not cold, lifeless, faithless prayers. 25:24 It was not their eloquence, or fervor in which they trusted, 25:30 it was God. The prayers of the righteous have great efficacy. 25:35 They are powerful and productive. 25:39 Psalm 33:22 indicates that God's mercy, and His loving kindness 25:47 are poured out in proportion to our waiting, and our hoping 25:54 in Him. Prayer is the key given by God to man, to open and shut 26:01 the blessings of heaven. 26:04 We are to do what is within our power to help mankind, 26:09 and to become a praying people; people who present others' 26:15 needs before God's throne. 26:18 Christ's entire earthly ministry was spent interceding 26:23 for others, either by action, or by prayer. 26:26 And He calls us to walk in His footsteps. 26:30 So remember, this is just the first part. 26:34 I'm going to review real quick our role as intercessors. 26:38 It is part of God's plan to bring blessings from heaven. 26:42 Now next program we are going to see how this really happens, 26:48 and remember that we were created to be co-intercessors 26:52 with Christ. Intercessory prayer we will be considering 26:57 why it is the highest calling to ministry. 27:00 And remember that we are conformed to the image of Christ 27:04 through intercessory prayer. 27:06 It is our duty as Christians. 27:09 And we'll also look in a later program how neglecting the call 27:14 to intercession could be the chief reason that God's work 27:19 on earth isn't finished. 27:21 And then, finally, the reason we want to consider this as well, 27:29 is that intercessors are doubly blessed. 27:34 So we hope... We're so glad that you've joined us today. 27:37 That you for sharing this time. 27:39 We hope this program is meaningful to you, and that God 27:44 is showing you a way to pray deeper. 27:48 But we also hope that you will join us next time as we consider 27:52 how prayer can bring God's blessings down 27:56 to earth for others. 27:57 And our continuous prayer for you is that the grace of our 28:02 Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, 28:05 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with you always. |
Revised 2014-12-17