if we don’t, he won’t

31
“If we don’t, He won’t”

Upload: el-shaddai-christian-church

Post on 05-Jul-2015

91 views

Category:

Spiritual


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Sermon - 20 October 2013 by Bruce McCallum

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: If we don’t, He won’t

“If we don’t, He won’t”

Page 2: If we don’t, He won’t
Page 3: If we don’t, He won’t

What is your experience of prayer?

• Why do you pray?

• What difference will it make if you do pray or if you don’t?

• Does God need you to pray or does He just want you to pray?

• Does God really change His mind when you pray?

• Isn’t God sovereign and He accomplishes what He wants and when He wants? And, if so, why pray?

Page 4: If we don’t, He won’t

“In prayer I learned that without God I CANNOT and without me God WILL not.” (John Wesley)

Page 5: If we don’t, He won’t

Genesis 1:26 (NIV) 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in

our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the

ground."

Page 6: If we don’t, He won’t
Page 7: If we don’t, He won’t

Flood

Genesis 6:5 (NKJV) 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was

great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Page 8: If we don’t, He won’t

Genesis 6:6 (NKJV) 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on

the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Page 9: If we don’t, He won’t

Genesis 6:7 (NKJV) 7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am

sorry that I have made them."

Page 10: If we don’t, He won’t

Genesis 6:8-9 (GW) 8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah. …. Noah had

God's approval and was a man of integrity among the people of his time. He walked with God.

Page 11: If we don’t, He won’t

Golden Calf

Exodus 32:9-10 (NKJV) 9 And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this

people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot

against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.“

Exodus 32:9-10 (GW) 9 The Lord added, “I've seen these people, and they are impossible to deal with. 10 Now leave me alone. I'm so angry with them I am going to destroy them.

Then I'll make you into a great nation.”

Page 12: If we don’t, He won’t

Exodus 32:12-14 (NKJV) 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He

brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from

this harm to Your people. 14 So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

Exodus 32:12-14 (GW) 12 Don't let the Egyptians say, ‘He was planning all

along to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth. That's why he brought them out

{of our land}.' Don't be so angry. Reconsider your decision to bring this disaster on your people. 14 So the

Lord reconsidered his threat to destroy his people.

Page 13: If we don’t, He won’t

Hezekiah’s gets an extra 15 years

2 Kings 20:1 (NKJV) 1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and

said to him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.' “

2 Kings 20:1 (GW) 1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him

and said, “This is what the Lord says: Give final instructions to your household, because you're about

to die. You won't get well.”

Page 14: If we don’t, He won’t

2 Kings 20:5-6 (NKJV) 5 "Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: "I

have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David." ' "

Page 15: If we don’t, He won’t

God offers Solomon a blank cheque.

2 Chronicles 1:7 (NIV) 7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

Page 16: If we don’t, He won’t

2 Chronicles 1:10 (NIV) 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead

this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?“

2 Chronicles 1:10 (GW) 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge so that I may lead

these people. After all, who can judge this great people of yours?”

Page 17: If we don’t, He won’t

2 Chronicles 1:11-12 (NIV) 11 God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's

desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since

you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge

will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you

ever had and none after you will have."

Page 18: If we don’t, He won’t

Rehoboam’s humility

2 Chronicles 12:5 (NIV) 5 Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and

to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the LORD says, 'You have

abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'" (He was the Egyptian king)

Page 19: If we don’t, He won’t

2 Chronicles 12:6 (NIV) 6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled

themselves and said, "The LORD is just.“

2 Chronicles 12:7 (NIV) 7 When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: "Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be

poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

Page 20: If we don’t, He won’t

2 Chronicles 12:12 (NIV) 12 Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's

anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

Page 21: If we don’t, He won’t

God changes His mind

Jeremiah 18:7-10 (NIV) 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that

nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom

is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the

good I had intended to do for it.

Page 22: If we don’t, He won’t

Jeremiah 18:7-10 (MSG) 7 At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. 8 But if they

repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. 9 At another time I might decide to

plant a people or country, 10 but if they don't cooperate and won't listen to me, I will think again

and give up on the plans I had for them.

Page 23: If we don’t, He won’t

Jonah in Ninevah

Jonah 3:4 (NIV) 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He

proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.“

Jonah 3:5 (NIV) 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast,

and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

Page 24: If we don’t, He won’t

Jonah 3:9 (NIV) 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with

compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.“

Page 25: If we don’t, He won’t

Jonah 3:10 (NIV) 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 3:10 (GW) 10 God saw what they did. He saw that they turned from their wicked ways. So God reconsidered his

threat to destroy them, and he didn't do it.

Page 26: If we don’t, He won’t

1. If we don’t, He won’t

Page 27: If we don’t, He won’t

2. You’re too busy not to pray!

Noah – Ask God to change His mind!

Moses – Appeal to God to honour His promises

Hezekiah – God won’t ignore the cries of your heart

Solomon - God wants to partner with you to fulfil dreams

Rehoboam - Humility shapes your future

Jonah - Repentance shifts destruction to beauty

Page 28: If we don’t, He won’t

“God’s plans for us are not chiselled in concrete. Only His character and nature are unchanging. His

decisions are not.”

Brother Andrew (“And God changed His mind”)

Page 29: If we don’t, He won’t

History belongs to people who pray!

Page 30: If we don’t, He won’t

3. To the church called El Shaddai

Ezekiel 22:30 -31 (NIV) 30 "I looked for a man among them who would build

up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I

found none.

Page 31: If we don’t, He won’t

Where are we headed?

Zechariah 12:10 (NIV) 10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the

inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication…

Zechariah 12:10 (NLT) 10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem…