New Year’s Eve Service

As we stand at the brink of a new year, Deuteronomy reminds us that the Lord cares for us, and that His eyes are upon us from the beginning of the year even to the end of it.

This is an occasion when there is a new beginning. We also need to be aware of what we can thank God for. When we had the series on prayer, it was possible to think ... if I were to make a list of say three things I’d like to thank God for, what would be on that list? People began to think about that.I’d like you to share with people what you’re going to thank God for. It’s a good time to think about what we can thank God for.

It’s quite an episode when you look at the preparations for the departure for the Promised Land. Joshua was there with Moses. He was ready. The Lord spoke to the children of Israel about the land they were to go in to possess.

Deuteronomy 11:10-12

The complete opposite of Egypt – a land which drinketh water.

Revelations 22:16-18

God has been faithful to us as a group of people, part of the church worldwide, and He has been faithful to you.

Deuteronomy 11:12

There is no way that God doesn’t care for you.

Psalms 37:4-6

His eyes are always on you from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

As we gather together now at the end of this year, and as we flip to the next year on the calendar, and I know God has been faithful to us jointly and to you. There is no way that God will fail to make provision, will fail to guide you. He will make provision and guide each one of us according to what He wants. It doesn’t matter what sounds there are offstage. It doesn’t matter what efforts there are, overt or covert, to derail what God wants in this place. He is a faithful God.

It’s a wonderful thing that we can join together and partake of the bread and wine.

Deuteronomy 11:13-15

It talks there about the next generation. I was talking to some people earlier about their children. I want us to join together and pray for each member of each family.

1 Corinthians 11:23-30

Walk as Children of the Light

For 400 years leading up to the birth of Jesus, there had been no prophet to bring the Word of God to Israel. The silence was finally broken when the Angel Gabriel came to Zacharias to tell him that his prayer for a child had been heard (Luke 1:13):-

But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. / And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. / For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. / And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. / And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

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Later Zacharias was to prophesy over the child (Luke 1:68) :-

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, / And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; / As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: / That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; / To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; / The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, / That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, / In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. / And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; / To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, / Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, / To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.


Sometimes we find ourselves in dark circumstances, unsure of the way forward. But as we see here, God can bring about a complete and utter change – just as at the very beginning of creation, He spoke light out of darkness.

In the passage above, Zacharias referred to scriptures written 700 years before in the time of Isaiah and King Ahaz. Israel and Judah had split, Ahaz was going contrary to God, and there was no hope in the land. Against this background of darkness, Isaiah prophesied both of the evil which was to come, and of the hope which found its realisation in Jesus (Is 8:21 22, 9:2) :-

And … it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness … The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.


When Zacharias spoke, he knew he was heralding a transformation – no hope to hope, darkness to light.

The passage from Isaiah continues: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. / Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.


The child Jesus Christ is the one who became a light to the Gentiles, who brought light in the midst of darkness, as Paul reminds us in Corinthians (2 Cor 4:6) :-

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.


The same God who commanded light out of darkness, who made something out of nothing … that same God came through the one heralded by John the Baptist. He came as a light to lighten the Gentiles and has come into your life and taken what was decay and total darkness, has drawn you with His chords of love, and has caused you to come to His glorious light.

So what does all this mean for us? You may be in circumstances where there is darkness and you feel uncertain of the way forward. But the God who brought light out of darkness can change everything. As we go into a new year, lay aside the analysis which you have played over and over in your mind, and be like Zacharias, proclaiming Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour, the light who dispels darkness.

Ephesians 5:8,10 says :-

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: / Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.


As we stand at the threshold of a new year, I invite you to join me. Together in 2009 let us walk as children of the light.

God Already has Your Answer

God has heard your prayer and He already has the answer. He is the answer. As with Peninnah, who prayed every year to have a child, He will answer your prayer. It is His delight to prompt you to pray and then to be the answer to that prayer. God loves communicating with us. Jesus came for His people, for the church and we are part of that church. God will answer your prayer because He loves you. You can be relaxed in the knowledge that God is in control. You must accept this as Mary accepted what the angel told her, because God does love you and with God all things are possible.

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It’s wonderful to know that when things are seemingly barren and wrong, and you’re not sure if God is sorting things out, that it is God’s delight every time, to be the answer. He outworks His solution in a way we don’t expect. His solution is the best. I want to look at two episodes in two ladies lives. The first one just hung in there and God’s solution came. And the second realised the eternal purposes of God as she was to be the one to bear the Messiah. By the end of this morning I want you to know that at this point in time, no matter what has been an attempt to write things off, to hold up the white flag and say there is no answer, I want you to know in your heart of hearts that God is in control and He knows what He is doing. He has heard you.

1 Samuel 1:1-5

The situation was obvious, but to Hannah it was grievous. Her grief was that Peninnah had produced children, but she had not.

1 Samuel 1:6-8

With Hannah it was that things were not as she wanted them to be. It got to her because she wanted to have a baby. The taunting of Peninnah was unkind and uncalled for. There’s something about a taunt to someone who’s standing up for what is right that is from the pit. Don’t taunt anyone who is trying to go right. Don’t write a family off because they have one child who is in a predicament at the moment. You have to stand together and help each other.

1 Samuel 1:9-22

1 Samuel 1:26-28

God has not forgotten the prayers you have made for your children. The more these weeks progress the more it becomes apparent that in quite a few lives there has been a reassertion in the faith that God has given you. He’s caused you to believe that what you prayed before He has heard. God answered Hannah’s prayer. I don’t care what taunt there has been in the past to you. I want to confirm to you that God is a God of love and what He has done in your life of late is to form a relationship with you. The pressure has caused you to pray more and He has heard your prayers. Hannah’s song will be echoed later when we read the song of Mary. This is the song she prayed after she had dedicated Samuel.

1 Samuel 2:1-10

No gloating there. No going round to Peninnah and saying ‘you see’. My God has heard me. It’s not the fact that He’s my God, it’s who God is. This song is so wonderful because it reveals how God doesn’t take what the world views as strong – 1 Samuel 2: 2. The enemy of your souls might point the finger at you and convince that you’re never going to get blessed because of what you have done. Your God, who is a God of love, is someone who listens, draws alongside and knows what He’s doing in response to your prayer. It is God’s delight to prompt us to pray. We are then co-workers with Him because He has prompted us to pray and we then witness His answer. God loves communication with us. God’s nature is to communicate His life with you and me.

Luke 1:28-37

That was news to Mary because she didn’t know her cousin was pregnant. She thought that Elizabeth was too old, but with God nothing is impossible.

Luke 1:38

Your life based on the Word of God and with His life inside you will stand sure. Your God is someone who hears you. He is the King of Kings. He created heaven and earth. I want to confirm to you that your God is a faithful God. All the way through the circumstances you’ve had over the past weeks He has been there, He’s heard you. It’s His delight to be the answers to the prayers that He has prompted you to pray.

Luke 1:40-45

You can’t stop God’s goodness to you. You can’t stop God’s love for you. It doesn’t matter what people have said to you, you cannot stop the love of God operating in your life. For Mary, Elizabeth’s child was a confirmation.

Luke 1:46-54

These words are an echo of what Hannah says. Mary knew, from the book of the Prophets, what Hannah had said. The common denominator between there words was that they both glorified God. I want to encourage you to stand your ground and to realise that your faith is rightly placed in Him. I believe in my God who has saved me and given me life. You can trust Him. The word to you is that the prayers that you have prayed have been heard. I am particularly making reference to any of you who have family members who aren’t here this morning. The prayer that you prayed has been prompted by God.

How old was Mary? Some say she was fifteen. There was an awareness that somehow she was going to be the one that would bear the Messiah.

Luke 1:54

In those words she linked the father of the faithful, Abraham, the seed of Abraham, right through to Jesus, the One who would save us from our sins.

Genesis 17:1-8

The everlasting Covenant given to Abraham means that God forever and ever is with His people. His people are to as many as God will call. It includes you all. In physical terms we were talking there about the gathering of Canaan. But as you know this is a picture of us possessing our souls. Mary knew that there would be a son born of God, who is in a direct line of outworking God’s purposes from Abraham. And at the end of time the church would be the bride of Christ. That’s why He’s interested in you because you are part of the bride of Christ.

Luke 1:46-54

Galations 3:13-14
Galations 3:28-29

What’s that promise? The promise is that the Holy Spirit was given. In your life you can be at ease knowing that God is outworking His purposes for good in your life. Stand your ground. The pressures that you’re in at the moment don’t let the enemy of your soul taunt you. Stand fast in your God. Lift Him up. During this coming week find some time when you can think about this word and apply it to your life. We need to be witnesses of God’s love to others.

God has heard your prayer. He will step in and help because He loves you. It’s not that you have to chalk up brownie points for Him to answer; He loves you. In the same way with Hannah, where the taunting year after year was hellish, so it was that God answered He prayer. With Mary there was that immediate acceptance of ‘be it according to thy word’. And Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His life was given that you and I could be made free from the penalty and power of sin. We can be in relationship with God because of what Jesus did for us.

Carol Concert 2008

The Bible is the Word of God and what we read in the Bible is something God wants to communicate to us. In the beginning was the Word, and you use words to communicate. God wanted to communicate. In the Garden of Eden, the voice of God walked. God is a communicating God. God may use the words I now speak to help you discover who He is.

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On Friday as I was thinking about what to speak to you, there was a car crash just outside my house. My immediate thought was, was anyone hurt? There wasn’t anyone fatally hurt, but it affected me, because I was thinking about Jesus Christ and life.

I can relay to you all kinds of oddities in the world – the credit crunch, a $50bn fraud in New York, a 13-year-old boy as a suicide bomber ... There are strange things in this world. I want to concentrate on the fact that Jesus Christ is alive today. Christmas is followed by Easter, the time when we remember that Jesus Christ gave His life for you and me.

The angel Gabriel came to Mary, and it was a real surprise to her.

Luke 1:26-31

The meaning of the name Jesus is Saviour. Why is He called that? Because He came to save His people from their sins. Sins are what grips you on the inside, and maybe there’s a habit of life you can’t get free of. You know it’s wrong. There’s almost an automatic default to go wrong until Jesus saves a person from their sin.

For Mary it was a complete surprise. How shall this be?

Mary had a cousin called Elizabeth. She and her husband Zacharias were old and had always wanted to have a child. In Luke 13:1 it was obvious that they prayed for a child. And the same angel who spoke to Mary earlier had spoken to Zacharias :-

Luke 1:13

Zacharias was dumbfounded. Our prayer is heard. Maybe you’ve prayed something this year. You may not be what people regard as a Christian, but maybe something has jolted you this year and you’ve prayed. God heard your prayer. And the words you are hearing now are involved with the answer He is bringing to you. It may be you’re hearing this on a TV programme. You’ve come to your wits’ end and wonder what life is all about. It could be the first Christmas without a loved one who has gone this year and it’s jolted you.

Luke 1:24-25

Mary didn’t know Elizabeth was pregnant. She knew her, knew they had always wanted to have a child. But now they were too old. It was impossible. Suddenly there is a confluence for two women who became pregnant. It was when Elizabeth was six months pregnant when the angel appeared to Mary.

Luke 1:36

That was a shock to Mary. The angel appeared, talked to her about a son she was going to have. And now she was told that her cousin Elizabeth was already six months pregnant.

Luke 1:37

She knew it was an impossibility. They were far too old. But now having confirmed to her what had happened to Elizabeth (she went down and visited her), the angel said with God nothing shall be impossible.

Luke 1:38

His mercy is from generation to generation. How many generations have passed since the events recorded here, I wonder? People are very involved in tracing their ancestry. I wonder if there was anyone in your ancestry who prayed for you. It may well be that you are here tonight because of someone who prayed for you. There was someone who prayed for you as a little child, and God is bringing the answer to that prayer – He’s brought you here to hear that Jesus Christ came to the earth to save you from your sin, to make you new again on the inside.

Luke 1:37

I want to go forward about 30 years to when Jesus Himself was speaking about this very thing.

Matthew 19:25

With God all things are possible. That thing you’ve ruled out, that disease the medical profession has given up on (we’re not against medicine) with men things are impossible, but with God all things are impossible. Things have happened as they have so that God could speak to you, and He’s doing so because He loves you. He’s speaking to you right now by the power of His Holy Spirit because He loves you.

What does that mean? He knows all about you and despite everything inside you which you know is wrong, He has come even now and is saying, “I love you”, and the reason Jesus Christ came to this earth was to give you a new beginning on the inside. The life I begin with is wrong, but when Jesus Christ comes, He comes inside a person miraculously, and as Mary discovered at the wedding at Cana, she said, “Whatever Jesus says, do it – He’ll sort it out.”

So you’re saying to me amidst all the turmoil of the world, that God wants my attention to change me on the inside? Then why doesn’t He just go ahead and do it? He won’t force Himself on anyone. But Jesus Christ died on the Cross, took into Himself the sin of the world and was raised from the dead. He’s alive and I can confidently say by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ loves you and gave Himself for you.

We’re talking about the baby Jesus and why He came.

What can I do about this? You need to stop putting off your involvement with Jesus Christ. This is life-concerning. We’re not talking about a whim, a resolution which you take up and then drop. We’re talking about your life on the inside being different. We’re talking about a life transformed on the inside. That’s why we’re singing the hymns we’re singing.

Jesus Christ is the answer. Make contact with us. We want to help you. We’re not out to build an empire, but to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

The only religion which has a God who reaches out, as opposed to man having to fulfil conditions imposed by an angry God, is the one of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for you and me.

Don’t put this off. Please don’t. You know what I mean. You know that Jesus Christ, Christianity, the true life of God, is something you’ve skirted with, and this year the circumstances of life have arrested your attention. That is because He loves you.

We can rejoice because we were bound up in a life that was going wrong, but Jesus Christ came and changed us so that His life is within us. I want to please Him with my life. I want my children and grandchildren to know Him.

Jesus Christ came into this world, and Mary’s attention was grabbed by the angel. “You mean Elizabeth is pregnant?” – with God nothing is impossible. What you’ve said is impossible is possible with God.

Time to Change

I want to talk about Jesus and His kingdom. There are some here who are wondering about Jesus Christ, the church, Christianity. This word will cause you to be involved with Jesus Christ.

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What do I mean by that? Some here have been looking on, and Christmas is a good time for that to come into focus. It comes down to an individual’s relationship with Jesus Christ. It comes down to you as an individual – what do I think about Jesus Christ? What is relevant to me? The answer is everything.

Luke 1:26-27

We know Joseph was of the house of David – see the genealogy at the start of Matthew.

Luke 1:28-31

Jesus means saviour.

Matthew 1:21

He was to save people from their sins. That was the meaning of His name.

Luke 1:32-33

Philippians 2:5-11

He shall be great, son of the Most High. He will perpetuate the throne of David forever. It doesn’t matter what you think of Jesus Christ, because when He comes again to this earth, heralding the New Jerusalem, everyone will acknowledge Him as Lord. They may not know Him as Saviour, but they will have no choice but to acknowledge Him. Everyone on this earth will bow. Everyone will say, “You are Lord”, but not everyone will have Him as Lord of their life. He’s at the right hand of God in heaven, interceding for us. He’s alive.

We live in a time now where ... is He Lord for you, or is He just a name? Does His name trip out as a swear word?

Luke 1:32

This was referred to in the time of David.

1 Kings 9:1-5

There’s something about the people of God, the Jewish nation. God cherished that people. But it became apparent that the Saviour to come would come not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. What was He coming for? To save His people from their sins. That gets personal! “His people” includes you. It’s not His people on a map somewhere. It’s personal to you.

Luke 1:29-33

Jacob fathered the twelve tribes. This Jesus, the Saviour of the world who would save His people from their sins ... God would establish His throne forever. Out from the Jewish nation, from the twelve tribes, to those that God would call, and that includes you.

It says in the Bible that faith comes by hearing the Word of God being preached. He takes the words by His spirit and uses those words as though He were speaking to you personally. It’s a curious way of doing things, but it’s the way He works.

At the end of the Bible it gives us a glimpse of what heaven is like.

I was talking to someone the other day and they were saying that things you valued when you were young lose their value, and you start to think ahead. As you do that, you need to have things right inside. You need the right relationship with God. He needs to be Lord of your life. You need the power of sin broken in your life.

Revelation 21:1-2

This earth will pass away and a new Jerusalem, a holy city, will come down from heaven. The bride is the church, New Jerusalem. The bridegroom is Jesus Christ. We’ll see shortly that Jesus talks about the kingdom of God in terms of a bride and bridegroom.

Revelation 21:3-12

Revelation 21:22-27

His kingdom forever – something over which a king rules. Are you part of His kingdom? Are you part of His kingdom on this earth right now? This was of concern to Jesus when He spoke to people.

Jesus often spoke in parables to make sure things were clear to those who wanted to hear.

Matthew 25:1-4

They all had a lamp. All ten went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them made the effort and put oil in their lamps. Five put it off for another time. Some people treat Jesus Christ like that. Time and again He’s been faithful. He’s come by His Holy Spirit to speak to you. You’ve faced Him and known that you need to sort things out, but you’ve put it off – “I think I’ll leave it for the time being.”

Matthew 25:5-12

Would God really do that? Jesus is saying this. Jesus was the one who came to save His people from His sins. He was conscious of who He was speaking to, and is conscious of who He is speaking to now. You are here for a reason.

The bridegroom came at a time they didn’t expect. How long are you going to sit on the fence, pushing things away and pushing things away – all the time knowing it’s time to get involved? It is the goodness of God which leads us to repentance – which leads us to want to live the right way, to go God’s way, to have His power inside you, to have sin dealt with. You try to live right, but you can’t. There are habits of life you have and you just go wrong. Jesus Christ came into this world to save His people from their sins. The bridegroom came at midnight, unexpectedly. How long have you got?

“That’s a bit in your face!” Well, I’m beginning to learn that in this role, I don’t want to be responsible for something I should have said and didn’t. What’s it going to be? Jesus is saying this.

Matthew 25:13

Watch therefore. When you hear preaching which conveys to you the idea you need a relationship with Jesus Christ which is clean, wholesome and true ... you need to be the light before God, not using the church as a cover for your sin. If your life is based on a lie, my word to you, as God is my witness, is that your life needs changing, and He is here this morning to face you up with the foundation of your life. It’s time to change.

Fear not Mary, you’ll bear a son, and He’ll be great, ... and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:38

Let’s be clear. As we celebrate this Christmas the coming of Jesus Christ, we’re not just talking about the infant. We’re talking about why Jesus came – and He came to save you from your sin, to take you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, and it is getting to the point where you cannot put it off any longer. Or indeed, we are not getting to the point, but at it. You need to acknowledge the Word of God which has been preached this morning, acknowledge what the Holy Spirit has been saying. It’s no longer acceptable for you to hide in the kingdom of darkness. You need to acknowledge that, and acknowledge Jesus Christ and the fact that He has come to save you from your sin.

God is Zealous for His Church

There’s a word in the Bible called ‘zeal’. There’s something about the ‘zeal’ of God that I want to examine.

2 Kings 19:30-31

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God is zealous for His people; that includes you. He’s zealous for the church. If you have God at the centre of your whole being, for your future, you’ll take root downward and you’ll bear fruit upward.

Isaiah 37:32

Isaiah 59:16-19

You notice at the end of verse 17 that he was ‘clad with zeal’ as a cloak. Putting it on as a cloak. Whenever the word ‘zeal’ is mentioned, particularly here, so it is, as far as God is concerned, that He is zealous for the truth and for holiness. He manages to clean things up. He manages to do this by putting on the helmet of salvation. There is no way that God will have anything to thwart His purpose, which is to create His church which He gave His life for. Nothing will stand in the way of that. As there was a remnant of Judah, so now is God’s life given for you and me. Just after the word ‘zeal’ it says that when the enemy shall come God will lift up a standard against them. It might that you have been disappointed by something. When the enemy shall come in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against them. You can imagine the zealous fury Jesus had when He cleaned out the money-changers in the temple. Jesus Christ gave His life for a people like you and me.

Isaiah 9:6

The One who is full of zeal for outworking His purposes, which are holy and true. The One who is jealous for what He came here to do, He is who was born that we celebrate at this time of year. It’s possible for you as a Christian to give Him the lordship of your life. The government shall be upon His shoulder. It’s wonderful, at this time of year, to realise the purpose of His coming. His name is full of wonders. There were 400 silent years at the end of the Old Testament, but Isaiah had prophesied of Jesus’s coming. In every book of the Old Testament you can trace the coming of Jesus. God hadn’t spoken for 400 years and then ‘bang’. The fulcrum of time now revolves around His coming. In our lives, particularly during this year, I know that it has been a re-evaluation and reassessment of what our lives are based on. I know that God has been faithful to all of us. He has been the counsellor. Whenever there’s been figuring out what to do going forward His name shall be called wonderful, counsellor. For the youngsters here, He is your counsellor. You’ve got to want to do what pleases Him. We must be equipped for what God wants us to be and do. He is the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:7

Ever thought about that? Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. We’ve had an election this year, soon we will have one here. Of the increase of His government there is no end because what He’s doing is sorting out things in our lives so that we become compacted together in His church as the bride of Christ. It’s wonderful that each one of us are brothers in Christ as part of His body. One verse which has been on heart this year is that we’re to walk humbly, love mercy and do justice. In this government, of which there’s no end, He establishes it with judgement and justice. ‘The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.’ This may seem a strange thing to say. Do you know He’s so careful about each one here? The zeal God has for his church is supreme. That’s why things happened recently.

Ephesians 5:25

So the reason why Jesus came here and gave His life was for the church.

Ephesians 5:26-27

It’s His zeal which is preparing everything. By that I mean He’s preparing you day by day. So it is together as we take our part in the church, so it is that we can confirm the fact that He is presenting it to Himself a glorious church. Please don’t underestimate God’s zeal to get everything right in the church. We’re the bride of Christ and we’re to take our part in the church. It’s important that as we love one another so others will be drawn to God. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. It doesn’t matter if anyone is planning anything against God, the zeal of God will perform this. You can’t stop Him. He’s a wonderful heavenly father.

Changed on the Inside

When Jesus was on earth, He came across situations which annoyed Him. It grieved Him that there were people who were preventing ordinary people from knowing the truth. He knew He came to the earth to lay down His life to take sin, break the power of sin in an individual, and to make you clean on the inside. He came to this earth for a people, for you.

Someone sitting here needs to hear that. There’s a change that God wants to do on the inside of you. What galled Jesus when He met certain people was that they were preventing the truth coming to people. Those people who prevented others dreamt up rules and regulations for themselves. We deal with the living God, and He is the one who wants to reach an individual on this inside.

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We’re going to look at an episode in Jesus’ life when He met people like this.

Isaiah 29:1-6

(Ariel – Jerusalem). When God steps in, it’s in an instant. And an amazing empire or religious structure is gone in an instant.

Isaiah 29:7-12

There was a whole morass of religious observance, rules and regulations, which the people couldn’t come to. It was as though they were told to read a sealed letter. Or else they had been told they were not learned and therefore couldn’t understand the text.

Isaiah 29:13-23

It’s iniquitous when a whole network of rules and regulations prevent ordinary people from knowing God. It’s as if there are traditions or ways of looking at things which make an ordinary person think they can’t attain – that only the selected few can be like that, only those with the inner knowledge, the higher way. God wants to make Himself known to each of us as the one who cleans up on the inside. It isn’t what happens on the outside. It’s not religious observance, nor being seen to do the right thing. God is concerned for you to be clean and open on the inside, adoring God as the one who changed you on the inside.

Mark 7:1-4

You might think it wasn’t a bad thing for the disciples to wash their hands. But here we’re talking about what the Pharisees did with the rules they created. They put themselves in the place of God. They had so many rules and regulations that people became bound up with their religion, not with God. They were supposed to be the religious leaders of the people, but they became the recipients of the people’s attention. People had to do what the Pharisees told them to do. It wasn’t a matter of the Pharisees having their own relationship with God.

Jesus points out that it’s not the rules and regulations which are important. What’s important is that Jesus Christ, who is God, wants to deal with the inside of an individual. It’s not the outside. If the inside is right, the outside will automatically be right. God is to do with the inside of a person.

It’s easy for someone to do the right things on the outside, to sing the right songs. But on the inside, where are we at? When Jesus spoke to the people and to the disciples, He was saying a revolutionary thing. The Pharisees were like gods. They knew the rules. It didn’t matter what God said. What mattered was how they interpreted the law. But woe betide anybody who has their own direct link with life.

It’s a wonderful thing that you’re here this morning, because Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit wants to speak to you about the inside of you. He doesn’t come to condemn you. If you were honest, you’d admit you needed to sort out your inside. You’re tired of it. There’s something in you which, given the right circumstances means you go wrong. You’re not blaming the circumstances. But you know this thing is there and you want it to end.

It was a voyage of discovery for the disciples to walk with Jesus. Gradually it dawned on them that what He was saying was contrary to the religious framework of the time. From time to time they became jumpy, because they could see the reactions He was provoking.

Jesus didn’t worry, because He was all to do with individual people becoming clean on the inside to have their own relationship with God.

Why should one have a relationship with God? Without God it’s as though you dream about having a meal, but wake up hungry. Without God there is no hope in this world, and there is also a vacuum inside – something missing. God wants to become everything to you. Not just a small part, but everything to you in the inside.

Mark 7:5-6

A situation where the people had been led by the religious leaders to such an extent that they knew what to say on the outside, but their heart was far from God.

There are ten commandments in the Old Testament – the commandments of God. These people had replaced the commandments with the commandments of men. What they said was important, not what God said.

Mark 7:7-12

God commanded people to honour their father and mother, to have respect. How should one treat one’s relations? It’s coming up to Christmas. Am I going to demonstrate the love of God to my relations? Do I allow mother or father to become top priority above God? Of course not. But the command of God was to honour them. People were to provide for their parents if they were in distress in their old age. But the Pharisees said there was no need to worry. If you said the money was for God, you didn’t have to worry about the commandment. Anything committed to God was taken out of the worldly situation. Great! So there was a system they had devised which knocked out what God said. Incredible! Honour your father and mother.

Some people say all their money is God’s and they don’t have to give money to a church. Same sort of thing.

This got to Jesus, because the Pharisees had denied the people the opportunity of God coming to them on the inside and changing them. You may say the Pharisees were doing their best. No doubt some of them were sincere. But there was a shaft of light before them. There’s a way of living which changes you on the inside. Jesus changes you on the inside so that your way of living is totally opposite from the way you began on this earth.

Mark 7:13

This word should be paramount in your life. We need to get to know it inside out. By His Holy Spirit, God will speak to us through this word. This is the word on which we stand. We don’t want to make this word of none effect. It’s all about our relationship with a God of love who has given you this word as a life manual. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. There is life in this world.

God wants to become your heavenly father, to change you on the inside, to turn you around from being someone who always regrets the situation on the inside – you don’t tell anyone about it, but you know there are habits of thinking and habits of life ... If anyone is using this church as a cover for their sin, God will find things out and deal with it. God is faithful, and it’s the goodness of God which leads a man to repentance. Even this morning He is pointing things out here, saying it is important for you to be right with God on the inside.


Mark 7:14-16

The Pharisees were all to do with the outside, with following rules to satisfy them. But Jesus was saying it wasn’t the external aspect that mattered. You needed to think what was inside you, in your heart. Jesus was all to do with cleaning up what was already inside a person.

Mark 7:17-23

That’s a heavy list. But for those to whom God is speaking, it’s a list you recognise and identify with. Why is He bringing this to your attention this morning? Because when Jesus comes, when His voice speaks to you, there’s a complete difference.

John 15:1-5

Jesus is the word. He’s the word of life. He is truth. He is love. He is holy. And unlike the Pharisaical system, unlike religious observance unfounded in God, unlike the heavy burdens which man puts on you, Jesus comes to you on the inside. And on the inside, He comes to clean you up. He comes to give you His life. He comes because He knows what’s inside you. He was tempted with every sin, every bad thought, but He didn’t yield. He was sinless. And that was why when He hung on the cross, He took all your sin into Himself. He took it out of you into Him. How did He do that? He became acquainted with sin because of God’s love. He took into Himself your sin. That means you would then be able to live a life clean. That is being set free. Not the way the Pharisees said, “Devote this thing to God and you are free of the commandment.” True freedom is when Jesus comes inside, cleans you up and changes you by His Holy Spirit so you recognise what is in you and recognise that you need to be rid of it.

In God’s goodness and love, He says you need to be clean on the inside. When Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, the disciples were looking on and asked what He meant. And as they walked with Him subsequently they could see Him deal with the problems of one individual after another. He fed the five thousand, but they could see it was the individual. In fact it was you, here this morning as an individual. On the inside change can take place.

God won’t force Himself into your life. It’s not His way. But you’re hearing these words this morning for the simple reason that God loves you and wants to change you on the inside.

This Day is this Scripture Fulfilled in Your Ears

Things can be very specific with God when he outworks his purposes. He seems to manage always to get things on time, in time, every time. And I know to some who are here, what we are going to look at in the scriptures will be God’s timing for you. I’m going to look at a section in the gospel of Luke where Jesus refers to what we will be looking at in 2 Kings 5.

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God is very careful and specific with you. There is nothing but nothing that takes place in your life without his guiding hand upon it. And what I mean by that is, our God is a faithful God and he makes provision for his children. And our God is clear. And the clarity of his purpose was made clear to this gentlemen in 2 Kings.

2 Kings 5:1-7

It’s amazing what God allows to happen at particular times to work things out. He will fulfil his purposes.

2 Kings 5:8-9

He expected Elisha to come out and heal him.

2 Kings 5:10-12

Sometimes our reaction to the way God has provided an answer to our problem is hard to accept. We need to submit to his way of answering. This answer was not the one Naaman wanted. Don’t prejudge the solution God is bringing to you. Don’t prepackage the way it should come. Don’t have preconceived ideas of the way he will answer. We’re talking here about the God of love and who has the answer to all our problems; everything and anything.

2 Kings 5:13-19

Luke 4:16-21

When Jesus read those words from Isaiah, they were incredulous in the synagogue; they couldn’t believe the authority with which he spoke those words. He fulfilled that scripture. Two words: ‘this day’. There comes a time when God, like a shaft of light, causes things to be in certain order such that at that point, by his Holy Spirit he reaches inside, and his work is done. It might well be, that what you’re hearing right now, is sufficient for you to wonder, ‘Is this my day for what I want and need to happen?’ The fact that I’m speaking these words in this way in this time, is significant to you. There is no way God has brought you here for any other reason than for you to hear his words of truth and for that shaft of light to be real to you. His name is Jesus. It doesn’t matter what you already know about him; it doesn’t matter what your past experiences are; it doesn’t matter that you would have worked things out differently for the solution to come. He knows what he is doing and he loves you.


Luke 4:22-27

This is Jesus talking about the story we read earlier. Why did he mention Naaman? What was he trying to get at? He just read out the prophesy concerning himself and those five or six things were about to be fulfilled in front of them.

Luke 4:28-30

The specifics of God is involvement, constant involvement in your life, is to bring you to the point where your eyes are opened to who he is. And he is the answer to your prayer. He is the solution to your predicament. He is the miracle you need. He is.

“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Prayer (Part 3 of 3)

When should we pray? Jesus prayed early in the morning, in the evening, all night. There was no pattern, just pray, whenever.

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1 Corinthians 3:9

1 Corinthians 6:1

Everything starts and finishes with Him, but He involves us. Throughout the Old Testament we can see scriptures where prayer is commanded.

Jeramiah 33:3

Yes, it’s Old Testament, but there are plenty of New Testament scriptures too. “In everything give thanks.”

Psalms 50:15

Isaiah 55:6

Luke 11:5-10

“Ask”. If we treat prayer as some sort of meditation – “I’m thinking about things” – that’s not asking God at all. I’m not saying you shouldn’t meditate. We meditate on the word. You can see God in creation. But it’s imperative for us to ask.

I’m becoming more convinced if you keep a record of what you ask God, you can refer back, because the answer comes. God delights to involve us. Keep a record. I think as a church we should keep a record. Ask, and it shall be given unto you.

Matthew 26:41

Hebrews 4:16

“Prayer is not an end in itself. It’s not something done to be rested in, not something we’ve done about which we are to congratulate ourselves. It’s a means to an end. It’s something we do which brings something in return. Prayer always aims at securing an answer.”

That’s not to puff us up. But as we are co-workers together with Him, it’s God’s delight to answer because as we get involved with Him, so we want to do His will, and He lines everything up so He initiates the prayer acording to His will. But when you pray, aim at securing an answer.

“It is not the mere performance, the attitude or the word, but that answer sent directly from heaven. Answered prayer is the mark of God in our praying. It realises a relationship with the unseen. God accepts our prayers through the atoning blood, and gives His presence and grace in return.”

There used to be a national day of prayer in wartime. In May 1940, the situation in Europe was catastrophic. On May 23, various people issued a call to a national day of prayer to be held on Sunday May 26th. Just 24 hours later Hitler inexplicably ordered his armies to halt. Two days later, the nation gathered to pray. Church attendance sky-rocketed. People pleaded with God to spare those at Dunkirk. In reality it turned out to be a dramatic turning point. An evacuation was undertaken. The German armies remained in place until early June. No one knows why even now. For nine days they shelled Dunkirk, but during this time 336,000 men were saved.

You don’t hear many national days of prayer at the moment. Maybe we will. What caused that was the pressure of the situation. Since we’ve been holding these meetings, it could well be there’s a situation in your life where the circumstances have been such that this talk on prayer has been timely for you.

John 15:5-8

What does it mean to abide in Christ? You are so in line with Him, where He said, “Nevertheless not my will ...” That’s your stance. I want to do God’s will. Translate that into your prayer life, initiated by the Holy Spirit, and it’s in line with what He wants. He prepares things for us to waLuke into. The whole thing is initiated by Him. In such a relationship there is no conflict. I want to do His will, so what I ask will be according to His will. I begin to want what He wants. That’s the bottom line.

Reference to books by Jim Simbala. He would say the whole basis of his church was prayer. “An attentive willing heart is the great need of the hour. Programs, talent and human energy will never accomplish what one man in close touch with God can do.”

Blank sheet of paper. What will it be? Wheel-spin? Or God-directed activity?

It starts with God. By His Holy Spirit He prompts us, lays something on our hearts.
“It is not the utterance of words, alone the felling of desires, but is the advance of the desires to God.”

There's a story about a lady who was in the background of a situation but she was influential because she prayed.

You may not have the energy to knock up a brick wall. But supernatural prayer initiated by God, enacted by you, is a power-house.

Back to the lady. She was a woman twisted and distorted by suffering. In 1872 she was bed-ridden, praying that God would send revival to the church of which she was a member, but could not attend. She had read the story of Moody’s work in Chicago. She prayed that God would send him to the church. She had no means of reaching him. But then the pastor of her church met him, and asked him to speak. He agreed. Moody was surprised when hundreds came forward. Meetings were repeated during the following ten days, and 400 were added to the church. Moody enquired and found out about the girl.

“That girl was a member of my church. When in 1901 I was leaving England for America, I went to see her. She pointed me to a birthday book in which Moody had written, and said to me, ‘Moody wrote that when he came to see me in 1872, and I prayed for him every day. Will you add your name to my book and let me pray for you until you or I go home?’

“I shall never forget writing my name in that book. The room was full of the presence. Marianne Adlard continued to pray until she went home.

“These are the heroes and heroines who labour in prayer out of sight make it possible for those in sight to labour.”

Prayer is simply asking God to do for us what He has promised He will do if we ask Him. God’s doing the thing is as much part of the prayer as is our asking.
Think of three phases of prayer.

Phase 1 is the revelation of the father.

Phase 2 is the mediation of the Son.

Phase 3 is the inspiration of the Spirit.

The revelation of the Father: Christ has made such a revelation of the father as creates in our hearts a desire for prayer. “Father”, “Father”, “Father”. It’s God’s revelation in your heart which enables you to say that too. He has given you by that revelation the desire for communication in prayer.

The mediation of the Son: He has done such work for us as admits us to the presence of God that we might have the right to pray. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. And yet we are co-workers with Him.

The inspiration of the Spirit: Upon the accomplishment of His work and as its crowing glory, He pours forth His spirit who, by indwelling, is the inspiration of our prayer.

You get the idea. The pressures in your life are there prompting you to pray. That’s God-initiated. The outworking is you having access to the Father through the Son. And His delight is for you to become a co-worker with Him as He answers. Keep a record of what you pray.

Quotes: “The indwelling spirit how knows the will of God creates our new aspirations and out of these comes our prayer. Thus, standing in the light of the revealed Father through the mediation of His Son and answering the inspiration of the indwelling spirit, we pray.”

Don’t think if I make a list of who I might pray for, that’s too formal. If you can’t remember things, write them on a list. But in addition, allow for the fact that God may lay other people on your heart too as you pray.

By the mercy of the father, by the merit of the mediation of the Son, by the might of the inspiring spirit, prayer is possible.

Luke 18:1-8

Men ought always to pray and not to faint.

Should we pray for things more than once? Yes – if God hasn’t given the answer, pray again. The circumstances of life are such that if you need the answer, God will answer. He’ll answer in the way He wants, but He will answer.

Luke 18:9-15

As we’ve been talking about prayer, don’t take a pride in the fact that you are beginning to pray.

The second man realised his position and just came to taLuke. He wasn’t building up a CV for himself in prayer. The matter of supreme importance is the cultivation of the habit of prayer. We aren’t going to become a monastery. But it’s a good thing to cultivate prayer. Nothing is more important in our lives.

Matthew 18:19-21

I think it would be good (not in any formalised way) but if anyone wants to link up and form two, do it – and pray together. If Jesus said this, then it can’t be a bad thing to do. We’re a bit reticent, so I’m not going to force the issue. I just want to point out what these verses say. Am I taking this out of context? No. I happen to think this will happen in the church quite naturally.

Account of a lady who prayed for her unsaved husband – an American politician. God challenged her as to whether she was ready for the consequences, but He answered her prayer.

Fascinating to read of different accounts of how God initiates the prayer and causes the answer to come to fulfil His purposes.

Some of you are teachers. Each day bring those children one by one before God. You have a tremendous responsibility as a teacher. You have the curriculum. But in a Christian school you can pray that the way you go about your teaching, your demeanour ... that you’ll communicate the fact that you’re a Christian.

Two things in particular about prayer. It has to be definite, not vague. And the whole idea of importunity – making the most of the moment, and keeping on. At Trinity Jacob refused to let the angel go until he blessed him. Let’s be even more like Trinity in our private life with God.


But there needs also to be submission ...

Submission to the form in which the answer will come.

Submission to the method of the answer.

Submission to the time of the answer.


The common denominator is that there is an answer. He delights to answer and He will.
Specifically at one time, Jesus prayed:

John 17:20-22

That’s very specific. It’s a prayer for you and me. It’s incredibly specific. “This is what I’m praying – that they all may be one, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe thou hast sent me.”

Matthew 9:36-39

Was that just for His disciples to pray? No. I was taking to someone today about the fact that we need to be very aware of who God is sorting out for the future of their life, that they become someone sent of God to become a labourer in His harvest. That will become a known phenomenon that there will be those equipped and sent of God into the harvest. We need to pray that those labourers will be sent.

If you look at the end of most of the letters of Paul, you can see how specific he was about praying.

Ephesians 6:17-19

“Supplication for all saints, and for me – specifically that I may open my mouth boldly.”

Philippians 4:6

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Not meditation, not meandering, but specific.

Colossians 4:2-4

Thessalonians 5:16-19

Thessalonians 3:1-3

Two specifics – that the word may have free course, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.

Hebrews 13:18

Words of Wilberforce: “I fear I have not studied the scriptures enough. Surely in the summer recess I ought to read them an hour or two every day ... God will prosper me better if I wait on Him. The experience of all good Christians is that without prayer, things stagnate ...”

I don’t think it was self-flagellation. It was just that he wanted to get the priorities in terms of prayer to God.

Of Colnelius it was said he prayed to God always.

Colossians 4:12

Be specific. Be definite.

Spurgeon: “One time alone in prayer might make us new Christians, changed from poverty of soul to spiritual worth. From trembling to triumphing. We have an example in the life of Jacob. A night in prayer changed the supplanter into a prevailing prince ... Could not we at least now and then in these weary earth-bound years hedge about a single night for such an enriching traffic with the skies? For wealth and science men will quite their warm couches, and can we not do it for men’s souls? ... Up sluggish heart – Jesus calls thee. Rise and go forth to meet the heavenly friend in the place where He manifests Himself.”

Be Diligent

We can all give thanks to God for who He is and what He does. God will do things because He is faithful and true to Himself. Now that we come to read His word together, you and I know that it is through preaching that faith comes. I know that there are a few here that God has already spoken to this morning. It matters what fruit you have in your life. It matters whether our lives are being lived according to God’s will to His purposes or for ourselves.

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2 Peter 1:8-11

‘Give diligence’. Two words meaning work hard at it, focus upon it. Don’t let there be any needless intrusion of what is going to make you go the wrong way. On Friday we looked at a man called Asa who started off well, but things went wrong because in the end He didn’t really rely on God. It came to the point where God had to send someone to say something to him because Asa, at that time, had done a deal of his own strength instead of relying on God as he had done earlier on in his life. We saw how 580,000 of his soldiers knocked out a million of the others because he relied on God completely. There came a time where he did a league with the King of Syria. God sent him a prophet.

2 Chronicles 16:7-10

Asa’s reaction to this is interesting because God was speaking to him through Hanani, and one’s reaction when God comes to you is either to embrace what He’s saying, or to push Him away.

He took it out on the people because the man of God had come to Him and pointed out a few things. Jesus was aware that when He came to people they could either hear what He said or ignore it. God has been speaking to people in this hall latterly. I want to know what you’re going to do with the word that God’s spoken to you, because it matters what we do with the Word He’s given us. This following parable talks about God seeking fruit from a life because the fact of the matter is that either you going to accept and act upon what God is saying, or you’re going to put up the barriers and perpetuate that you’re going to live for yourself. The Holy Spirit is being faithful and coming to you with that Word, or prompt in your heart. This parable is to do with the nation of Israel but it applies to a life.

Mark 12:1-5

I wonder how many times God has spoken to you but you’ve stopped that word from coming into your life. Even though it keeps coming back you keep pushing it away. He sent servant after servant to collect what was rightfully his.

Mark 12:6-14

Jesus, the owner of the vineyard if you life, was talking to the very people who were going to kill him. How much does it take for God to keep coming with His word for you to accept His word? He’s gracious and loving. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. God is speaking to people about their lives at the mountain. At the end of this parable Jesus spoke about the stone. Little did they know that it was Him that would become the corner stone of the church. He was talking to Jews but it extend beyond this to the gentiles too.

Ephesians 2:19-23

The church is fitly framed together with Jesus Christ as the corner stone. After Jesus’s death and resurrection it was clear as to how the church was going to be formed. We are part of His church. God is coming to your life and asking you ‘where do you fit in?’ What is the fruit in your life? It is God’s word coming to you. God won’t force Himself on you, He’s gracious and patient. He’s here this morning.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Here in these verses Paul points out that we are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in us if we are a Christian.

1 Corinthians 6:19-21

You and I have been bought with a price and the price is Jesus’ life. In the parable they didn’t reference His son. Here now I’m asking you what the fruit of your life is? What are you doing with the words God is coming to you with by the Holy Spirit? What is the effect of the word in your life?

2 Peter 1:1-4

He’s writing to people who have heard that word and are partakers of the divine nature. But he now adds these words:

2 Peter 1:5-12

Always keep an eye open to the end of the sentence in the epistles. As far as you’re concerned this is telling us that there is something that we need to do. We can’t just respond in a meeting and be grateful, although that is wonderful, we must also act on this. We need to know what we must do going forward. God may be speaking to you, but this is very clear from Peter, you’ve got to give diligence. This word is used twice. What does it mean to be diligent? It means that I don’t respond in here and then live anyway out there. We have to be practical about this. I’ve got to prioritise my time and link up with the right people. I need to make sure that I don’t do things that will get me into trouble again. There’s a way of living and of establishing God’s word in your heart.

2 Peter 1:4

You’ve escaped that. It could be you need to escape from that, but God’s power is such that you can escape from that.

2 Peter 1:5

What does virtue mean? Another word for virtue is morality or moral excellence. Add to your faith. You add to your faith. Don’t assume that in here it will happen just in here. If you accept the word God gives you the power to live right, but then you have to live right. We must also add to virtue knowledge. What sort of knowledge are we talking about here? We’re talking about the Bible. We’re talking about taking every opportunity to understand the Bible. We must all know this book inside out. We’re not talking about the letter, we’re talking about opening your heart to let the Holy Spirit in.

This is the book we live by. God is faithful. People are saying now that we should read this word together – great. We must follow the lead God is giving us that we must get involved with this book. ‘Add to knowledge temperance.’ Another word for temperance is self-control. You add self-control to your life by not getting into situations where before you were out of control. You might be thinking that this is all works, it should be faith. There are practicalities of life. God has opened the path for us, but we have to walk down it. There is no way that God isn’t going to see you through at this time. He will, He’s your heavenly father. ‘Add to faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience’.

We are to be patient. We’re to accept as God shows different things in our life of what we need to do. ‘Add to patience godliness.’ Being godly means being set apart, having the things of God in your mind, listening to and talking about the right things and not being ashamed of the gospel of Christ. ‘And to godliness brotherly kindness’. We must care for each other. We shouldn’t cash in on a conversation that is pulling someone down, but we should cash in on a conversation that if lifting up God’s work in a life.

2 Peter 1:8

You won’t be barren. There’s a sense in which God has been faithful throughout everything in the last weeks, in the last months, in the last years. There’s no way that God has not been faithful. Where are we at this morning? I think we’re at the point where God is being faithful in speaking to us, and He is by His Holy Spirit confirming His word in our hearts. You could push Him away, He’s not going to force. He is all love and patience, but isn’t it better to open your heart to what you know He is speaking to you about.

2 Peter 1:9

There’s power in the name of Jesus.

Turn to the Lord

I want to help you focus on the main things in life. The main things in life are God’s relationship with you, and learning more about God. I’m going to look at the life of a man who did know a lot of things about God in his early life, and then things went a bit wrong.

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2 Chronicles 14:1

He began his reign over Judah well.

2 Chronicles 14:2-9

There was an army’s strength of 580,000, and all of them were men of valour.

2 Chronicles 14:9-11

So he had 580,000 men against a million. And this is what Asa cried.

2 Chronicles 14:11

Asa had totally the right perspective. He had a good ten years, and now is in this battle.

2 Chronicles 14:12-16

Not only a good start to his reign, but now when the first war appeared out of the blue, there was not a problem, because it was God’s name that he went forward in.

2 Chronicles 15:1-7

So he came to Asa and told him that he’d got it right. He’d got the right balance, because everything he did he went forward trusting God to deliver.

2 Chronicles 15:8-12

This is now fifteen years into his reign. He first had ten quiet years, and then the Ethiopians rose up and God defeated them, and now, to mark the occasion, there was a massive offering unto God.

2 Chronicles 15:12-16

Everything was fine at this point. The reason why it was fine was because he trusted in God. He knew his position was from God. No one has any power except from God. In your life, you need to know where God is. Where’s his perspective in your life?

2 Chronicles 15:16-20

This was quite a time.

2 Chronicles 16:1

Something now has happened in Asa’s heart. Before, his instant solution was asking God for help. He rested on him and went out in his name. But thirty-five years in, everything was quiet. Asa didn’t bring it to God.

2 Chronicles 16:2-7

There was no hint in getting God involved. He knew what to do. He had money in the treasury, in the church, in the king’s house. So a deal was done. But God didn’t get a look in.

2 Chronicles 16:7-10

Asa had no relied on God in all this. He knew what to do, and it actually worked. But thirty-five years in, God was forgotten about. One thing you and I need to do, if you’re aware of how it all started off with God in your life, is not forget we’re were from. We mustn’t forget the origin of our faith, and that we started off in God. We mustn’t forget the foundation of your life, if you’re a Chroniclesistian. Are you just going through the motions? Are you letting things go by? You think you know what you’re doing, that you can sort things out. It’s not a coincidence that God’s brought you here and caused you to focus on your walk with Him.

This got to Asa because he knew inside what he had done, and he got angry.

2 Chronicles 16:10

As a leader, things had been found out, and then he took it out on the people.

2 Chronicles 16:11-13

He was still in a rage. As far as he was concerned, he’d dealt with his problem. He’d sorted it. But it wasn’t done in the right way. He cut God out of it. And now he has diseased feet, but he still doesn’t go to God.

2 Chronicles 16:13-15

1 Peter 3:10-13

It might be that you know, in your heart, that God has been getting hold of you. I want to confirm to you, that this is for the reason that he wants to change you on the inside.

What happened, Asa? You started off so well, and yet it ended up like that. It was as if you got too sure of yourself, and you became in charge of Judah. You forgot that God appointed you.

God wants you to turn around. He wants you to realise that you’re dealing with a God who changes people on the inside. It’s that simple. Learn from the life of Asa. Those of you who’ve been a Chroniclesistian for some time, remember the order of things. It’s God with whom we have to do. He is the author of our faith. He is the one who is faithful and in control. We can’t take everything for granted. Our heart is one of thanks that we rest on him, our shield and our defender. We’re going forward in him.

Prayer (Part 2 of 3)

One thing from last week. Somehow Almighty God causes us to be co-workers with Him. Everything is prompted by Him – we are prompted to pray in a certain way for a certain person, and Father’s name is glorified.

Matthew 6:5

A clear castigation of those who pray to be seen to be praying. Forget it.

Matthew 6:6-9

We’re not to go on and on for half an hour in the belief that that will cause God to answer. If I’m praying about something and really need an answer, there’s nothing wrong in praying more than once. But don’t simply watch the clock to chalk up brownie points.

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God knows what we need, but through His grace and love and mercy He likes us to take part. He loves communication. It was His voice – the communicative ability of God with man – that walked in the garden.

Matthew 6:9-16

Luke 11:1-13

The key part is following on from the Lord’s prayer – “Ask and it shall be given to you. ”We do need to spend time in prayer. It’s not an option. It’s part of us being co-workers with God and it’s Him communicating with us. If your child never spoke to you, it would get to you. Here He is our Father. So, in Matthew and Luke, the whole accent is on the relationship. We saw the story of a man and his friend. I’ll help you – you’re my friend. And so with prayer, the communication is like father and son.

“Our Father”. Jesus always prayed to His father and referred to Him as such. Only once did He refer to Him as God :

Matthew 27:46

This is the only time Jesus is recorded as talking to God as God. Every other time, it was “My father”.

RT Kendal says, “That was the moment all our sins were transferred to Jesus and God turned His back on His one and only son. The sense of fellowship was momentarily forfeited. It was the worst part of His suffering. ”

Father is a term of intimacy . God has a special relationship with His children. He accepts us because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. An unbeliever can call God creator, judge, but he can’t call Him father. There is a special relationship, a father-son relationship, from which that intimacy flows.

Galatians 3:25-26

You’re a child of God by faith. So when you pray, as a child with a father, there is an intimacy, a link. When my children were younger, there was total trust – “What you say, dad, I’ll believe. ”No worries about provision – “I’m a member of a family and he’s my dad. ”

Romans 8:16-18

These verses underline the father/son relationship – children of God, birthed into Christ, relationship with the Father. So when the fatherhood was examined . . . I talked about George Muller last week, and thousands of children went through his orphanages, and it was a life of prayer. It was when he read Psalms 68:5.

Psalms 68:5

That he was inspired to take in orphans, and from then on it was a life of faith,

Muller: “By the help of God this shall be my argument before Him respecting the orphans in their hour of need. He is their father, and I have only to remind Him in order to have it supplied. By the grace of God this is no cause of anxiety to me. These children I have cast upon the Lord the whole work is His. I am able to roll the burden upon my heavenly father. ”

Our relationship is with God our heavenly father. We don’t cringe behind a door. That’s not a relationship of father son. Prayer is sharing with your father. You’re asking Him, talking to Him. Think of a child not talking to their father.

Ecclesiastes 5:3-4

You can be at peace in that father/son relationship. We’re His children, but there also needs to be a sense of reverence.

“Hallowed be thy name” – let His name be treated as holy, given the honour He deserves. When people use the word Jesus off-hand at work, with no relation to Him, when they use Christ as a swear word, it does affect you, I find.

Isaiah 42:8

John 5:43

There was something special about father’s name – hallowed be thy name.

This is God’s church. His name is to be revered here. He is in control of His church. If I were to put my name on this church, it would be contrary to what God is about. It’s His work.

“Thy kingdom come”

John 3:3

The Lord’s prayer is a template of the things which should be involved in prayer. We don’t have to use these precise words. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.

Everything is god-ward. “Our Father, . . . hallowed be thy name . . . thy kingdom come. ”It’s good to think about Him and what He wants when I come to prayer.

So much of praying is man-centred. We don’t think of who God is.

James 4:3

Let’s think about what God is about. “Thy kingdom come. ”It’s not to do with me.

1 John 5:14

It’s good for us to be aware of who God is and what He wants. That’s key. So much is it key that the next petition is . . .

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ”We want not just the kingdom to come, but also the will of the King to come about. We’re getting more specific. Prayer doesn’t change God’s will. It changes ours. As we get to know God and learn what He wants and are prompted by the Spirit, He brings our hearts and minds into alignment with what He wants. We can’t force God into a mould and tell Him what to do. Jesus prayed that the cup might pass from Him – yet not as I will, but as thou wilt.

There are two ways God reveals what He wants. He uses the Bible, and there is also the secret will personal to you, which He has planned for you.

Psalms 47:4

Ephesians 2:10

There’s a will of God unique to your life. Your pathway, each one of you, is different from everyone else’s. I want the King’s will in my life. I want His will, not mine. I don’t want sin or rebellion to be in the way. I want Him to be Lord of my life.

John 15:5-8

The key is His words abiding in you. We want everything of God to happen. You’re in alignment. God’s Holy Spirit prompts you to pray in a certain way, and you’re in alignment with God’s will and It’s His delight for you to be a co-worker and see your prayer answered. And the end result is glory to Him, wonderment, thanks for what He has done.

“Give us this day our daily bread”. Our needs – but this comes only after the first god-ward issues.

“And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. ”This isn’t a plea for salvation. When I come to pray I need to have got things sorted out. Just as you clear the decks before taking communion, so here. We’re saved by faith alone, but we need to keep short accounts with God and with other people.

Matthew 6:14-16

You need to keep the right perspective.

“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. ”Most commentaries say this should really read “deliver us from the evil one”. God doesn’t tempt anyone . . .

James 1:13

It’s simply a prayer that we won’t get caught in the devil’s snare. But we have this promise :

James 4:7

RT Kendal: “The main thing we learn from the Lord’s Prayer is that we are primarily to seek God’s face, not His hand. Jesus wants for us to have fellowship with the Father. ”

The first part of the Lord’s prayer is God-directed. The second part is directed towards us and our needs. And then we return to God again.

Three guiding principles . . .

Hebrews 4:16

1 John 4:16

He’s our heavenly father, the God of love.

Phillipians 4:6

With thanksgiving. Try and get into the habit – and you can learn this – get into the habit of being thankful to God, no matter what you are praying about.

Mark 1:35

He prayed a great while before day. If we were to leave it at that . . . Aside from audience: “Count me out. ”

Matthew 14:23

Mark says before day. Matthew says it’s evening.

Luke 6:12

Jesus prayed before day, in the evening and all night. There is no set time to pray. The key point is to do it. Whatever is convenient is what’s right. It’s not more spiritual to pray in the morning, in the evening, all night. Whatever fits in best is what we should do. But we need to pray.

So much for the when.

John 11:41

John 17:1

Just talking about practicalities, Jesus prayed with His eyes open here. There is no set pattern. With eyes closed, there is less distraction. But it’s not wrong to pray with your eyes open. What matters is that you pray.

In what posture should you pray

Psalms 95:6

1 Kings 8:54

Kneeling. Then kneeling with hands spread to heaven.

Luke 22:39-42

Jesus knelt.

Acts 7:59-60


All examples of people kneeling. The Pharisees tended to stand.

Hebrews 1:3

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

We pray in Jesus’ name, through Him to Father. He is now sat down at the right hand of God. There is no hard and fast rule as to the posture for prayer. It would look odd on the Central Line in the rush hour if you knelt – although I’ve been on a Muslim airline where there is a prayer mat and the passengers knelt down.

It doesn’t matter when you pray, whether your eyes are open, your posture. The key point is to pray. Common sense says that if you kneel it makes you humbled. But we know that you can pray driving in the car. I used to love praying on the underground – I used to love the idea I could pray to God through the ground. You knew you were talking to God.

Just make sure that the posture is suitable for you to be able to pray. Getting on your knees doesn’t change you. If you’re knackered, getting on your knees won’t change that.

1 Peter 3:7

Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Talking to husbands. Our relationship with our wives matters. It’s like keeping things right with those close to you. Don’t think you can pray in whatever posture without having things right with your wife. Your prayers will be hindered.

I think what God is doing in these studies is to cause each of us to increase in our relationship of faith in Jesus Christ, to grow and share that relationship with God. In time that will have a knock-on effect with us corporately. I don’t think we’ll end up having prayer meetings. But as we learn now to pray more individually, so if God wants us to pray specifically for something corporately, it will happen more easily.

Acts 12:1-5

James had just been killed. Peter had been caught. What would happen to him. there was instant and earnest prayer.

Acts 12:7-18

I don’t blame them for being astonished. What were they praying. Was it that he wouldn’t be killed. Probably. Could they have thought God could have got him out of the prison like that. Probably not. What an answer to prayer. Never rule out anything God can do in answer to your prayer. He will answer in the way He chooses.

I have no doubt there will come a time when we will do the same. Not for the same reason. But who knows What I do know is that that was a key part of the early church. I don’t think things were different then. But what an answer to prayer

I’ve spoken to a few people in the last few days who have quoted wonderful things to me – specific answers to prayer.

Five things that we as Christians have in Jesus Christ as far as prayer is concerned.

1. The Christian has the teaching of Christ.

2. The Christian the example of Christ.

3. The Christian has the blood of Christ – and there is a new and living way though what Jesus has done on the cross.

4. The Christian has the intercession of Christ. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

5. The Christian has the name of Christ. The Christ one – the Christian. The name above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.

Isaiah there some magic in asking prayers in Jesus’ name No. But it’s as if all prayer is bound up in this relationship. We are co-workers together with Him. We haven’t uncovered some formula, to which we append the name of Jesus and things automatically work. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about a relationship between father and son. The glory is to His name and we go forward from glory to glory. Very practical. Very real.