9 December 2012

Topic: The Secret to Prayers

Pastor is going to share today about praying before the trial happens. Jesus taught us in the bible and said, "Pray that you enter not into temptations and testings (referring to trials)".
It is possible not to walk into temptations. He tells us the best thing we can do is to pray to not enter into temptations.

Pastor leads us to pray a prayer of protecting us from temptations for the coming week, and from the evil one.

Pastor was reminded of the old sermon in 2004 titled "Just a groan will reach the throne" after Pastor Mark asked an interesting question. He asked how come Jesus allowed the children of Israel to be under the bondage even though they were under grace?
If the shadow of the lamb can heal everyone and not feeble, how much more we today have the substance of the broken body of Christ to be fully healed!
So back to the question of Pastor Mark. Before that, Pastor shares that the part within us that is fallen. That is the flesh but that is not you. The flesh makes you irritated or moody. But as much as a splinter is in your flesh, it does that make you a wood. When we believers fall asleep, we step out of our body and Jesus clothes us with the same just like how He rose up. The Lord is returning and we know the end is near. Jesus said the waves and seas will roar, great earthquakes will happen. When you see these happen, the end is near. We just need to lift our heads and Jesus is coming.
So back to that question. There is something mystical about the flesh that rules your heart. For example, people show a front that they can handle it with words like "so far so good". God always wants man to depend on Him. The greatest blessing you have is when you depend on God. The flesh says you can handle it. Many people with innocent intentions at first always end up listening to the flesh. You may think that it's fine to send the lady home. But who knows what happens 10 minutes later. Pastor says he has no self confidence at all. He only has Christ-confidence. One is the power of the spirit and the other is the power of the flesh. Which one do you want. There is always a strong anointing on you when you depend on God.
Joseph had favor with Pharaoh. He gave the the land of Goshen to him. In this land, there was light. You may not even know you are shining but the world sees the light in your land.

Exodus 2:23-25
Verse 23: God heard their groaning.
Verse 24: God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Jacob and Isaac.
Verse 25: God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them.
There is just something about the covenant. Man makes contracts because man don't trust each other. With a contract, no one can change their minds.
With God, He made covenant not for His sake. God makes a covenant so that you will have an assurance and know He will not change His mind forever. We are no more under the covenant of Sinai. We know that God will remember our sins no more because God in His holiness has remembered our sins on the cross. God has already imputed all our sins on Jesus. He took our place, used His blood to wash away all our sins. If there was one speck on sin on Jesus, He would not raise His son from the dead. What does it mean? Your sins have been washed away. Jesus gave us this grace. God meant He will not remember your sins to punish your children. We are under the covenant of grace. In the new covenant, He gives us all the unconditional conditions. We just have to believe. It's all based on Christ.

Back to Exodus 2, that groaning is not a groan to God. It was never in the bible that the children of Israel groaned to God. The people cried out, notice they cried out because of the bondage. They didn't cry out to God.
God says to forgive, if cannot forget, just forgive. Many of times the pain is gone when you forgive.

Fast forward the story:
When the children of Israel came out to river Jordan and to the promised land, Joshua was their new leader.
Joshua 24:14-15
Verse 14: Joshua told the people to serve the Lord. Notice here that they were all worshiping other Gods. Look here, even though they did that, God still remembered His covenant and acknowledged them! Just look at the heart of our God.
Verse 15: Joshua says for he and his house, he will serve the Lord.

Don't think for one moment that when someone criticizes you, God can make your past never to haunt you. He can even make people easy to forget what they criticized.

God is so good that even your cry, will cause Him to activate/execute His covenant for you.

God allows what man allows. It does not mean that it is God's will. If the pastor decides to teach on law and the people believes, God still allows. It is never God's will. But He will hold the pastor accountable. If you believe God allows disease to be on you to punish you, then disease comes. Just like the children of Israel who rejected God, He still allows.

Romans 8:26-27
Verse 26: "The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses". This weakness refers to physical too. Don't just take it as it is for the mind.
There is a purpose for Jesus going through the whipping and lashing by the roman soldiers. It is because where there are wounds, there is healing. Why did He do that. It is because by His strips, we are healed. Jesus says, if we do not discern His body, we become sick, weakly and die before our time. Likewise if we discern His body and know His body brings us healing, we become strong.

Joke:
Ladies, if you want to have a good argument, marry a lawyer. But if you want man to appreciate you when you get older, marry an archaeologist.

Back to Verse 26:
"Groaning" means stenagmos in greek which means "cannot be uttered" (love secrets). That word "groaning" means words that cannot be uttered in a language. Is the groaning of the children of Israel the same as stenagmos? If it was, then it is a perfect match. But no because the Old Testament is in Hebrews. Now refer to Acts next.

Acts 7:3
Verse 34: It says that "I heard that groaning (stenagmos) and have come down to deliver them".
In essence, it is referring to speaking/praying in tongues. So when you pray in tongues, you become worry free. You don't have to run to Pastor Henry or any pastors to ask them to pray for you. You just need to let loose and pray in tongues, Jesus will perfect your prayer.

Acts 2:1-4
Verse 4: It says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues and the Spirit gave them utterance. This word "utterance" in greek means apophthheggomai - to speak out a language not in everyday life. All you need to do is to speak in tongues.

Back to Acts 2,
Verse 1: The Day of Pentecost came and it was 9 o'clock in the morning.
Acts 2:11
Verse 11: They heard them speaking in their own tongues the wonderful works of God.
Under grace, no one talked about the law. If you talk about the good works of God, we just get happy. Forget our own doings, remember His doings.

Solomon's problem was his flesh. Everything was about what he did. Solomon says "I built this and that...". "I" shall never be the center of you life. The flesh revolves around the "I".

Whenever you pray in tongues, you are actually making intercessions of our behalf. Aren't you glad you may be praying for an urgent need which you are not even aware and yet able to concentrate on what you are doing presently? No wonder the devil is fighting so hard to take away this gift from God.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 14:18, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. He actually gathered all Corinthians and told them he spoke in tongues more than all of them added up in numbers.
He must have spoke in tongues in the morning, afternoon and nights. He must have prayed in tongues all day long.

John G. Lake says speaking of the tongues is the making of his ministry.

Acts 2:25-27
Verse 25: Peter is quoting Psalms. Sin is defined as forfeiting God's glory according to Romans 3:23. In Isaiah 43:7, God says He made you for His glory.
Verse 26: "Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue is glad". Look to Psalms 16:8-9, it says my heart is glad, my glory rejoices.
Look in detail here, Peter says "my tongue was glad" while Psalms says "my glory rejoices". We have found the answer. The key is back in your tongue.

In closing,
Proud people will never pray in tongues. Man always wants God to prove to man. Man is subject to failure but yet we trust man.
God being perfect, how much more we can trust in Him with our worries and concern, for Him to bring us back home to safety.