As we saw in last Sunday’s sermon, God reveals Himself as unapproachable. Paul tells us that God “dwells in unapproachable light . . . no one . . . can see [Him]” (1 Timothy 6:16). God sets up limits around Mt Sinai for the Israelites, and more than once warns the Israelites not to touch the mountain, on pain of death.

God tells us He is holy. He is other. We cannot study Him as we would a plant, or an insect, or another human being. He is above us. He is beyond us.

And yet this same God says to the Israelites that they can be His “treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5); He calls them His “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). He promises through Isaiah, “With everlasting love I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:8). Indeed, the author of Hebrews says that those in Christ have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place” (Hebrews 10:19 NIV).

How can this be? How can God, on the one hand, be unapproachable, and yet, on the other hand, invite us to enter into His very presence?

Keep reading in Hebrews 10: “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19 NIV).

Reflect on this. Don’t dismiss the idea, thinking, “Oh, of course, I’ve heard all that before.”

Let this thought seek deep into you: There is absolutely no way for you to approach God through your investigations, through your searching, through your moral choices – unless He chooses to reveal Himself to you. And He graciously has decided that there is one way He will allow those who deserve His condemnation to approach Him: Through their trusting in the death of His Son, through their uniting with His risen Christ, the Lord Jesus.

So we can approach this holy, other, unapproachable God through the one means He provides: His Son.

Some of you may be thinking, “Oh, yes, I did that years ago!”

But, my friend: Have you done that today?

God tells the Israelites to consecrate themselves before He descends on Mt Sinai and speaks to them (Exodus 19:10). What is the equivalent for us today?

Every morning as you wake and thus enter God’s presence; every Sunday before coming to worship Him publicly, live out Hebrews 10:19 by building up your confidence to enter boldly into God’s holy presence by appropriating for yourself once again the blood of Jesus.

How can we do this?

Begin by examining your heart (1 Corinthians 11:28): Pray that God would help you see if there is any grievous way in you, any hidden sin (Psalm 139:24; Psalm 19:12). Confess those sins you are aware of to Him. Pray words like these: “Father God, I am worthy of your eternal punishment. I deserve nothing from you, not even to be alive this moment. But you have showered me with your blessings, including . . . (thank Him for specific gifts). Most of all, you have opened my eyes to see the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have saved me from the punishment I deserve by His blood shed on the cross. Forgive these sins I have just confessed by that same blood; cleanse me from all unrighteousness as You promise (1 John 1:9). Amaze me once again that I have access to Your very presence through the cross. Enable me this day to worship you from the heart, to encourage others in their walk with you, spurring them on to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).”

How can I approach God?

• Not on the basis of my intelligence – His intelligence is of a completely different order of magnitude!
• Not on the basis of my holiness – He “is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
• Not on the basis of my good works, or my obedience – for even my best works are stained by improper motives, and His command is, “Be perfect, as Your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

But I can approach God as a condemned sinner desperately in need of His grace. I can approach God through faith in His Son who died for His enemies. I can – and must – approach God daily as a supplicant, asking forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice.

And when I do, He says to me: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

Imagine that you are engaged in a personal ministry. You are confident that you are following God, and it seems that you are having some success. Then, suddenly, there’s a huge obstacle in your path,

• It might be a failure on your part,
• It might be a rejection or betrayal by former colleagues,
• It might be a financial barrier,
• It might be opposition, or threats from others.

How do you respond?

In Acts 4, that’s the situation Peter and John and all the apostles find themselves in.

Jesus was killed just a few months ago. That itself had seemed to be the end of their hopes. But God raised Him from dead. Jesus opened their eyes to Scripture and to His own prophecies to see that the crucifixion had to happen, to see the role of Christ’s suffering in God’s plan. The apostles now know that Jesus is living, active, still at work.

He then sent the Holy Spirit on them with power at Pentecost, baptizing them and filling them for their special task. These apostles saw three thousand saved that day – and they themselves baptized every one. They’ve seen more come to faith day by day.

Then God worked through Peter and John to heal a man who was lame from birth. A crowd gathered, and Peter preached; once again, thousands more were saved.

It would be understandable if, at this point, the apostles thought, “Wow! Look at God work! What success! Everything is just going to get better and better!”

But things didn’t get better and better.

As we saw last week, the Jewish authorities arrest Peter and John. They threaten them, warning them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Peter speaks boldly in their presence, saying there is no other name by which men must be saved, saying that they cannot but speak about what they have seen and heard, saying they must obey God rather than men. But the Jewish authorities just threaten all the more. They release Peter and John, but make their point absolutely clear: “If you continue to speak in the name of Jesus, watch out. We’re here. You know what happened to Jesus. If you love your families, if you want to see your children grow up, you had better keep quiet.”

This is the first serious challenge to the young church.

Put yourself in their shoes: These are not supermen. They have families, worries, and cares. If they are put to death, there are no food stamps, there is no welfare, there is no social security for their children. They must be facing a strong temptation to be quiet. Satan undoubtedly tempted them in these terms: “Think about how many are already saved! Let’s just teach them. Let’s just live together and enjoy each other, be family to each other. We can stop this proselytizing. For it’s this speaking in public that will get us in trouble. Indeed, maybe this is a sign from God –we’ve been spreading the Gospel, and we’ve had our success. Now maybe we’re supposed to stop and focus on deepening our joy in Christ.”

Imagine what would have happened if apostles had done that. That would have been the end of the church. Or, possibly, the church would have been a tiny enclave, a minor sect within Judaism. In other words, that would have been disastrous.

So how do the apostles fight this temptation? How can we, facing our own obstacles, fight the temptation to quit, to change, to adapt in ways that destroy our ministry?

Peter and John fight in four ways that are applicable to us:

• Acknowledge your weakness
• Know the truth
• Trust the truth
• Ask for God’s enabling

1) Acknowledge Your Weakness

The apostles begin by acknowledging their weakness. That is, they don’t get themselves pumped up, and do a rah-rah football cheer, saying, “Those chief priests are wimps! We can take them on! Be strong! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

No. They realize this is a serious threat. They know that they face the temptation to give up. They know that they are weak

Peter will later write,

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Consider: How much chance does an unarmed man have if he goes one-on-one with a lion – no matter how pumped up he might be?

So what do Peter and John do? They acknowledge their weakness in two ways:

a) They acknowledge they need other believers

Verse 23 tells us, “they went to their friends” – presumably to a church meeting in a home. They went to their fellow believers and reported the threats of the Jewish leaders.

God doesn’t intend for us to face battles against temptations, against persecution, against Satan, against spiritual forces on our own. Indeed, Satan tries to isolate us, to keep us from sharing our trials and troubles. He is happy if we are isolated, regardless of whether we are all bravado or all worried and concerned. God gives us one another to support each other, to hold each other up.

b) They acknowledge they need God’s help

Though they need each other, even altogether they cannot stand against the powers arrayed against them. So the believers go to God, and seek His power, His assistance.

They lift up their voices “together” or “with one accord.” They unite in prayer, crying out to God. They know they need God

Do we know the same?

Most all of us would answer that question “Yes” on an exam. But do we live it out? When faced with temptations and trials, do you turn to other believers for help, and then together turn to prayer? On issues facing us as a church – such as our venue, and the church budget – are we praying together? Are we fervent in prayer together for this weekly service, for sanctification, for outreach?

For me personally, it is very easy to go through the motions of prayer, but deep down to really think that I can do it. What about for you?

May we push each other to depend together on God, acknowledging our weakness through prayer.

2) Know the Truth

After acknowledging their weakness, the gathered believers pray an extraordinary prayer. They are in personal and corporate crisis. They are in danger. They face the temptation to abandon the community, to go back to being regular Jews. So they are dealing with deep relational issues – their relationship to each other and well as their relationship to God. They are dealing with a crisis that could fracture their community.

So how do they pray?

They pray a doctrine-filled prayer.

We’re going to detail the doctrines they cite shortly. But first: Note how contrary this is to our present culture. Prominent forces within the church today say,

“Doctrine divides! We want relationships, not doctrine!”

“Doctrine is for the head! We want our hearts to be moved!”

“We’re not interested in propositions, in truth claims – we’re interested in genuine experience!”

Such statements would be nonsensical to the apostles.

When their community is tempted to fall apart because of temptation, they depend on doctrine in their prayer to God.

When fearful, they turn in prayer to doctrine to settle their hearts.

But this is not in contrast to experience – the experience that results from this doctrinal prayer is powerful.

So let’s look at this prayer and note twelve doctrines they cite or allude to. We don’t know who spoke this prayer, though clearly all present agreed with it. Peter may have been the speaker, and I’ll refer to him as such.

Acts 4:24 “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

a) The doctrine of the existence of God. They address God. He must exist.

b) The doctrine of the sovereignty of God: They call Him, “Sovereign Lord.” The Greek word is the root of our word “despot.” It means absolute master. They will elaborate on God’s sovereignty later in the prayer:

c) The doctrine of creation: God created all things, seen and unseen. He even created us, and all human beings! He thus has the rights of a creator over us.

v25a who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

d) God speaks! The doctrine of revelation. Thus Peter rules out deism, the idea that God created the world, set it in motion, but then left it to operate on its own. He rules out the idea of God as an impersonal force. And he rules out any notion about God as unknowable. He tells us about Himself, so He must be knowable.

e) The doctrine of inspiration: God speaks through men moved by the Holy Spirit

At this point in his prayer, Peter quotes Psalm 2:1-2. Let me read this psalm in its entirety, for Peter surely expects his fellow believers to have the context of his quotation in mind:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

What doctrines come out in this psalm?

f) More on God’s sovereignty: No human power is a threat to God. For how does God respond to all these kings and rulers plotting against Him, and against His Christ? Y Verse 4 tells us He laughs at them! All they do is “in vain.” They have no power to thwart His purposes. Have you ever seen a two-year-old shake his fist at an adult? Many two-year-olds assert their power and authority. But the adult is perfectly capable of maintaining control. The two-year-old has much less power than the adult, no matter how much he expresses his anger. It’s always helpful to remember that the difference between us and God is much greater than the difference between a two-year-old and an adult. And while some parents, unfortunately, seem to take the threats of two-year-olds seriously, God never takes out threats seriously. We are no threat to Him. Whatever nations, whatever forces are arrayed against Him, He’s not frightened. He is in control. He laughs at His enemies.

g) Psalm 2 abounds in the doctrine of the person of Christ:. Just note a few points

• He is God’s chosen Messiah, verse 2.
• He is God’s chosen king, verse 6,
• He is the ruler of every nation, of all the earth, verse 8.
• He is the one who will destroy God’s enemies, verse 9.
• He is God’s Son, verses 7 and 12.

h) The psalm hints at the doctrine of salvation in verses 10-12, as the psalmist calls these rebels to repentance. These kings must see the Son as the Lord; they must serve Him and rejoice in Him. And if they do so, they will be saved, they will have a refuge. The alternative is judgment and condemnation.

Let’s go back to Peter’s prayer in Acts 4:

4:27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

i) Peter elaborates on the doctrine of the person of Christ. He calls Jesus God’s holy servant. Like David, He is God’s servant as the anointed King who does the will of God. This title is also an allusion to the “servant songs” in the book of Isaiah, particularly to Isaiah 52 and 53, which prophesy the suffering of the servant.

j) The doctrine of prophecy. Peter applies Psalm 2 to recent events, including Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion. So: God spoke centuries before Christ about events that would happen during His life.

k) The doctrine of the covenants. Look at verse 27. Peter alludes to the first sentence of the psalm, “Why do the nations (or “Gentiles”) rage and the peoples plot.” In the psalm, the words “nations” and “peoples” are in parallel; both words refer to all ethnic groups other than Israel. Peter says those gathered against Jesus include kings and rulers, as mentioned in Psalm 2:2 – that is Herod and Pilate. Then Peter mentions Gentiles or nations – non-Israelites. But then note what Peter says: Those gathered against God include not just the “peoples,” in parallel with nations; instead, Peter calls them the peoples of Israel! Those gathered against the Messiah, against the Davidic ruler, include the peoples of Israel! Instead of being God’s people, the people of Israel have conspired with the “kings of the earth” to fight against God’s anointed Messiah.

Peter had said this might happen in Acts 3:23. He is speaking of Jesus as the prophet who is to come:

23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

The prophet like Moses is coming: All who don’t listen to him will be cut off from the people. Thus, to reject Jesus is to be cut off from true Israel. He is the true Israel. Only those united to Him are in God’s new covenant.

There is much more we could say: But for today, just note that Peter brings up the doctrine of God’s covenant with His people.

l) Peter elaborates on the doctrine of God’s sovereignty over all that happens. These kings and rulers are gathered against Jesus, rebelling against His authority. Yet verse 28 tells us that they are doing exactly what God predestined to happen. Each of them is following his own desires, each is making choices, doing whatever he perceives is in his own self-interest; each is responsible for those choices; and yet each is doing exactly what God, centuries earlier, had predestined would happen. This is always the case with every opponent of God. He is in control, even of the evil deeds of evil men.

Do you see the depth of doctrine Peter depends on here? We could outline an entire semester of Systematic Theology from this prayer!

All this doctrine is either true or it is not true. If it is not true, it provides these believers with no basis for their upcoming appeal. If it is not true, it gives them no basis for their relationship with God or with each other. But it is true. They know it is true.

So clearly, this doctrine doesn’t divide! This doctrine isn’t for the head only! This deep doctrine is exactly what these believers need in this crisis.

So let’s see how these very doctrines then spur the Jerusalem church to bold witness in the face of persecution:

3) Trust the truth

Overarching all the doctrines we’ve seen is the name Peter chooses to use to address God: Sovereign Lord. Peter highlights God’s sovereignty – for trust in God’s sovereignty is key for the church at this point. If they are to risk their lives, to risk their income, to risk their families, they need to have confidence in the great truth of God’s sovereignty. They need to know that just as God planned the crucifixion of Jesus, God planned the arrest of Peter and John. God created these Jewish leaders, and He laughs at their resistance to His Christ. God will use their evil acts for His good purposes, just as He used the crucifixion for His good purposes

So they not only need to know the truth. They need to trust the truth.

So do we.

Doctrine is central. But one can have correct doctrine and be completely impotent. These great truths about God and Christ transform us when we know them and trust them – so that when we face trials and suffering we trust that God is in control. When we face dangers, we trust that God will permit only what is for our good and His glory.

We can then say with the psalmist,

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

4) Ask for God’s Enabling

But Peter does more than recall great truths about God and trust in those truths. He asks God to do three things. Listen for these three in verses 29-30:

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

a) Look upon their threats

In Psalm 2, God sees the opposing kings and laughs at them. That’s what Peter is asking God to do here: To see their threats and to respond in such a way that they are frustrated in their plans to attack God and His people.

This may seem trivial – why ask God to do what He always does? Why ask the all-seeing god to notice what is happening? Indeed, Peter’s request may even seem to imply that God is not already taking notice. He needs our prompting or He’ll fall asleep on the watch!

That’s clearly not the case. But note that in Scripture God’s people frequently pray this way.

Consider Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple:

2 Chronicles 6:40 Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

Or Hezekiah’s prayer when the Assyrian king Sennacherib threatens Jerusalem:

Isaiah 37:17 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

Or Daniel’s great prayer asking God to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophesy of returning the people to Jerusalem after exile in Babylon, despite their continued rebellion:

Daniel 9:18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name.

Thus, God wants us to know His character, and to call upon Him to act in accordance with that character. Far from demeaning Him, that is to His glory.

He is the all-seeing God. So we say, “Lord, look upon the evil around us. Look upon the suffering. Act, for the good of Your people and the glory of Your Name.”

That’s Peter’s first request. The next two requests ask that God act in particular ways as He sees those who threaten the early church. Let’s jump to his third request, and then come back to the second:

b) while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

That is: “Act miraculously to establish the truth of Your word, to show that our bold words are true.”

Do you pray like that? Is it right to pray like that? Does God work miraculously today?

God performs a mighty miracle every time He brings someone to Himself, every time He replaces a heart of stone with a heart of flesh – every time He takes a spiritually dead person and makes him spiritually alive.

Furthermore, He is sovereign! He is creator! He always works to the glory of His Name, and is well able at any time in any place to act with signs and wonders.

Biblically we see signs and wonders concentrated in specific periods:

The time of the Exodus

The time of Elijah and Elisha

The time of Jesus and the apostles

So it’s not surprising to find that such signs and wonders are rare in many places and at many times. In addition, we know that such signs and wonders are not in and of themselves central to salvation.

But God has used them in history, particularly to verify the truths spoken by His messengers, and He does seem to be doing that today, particularly when the Gospel is spreading to new people groups who have been enslaved to false religion for centuries.

So don’t be reluctant to pray this way. Always pray for God’s glory to be shown. You can suggest ways that He might act. And then trust Him to magnify His glory.

c) grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness

Peter and John spoke God’s Word boldly before the council. They now face serious threats. And they ask that they and all the believers might continue to speak boldly, forthrightly, with confidence and courage. They pray that they might continue to proclaim the hard points – such as saying, “This Jesus, whom you crucified” – not fearing the results, but trusting God with whatever might happen, knowing that God laughs in derision at His opponents! He is sovereign! So, says Peter, “Let us act in knowledge of your sovereignty. Give us boldness!”

Do you pray this way?

Or do you simply say, “I’m not a bold person. I just witness in quiet ways.”

Of course we differ in personality. Of course we differ in giftedness. So did those in the early church. But note that Peter didn’t say, “Grant to your apostles to continue to speak with boldness.” He said, “Grant to your servants, your slaves.” That’s you. That’s me. Every believer is a slave of God.

Every one of us is called to be bold in our witness for Christ. And every one of us needs God’s power if we are to be bold and courageous and effective in our witness.

So pray for boldness!

And when you have been bold – like Peter and John – pray for more boldness! Don’t take for granted that you will be tomorrow.

When you’re frightened, and you know you shouldn’t be, don’t just be quiet. Don’t just say, “Maybe God won’t notice how frightened I am of this threat.” Say, “Look on this threat, O God! Frustrate their plans! Give me your Holy Spirit! Enable me to hold firmly to Your truth, to proclaim it through my words and through my life!”

Pray for boldness!

Conclusion

What happened as a result of this prayer?

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

God manifested His presence among them. They knew He was there. He gave them a special filling with His Holy Spirit. And, despite obstacles, despite threats, they spoke the Gospel with great boldness.

And we are here today as a result.

We opened by asking you to imagine an obstacle you face in ministry, a roadblock that seems to keep you from continuing. Sometimes we should change direction as a result of an obstacle – for sometimes God puts obstacles in our way to cause us to change. We will see some examples of that later in the book of Acts. He’s sovereign after all.

But when faced with such obstacles, always ask:

Is this God’s command to all believers, and it’s simply hard to do? There’s no surprise in such difficulties! We are to persevere through hardship.

Or is this God’s specific calling to me, that I must follow, regardless of the obstacles?

If the answer to either question is “yes,” go forward just as Peter and John went forward! Follow the same steps they took:

Acknowledge your weakness – before other believers and before God. You will not fulfill God’s purposes on your own.

Know the truth! Love God’s Word; meditate on it day and night; learn God’s character. Don’t be swayed by the latest fads and winds of doctrine.

Trust the truth! Look to God’s sovereignty, His goodness, His mercy, and step out in confidence.

Pray for His enabling! Pray that God would fulfill His character in Your life. Pray that you might so trust His character that you are bold, courageous, winsome, and wise.

The Sovereign God, the Creator of all things, calls to Himself rebellious sinners who deserve hell, forgiving them through the death on the cross of His Son Jesus. All who turn to Jesus, all who repent and trust Him as Savior and Lord, become God’s children, Christ’s witnesses, God’s ambassadors.

Are you His child?

Are you His bold witness?

Are you His ambassador – by His power?

Isaiah 55:6-7 answers the question:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Fred and I believe this is a clear call for Desiring God Community Church in 2009: Seek the Lord! Call upon Him! God invites us to do so, saying whoever seeks, finds!

But seeking Him means more than saying, “God, help me!” Note what the prophet says MUST accompany our seeking the Lord: Forsaking our wicked ways and wrong thoughts, repenting and returning to the Lord. We all need this regular examination of our own hearts, this regular turning to God, this taking account of where we are before Him.

As Thomas Boston wrote:

Such times are to be set apart from conversing with the world that we may the more solemnly commune with our own hearts to the state of matters between God and us.

It is when we seek God in this way – with broken and contrite hearts, trusting in the righteousness of Christ and not our own – that we will find Him. He will abundantly pardon – covering every sin, every wickedness by the blood of Jesus.

When we have received that pardon, we are then ready to spread a passion for His supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples. When we are right with God, then we can send, then we can go, then we can serve.

In Acts 11:23, Barnabas exhorts the young church in Antioch to do the same: He tells them to have a “firm resolve to remain true to the Lord.” The point is not, “Be firm! You are strong! Put your strength to use!” No. Our firmness accomplishes nothing. Instead, we are to be firm in our reliance on Him. We are to remain true to the Lord through praying to Him, through examining ourselves, through repentance, confession, and rejoicing in His forgiveness through Christ. Through such obedience, the Antioch church would be used mightily by God among the nations.

Such firm and active dependence on God is a necessary prerequisite for effective service in missions. I said in the February 15 sermon:

People may decide to go into missions without prayer and seeking God’s face. But God does not send people into missions apart from prayer and seeking His face.

And we know such prayer preceded Antioch’s sending Paul and Barnabas out on the journeys that changed the world.

But prayer is not only a necessary prerequisite for any missionary. It is also the key way that the work of missions is accomplished. Let me explain.

Reaching the remaining unreached peoples is a task that has some technical dimensions to it. We must answer questions such as:

• Where are these peoples?
• What languages do they speak?
• How can missionaries live near or among these peoples?
• What are the unusual aspects of these cultures?
• What are logical entry points for the Gospel?

We surely must study and prepare to go through researching such questions.

But the major work of spreading the Gospel is not technical. The major work is spiritual. And prayer and fasting are the PRIMARY ways that work is accomplished.

Do you hear that? Do you believe that?

Your prayer – your fasting – is vitally important for reaching unreached peoples.

God does not reach unreached peoples apart from prayer and seeking His face. Just as Paul combated the spiritual opposition of Elymas in Acts 13 through the power of the Holy Spirit, so we must combat the spiritual opposition among the Lo’am people by that same power – and we do not have access to that power apart from prayer.

So, my friends: We can accomplish our mission; we can spread a passion for God’s supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples – IF we pray, if we are a praying people, if we seek the Lord while He may be found.

So I encourage you and exhort you: Set aside time to examine your own heart before God. Humble yourself. Confess. Preach the Gospel to yourself. Then intercede on behalf of the lost around us and the unreached peoples around the world. Especially lift up the Lo’am people. Pray privately. Pray together. Join me Tuesday mornings at 6:30 and Sunday mornings at 7:40.

And when we pray – what might God be pleased do?

May we devote ourselves to prayer – and may our sovereign God delight to work through those prayers for His glory, and for the joy of all peoples.

[This is the devotion I gave to open our February 15 members meeting.]

Fred’s sermon last Sunday turned my thoughts to fasting; Michael Oh’s talk at the Desiring God Pastors Conference, “Missions as Fasting,” deepened those thoughts; the booklet he recommended, A Memorial Concerning Personal and Family Fasting by Thomas Boston (1676-1732) took those thoughts yet further. Consider, then, why, how, and to what end we should fast.

Why Fast?

We can only fast to seek God’s face. Avoiding food or earthly comforts has no merit. The benefit comes only from drawing close to God. And for a sinner deserving of hell to seek God’s face requires searching one’s heart, confessing sin, believing the Gospel, and seeking God’s help in turning from sin. Consider these Scriptures and quotes from Thomas Boston:

• Psalm 27:8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”
• Such times are to be set apart from conversing with the world that we may the more solemnly commune with our own hearts to the state of matters between God and us.
• In vain will we fast and pretend to be humbled for our sins and make confession of them if our love of sin be not turned into hatred, our liking of it into loathing, and our cleaving to it into a longing to be rid of it, with full purpose to resist the motions of it in our heart. . . If we are indeed true penitents we will turn from sin not only because it is dangerous and destructive to us but because it is offensive to God, dishonours his Son, grieves his Spirit, transgresseth his law, and defaceth his image; we will cast away all our transgressions not only as one would cast away a live coal out of his bosom for that it burns him, but as one would cast away a loathsome and filthy thing for that it defiles him.
• James 4:7-10 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
• Joel 2:11-13 For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it? 12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

How to Fast?

The way we fast must assist us in achieving the end of fasting: humbling ourselves and seeking God’s face. Such seeking takes time and requires focus. Avoiding food can be helpful; if we don’t eat we have extra time available, and the feeling of weakness that often accompanies not eating can lead to greater humility before God. But for many of us, there are other thieves of our time and focus that are much greater than food: Email perhaps, or the telephone, or text messages, or the internet, or the sports page, or television. Not eating will accomplish nothing if we lose focus and time because of answering our cell phone. Indeed, for many of us, fasting from these other distractions will be more vital for seeking God’s face than fasting from food. The best fast may require putting aside them all.

The time of fasting may last an hour or may last many days; what matters is focused seeking of God.

In my case, the various media are personally my biggest distractions. Therefore, my commitment after these reflections is to fast weekly for at least a half day from all electronic media and phones, and on occasion, to accompany that with a longer fasting from food.

What about you? What distracts you from setting aside focused time with God?

Fast to What End?

While all true fasting begins with confession, repentance, and appropriating the Gospel, biblically many different causes lead to fasts. Furthermore, we can infer from those passages that there are a number of additional valid reasons for fasting. Here are a few:

• When a major, difficult task looms ahead of you, such as we find in Esther 4:16.
• When a sin continues to recur. Writes Boston: Set therefore some time apart for personal fasting and humiliation on the account of that very thing that you may wrestle with God in prayer [about] it, and use this method time after time until you prevail against it; else that one thing may ruin you and you will be condemned for it, not because you could not help it, but because you would not use the means appointed of God for relief in that case.
• When a major decision is in front of you, and you need wisdom and direction.
• When threatened by dangers.
• When your heart is hard towards God.
• When tokens of God’s judgment fall on us or threaten us. These may be against us personally, or against our church, or our country. As Jesus says concerning the tower of Siloam (Luke 13:4-5), such instances should lead us to repentance and, like the Ninevites, fasting could well accompany that repentance (Jonah 3:6-10).
• In order to heighten our longings for Jesus’ return (Matthew 9:15, Revelation 22:20).
• When we feel far from God. In Matthew 9:15, Jesus says, “When the bridegroom is taken from them, then shall [my disciples] fast.” Surely this means the disciples will fast after His death and before his resurrection, and that we can fast longing for His return; but it also means that whenever we lose our closeness with Him, fasting and thereby seeking His face is appropriate.
• Prior to participating in the Lord’s Supper. Paul tells us to examine ourselves prior to participating (1 Corinthians 11:27-29), and such examination is a key part of any true fast. The point of examining ourselves is not so that we refrain from participating if our hearts are unrepentant; the point is to lead us to repentance!

So will you join me in fasting – from whatever distracts you, so that together we might humble ourselves, acknowledge that God would be just in condemning us all to an eternity in hell, acknowledge that we cannot fight sin or pay for sin on our own, seek God’s face, delight in our Savior whose death paid the penalty for our sins, and commit ourselves to walking in the power of the Spirit to the glory of our blessed God?

Faithful Creator, Holy Sovereign, Righteous Father:

To you belong all power and all might. You raise up rulers on this earth, and you bring them down. You enable governments to flourish, and you remove them from the face of the earth.

Although we knew this, we have turned away from You, the fountain of living water, and have sought to quench our thirst from our own stagnant, broken cisterns. We have looked away from Your glory and have delighted in our own. Though You have showered us with blessings and have shown us Yourself in all we see, we have suppressed our knowledge of You and pretended that we control our own destiny.

Yet despite our sinfulness, in Your mercy over the last two centuries You have granted this country increasing prosperity and unequaled power. You have blessed us with liberty and, with all our faults, have allowed us to stand as a worldwide symbol of freedom. You are healing, as pictured in part by the election of this president, much of the prejudice that once bound us. Though we deserve Your judgment, You have maintained and sustained this government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Through the prayers of many, You have provided widespread confidence in our electoral system – so that those who voted for and against our new president can share this stage. We thank You once again for this peaceful transition of power.

Our world today faces numerous difficulties that will test this man deeply. So we ask that you give to President Obama a heart that fears You and trembles at Your Word. In this way grant him wisdom to discern the right choices, and strength of character to stand firm when those choices are questioned. Yet together with that strength, grant him humility of spirit to consider others more highly than himself. Protect him from the arrogance that so often comes with power. Give him faithful friends and advisers who will love him enough to reprove him and rebuke him. Prepare him for the unexpected challenges ahead – challenges that You alone know are coming.

Though we pray for our president, we know that ultimately, You alone are the answer to our problems. So we ask You to work in the lives of our brothers and sisters who have lost jobs, who have lost homes, who have lost loved ones, who suffer from oppression and poverty. Use even these tragedies for their good through Your great wisdom. We ask for strength and endurance for our sons and daughters fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for those fighting AIDS and malaria in Africa – but we ask all the more for the light of Your Gospel to shine in these dark places, ending these wars and overcoming these diseases. We pray similarly for perseverance for those serving the homeless in our cities, and those working with migrant laborers in our farms – and ask that there too, and in every place of pain and suffering, the love and mercy found only through Your Son might be declared verbally and lived out practically.

Thank you, O Lord, for Your undeserved mercy on this people. Bring us to repentance, O Lord. Open our eyes to our sinfulness and to Your great power to save. Enable us to call upon the mercy found only in Your Son. Forgive us by His blood, for You are the God of grace.

To you is due all glory, all praise, and all honor.

In the Name of Jesus I pray,

Amen.

Last week, we considered the crazy idea of fasting in 2009, looking at John Piper’s summary of some topics to pray for while fasting. This week, consider more generally what topics we should pray for.

What do you normally pray for? What topics do you focus on more than others?

For many of us, the bulk of our prayers concern three topics:

1. health for ourselves and those we know and love
2. guidance and direction in school, careers, and love life
3. wisdom in dealing with problems in our families, our workplaces, our schools, and our churches.

Now, we should pray for these topics. There are numerous biblical examples of prayers on these themes (see, for example, Genesis 20:7, James 1:5, James 5:13-16, and Jeremiah 42:1-3). Indeed, we should pray for anything that is potentially worrying (Philippians 4:6-7).

But while these three themes are biblical, they constitute only a tiny portion of the prayers offered in the Bible. I encourage you to look at some of the great prayers in the Bible, and then use some of that language as your own as you pray. Then look at some of the themes prayed about at various other points in Scripture, and include those themes in your prayers this week.

To help you in that regard, I list below some of the important Biblical prayers, followed by a list of themes. Neither list is nearly comprehensive; in particular, nearly every psalm is a prayer, and I haven’t referred to that book at all. But if you spend some time contemplating these themes and prayers, you will enrich your prayers – and you will be that much more effective and productive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your joy in Him will grow, to His glory.

So pray on these themes – and let others know the impact on you.

Examples of Biblical Prayers

• Moses: Deuteronomy 9:26-29
• Hannah: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
• Solomon: 1 Kings 8:22-53
• Elijah: 1 Kings 18:36-37
• Hezekiah: 2 Kings 19:15-19
• David: 1 Chronicles 17:16-27 (and, of course, many psalms)
• Jehoshaphat: 2 Chronicles 20:5-12
• Nehemiah 1:4-11
• Jeremiah 32:16-25
• Daniel 9:1-19
• Jonah 2:1-9 (Treat this prayer carefully, as it includes considerable irony. Compare this prayer to the prophet’s improper prayer in Jonah 4:1-3)
• Habakkuk 1:2-4, Habakkuk 1:12-17, Habakkuk 3:1-19
• The Lord’s Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4
• Jesus in Gethsemane: Matthew 26:39-42
• Jesus’ longest recorded prayer: John 17:1-26
• Mary: Luke 1:46-55
• Zechariah: Luke 1:67-79
• The Apostles: Acts 4:24-30
• Paul (These are especially powerful to pray for other believers) Ephesians 1:15-23, Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-12, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Themes of Biblical Prayers

• Healing: Genesis 20:7
• Conception: Genesis 25:21
• For a plague or judgment to end: Exodus 8:30, Numbers 11:2
• That others might know that the LORD is God: 1 Kings 18:36-37
• To see God’s powerful armies: 2 Kings 6:17
• To blind the enemies of God’s people: 2 Kings 6:18
• For the welfare of the city in which the persons praying are exiled: Jeremiah 29:7
• In mourning: Lamentations (entire book)
• For the ability to interpret dreams: Daniel 2:16-18
• Praise and thanksgiving: Daniel 2:20-23
• For those who persecute you: Matthew 5:44
• For laborers for evangelism and missions: Matthew 9:38
• Against temptation: Matthew 26:41
• For forgiveness: Luke 18:10-14
• For alertness and strength against the forces of evil: Luke 21:36
• For enduring faith: Luke 22:32
• To receive the Holy Spirit: Acts 8:15
• For missionaries going to the field: for protection, open doors, boldness and clarity in declaration: Acts 13:2-3, 2 Corinthians 1:11, Colossians 4:3-4
• To be able to visit others so as to build them up in the faith: Romans 1:9-11
• For salvation of kin: Romans 10:1
• That others may prove to be in the faith: 2 Corinthians 13:5-9
• Thanking God for other believers: Philippians 1:3-4
• That other believers would stand mature and fully assured: Colossians 4:12
• That the word of God would run or spread and be glorified: 2 Thessalonians 3:1
• For political leaders and civil peace: 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Other Aspects of Biblical Prayers

• Some are brief and silent: Nehemiah 2:4
• Consistent with activity on our part: Nehemiah 4:9
• Not offered for recognition from men: Matthew 6:5
• Prayed privately: Matthew 6:6
• Prayed privately, but in the midst of others: Luke 9:18
• Early in the morning: Mark 1:35
• Late at night: Mark 6:46-47
• All night: Luke 6:12
• In a special place that one goes to in order to pray: Luke 9:28
• In prison: Acts 16:25
• Unceasingly: 1 Thessalonians 5:17