Sermon Central
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Call Unto Me
Contributed by Larry Brincefield on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Sermon on prayer. 1. Call Upon Me 2. I WILL answer. 3. and I will show you great and unsearchable things.
we should be pouring out our hearts to God with great passion.
Now, I’ll be the first one to admit that we don’t have to break down into tears and convulsions everytime we pray...
sometimes our prayers are calm...quiet...and peaceful...
sometimes we meditate without great emotion...
but there should be other times....
times when our prayer becomes so urgent that we literally break down in tears...
there should be times when our hearts are so broken with whatever the burden is...that perhaps we cannot even mention the words...and we just communicate in groans and cries that only God could understand.
John Bunyan wrote, "When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart."
There are many verses in the Bible that exhort us to "call upon God"
Psalm 50:15 says, "call upon me in the day of trouble;
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, "you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart"
Psalm 10:17 says, "You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,"
Isaiah 30:19 "The Lord will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you" Isaiah 30:19 (NCV)
Isaiah 55:6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)
Psalm 91:15 God Himself says, "He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." Psalms 91:15 (NIV)
Do you begin to get the idea that God wants us to cry out to Him?
2. Not only does God tells us to "call upon Him"...
but God tells us, "I WILL answer you"!!
Some people pray to Buddah...but Buddah doesn’t answer...
Some people pray to Mohammed...but Mohammed is long gone...
Some people pray to the earth or the sky...but nature only points to another...
That being the God of the universe...
and God says, "if you call upon Me...I WILL answer"
If you aren’t getting answers to your prayers...
perhaps you need to take another look at your prayer life...
James tells us, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" James 5:16 (NIV)
Let me give you some examples from Scripture:
Hannah prayed...and God gave her Samuel.
Elijah prayed...and it didn’t rain for 3 1/2 years...
he prayed again...and it rained.
On another occasion, Elijah prayed...and God consumed the sacrifice that had been drenched with water.
Elisha prayed...and God gave life back to a dead child...
Samson prayed...and God gave him back his strength.
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God...and the prison they were in was shaken and the jailer got saved!
Jesus prayed...a short prayer to His Father...and Lazarus was brought back to life!!
Again, Jesus cried out with a deep prayer of anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane...
and God answered...giving Jesus the strength He needed for the horrific days ahead.
(summarized briefly from "Prevailing Prayer" by D. L. Moody, pp. 7-14)
But, lest you think that God only answers the prayers of great men and women of the Bible...
