‘INITIATING The TURN’-III—Luke 1:10(:5-25)
Attention:
Marine Corps exercise regimen for people over 60.
As Always Contact Your Physician Before Beginning A New Exercise Regimen.
Older Marines Still in Good Condition Can Double The Time If They are Able.
•BEGIN by standing on a comfortable but stationary surface, where you have plenty of room on each side.
With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides. Hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, & then relax.
•Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.
After doing this daily for two weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.
Then for two weeks, you’ll be able to lift 25-lb potato bags.
After two more weeks you’ll find that you’ll be able to lift 50-lb potato bags.
So after just a total of 8 weeks you’ll find yourself in tip-top shape for the REAL challenge...
After you feel confident at ‘the 50-lb potato bags’ level, try it all over again with ‘the 5-lb. potato bags.’....
EXCEPT this time put a potato in each bag & try that for two weeks. Then after that, move up to two potatoes, per bag, etc....
Major changes only occur when we actually ‘initiate’ the necessary ‘process.’ You have to START at the beginning & work your way up!
Likewise, for God to accomplish the promised ‘turning of people’ to Himself, He had to INITIATE the actions that were necessary to bring about mankind’s eventual salvation & glorification in Christ Jesus(Rom. 8:17-21, 30).
*The title of this series ‘turns’ on Lk. 1:16-17.
Isa. 43:18-21—“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it?”.....“This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.”
Need:
Everybody has a need to have an unchanging & eternally lasting peace, certainty, & confidence in their lives...which anyone CAN have...IF...
...IF a person willing TURNs to God, thru implicitly/unconditionally trusting God’s one-&-only Son Jesus, who is the promised Christ/Messiah.
•Jesus is also God the Son, who emptied Himself of His heavenly glory, & took on human flesh, so that He could pay the redemption price for your sin, my sin, & the sin of all mankind of every generation.
•Whoever chooses to trust Jesus by faith, is freely appreciative of Him, freely loves Him, & is freely grateful for Jesus’ rescuing him/her from their otherwise impossible situation.
Over 2000 years ago, God ‘INITIATED’ that TURN toward Himself, thru a Jewish couple in Israel whose names were Zacharias & Elizabeth.
Luke informed his audience of the initial steps that God took to turn His people toward Himself.
God began the process of turning of His people toward Himself.
And we are answering the question...
...What principles does God use to begin turning people toward Himself?
11 principles God used to begin turning people toward Himself.
The last time we looked in Luke, we found that:
In initiating the Turn to Himself, God uses...
1. RIGHTEOUS FAITHFULNESS(:5-7)
2. PRIVILEGED DUTY(:8-9)
Today we’ll find that:
3—In Initiating the Turn to Himself, God also uses...
CONCERTED & DUTIFUL PRAYER(:10)
*By ‘CONCERTED’ I mean—involving others together ‘simultaneously’, or ‘occurring altogether at the same time.’
•In order to properly offer ‘concerted’ prayer, God’s people must be all together, unified, & of a singular mind in Christ.
3—In Initiating the Turn to Himself, God uses...
CONCERTED & DUTIFUL PRAYER(:10)
Explanation:(:10)
:10—“And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.”
*The “incense” offering not only coincided with the time of the ‘burnt offering’, but also coincided with a set time for “prayer” throughout the entire temple complex.
There would not be individually designated people to pray, but would have included all the priests & Levites in the ‘Priests Court’, where the animal sacrifices were offered.
•Each ‘court’ associated with the temple complex, represented a degree of separation based upon 1)Prescribed task(priests, Levites, the populace), 2)Role-responsibility(men, women), & Tribal or Revelational responsibility(Jew or Gentile).
•“Prayer” involved all the Jews in the ‘Court of Priests’, the ‘Court of Israel’(Men), the ‘Court of Women’, & also involved the Gentiles(all who were not Jews) in the ‘Court of Gentiles.’
*So upon Zacharias’ entering to burn “incense”(:9), “the whole multitude of the people” outside the Holy Place of the Temple, entered into a ‘concerted’ time of “prayer.”
•The “incense” offering for the nation, coupled with temple-wide “prayer”, took place every day, twice a day!
“The hour of incense” was a Divinely prescribed picture of the people’s “prayers” rising into God’s presence. So, that the symbol & purpose of the “incense” demanded the need for ACTUAL “prayer”!
•The smoke of the “incense” rose, as a tangible, visual, & symbolic picture of Israel’s overall admission of NATIONAL SIN(& personal sin) before YHWH God!
•The smoke of the “incense” was a picture of the people’s need for God’s INTERVENTION in their lives as sinners!
•The smoke of the “incense” was a picture of the people’s COMMITMENT to seek God in all their endeavors!
“Praying”—proseucomai—Present Deponent(middle/passive) Participle Nominative Sing. Neuter—1) To offer prayers, to pray. Strong—To pray to God, i.e. Supplicate, worship.?From—prov—1) To the advantage of; 2) At, near, by; 3) To, towards, with, with regard to. Strong—Forward to, i.e. Toward; By the side of, i.e. Near to.—&—eucomai—To wish; by implication--To pray to God; middle voice of a primary verb.
Argumentation:
Isa. 56:7— “Even them[even the sons of the foreigner] I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings & their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.””
Mk. 11:15-18—“So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple[complex] & began to drive out those who bought & sold in the temple, & overturned the tables of the money changers & the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” And the scribes & chief priests heard it & sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.”
•‘Where God lives, Prayer lives!’
2Chron. 7:14—YHWH said,—““if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, & pray & seek My face, & turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, & will forgive their sin & heal their land.”
1Thes. 5:17—“pray without ceasing,”
Php. 2:1-2—“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection & mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
1Cor. 1:10-11—“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, & that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind & in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.”
1Peter 3:8-9—“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.”
The context here is a mutual loving compassion among brothers & sisters in Christ. BUT the proper application is built on the same premise, “all of you be of one mind.” And that implication surely applies to ‘prayer’, as well as compassion!
Mat. 6:5-15—“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues & on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, & when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; & your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom & the power & the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
1Pet. 3:10-12—“For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil & do good; Let him seek peace & pursue it. For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”
•And the unified prayers of those individuals, gathered together, accomplish God’s desire in a way that ‘individual’ prayer does not.
•Imagine, what could be wrought if God’s people even in one local church, prayed in their heart-of-hearts for a singular specific work of God! Not that you launched a campaign to do something, but instead, the Holy Spirit drove each of us together toward a specific goal that God determined!
Eph. 4:11-13—“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, & some pastors & teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith & of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”
DUTIFUL:
Dan. 6:5-9, 10—“Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” So these governors & satraps thronged before the king, & said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! “All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators & satraps, the counselors & advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute & to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. “Now, O king, establish the decree & sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes & Persians, which does not alter.” Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, & prayed & gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”
•What would happen if all those things came to be, in us, on a church-wide level!...We would seek His face in prayer!
Illustration:
The adage: ‘PRAYER CHANGES THINGS’.....
•Always keep in mind that Prayer changes the frustrations & hopes of ‘any given situation.’
1)Prayer ‘changes things’ because, Almighty God moves in response to a person’s prayers, but only within the confines of the perfections of His integrity, character, & power!(1Jn. 5:14-15).
•1Jn. 5:14-15—“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
That reality is applied directly in Lk. 1:13!
:13—“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard...”
2)Prayer also ‘changes things’ because thru Prayer, the praying person begins to see ‘their situation’ differently. ‘Prayer changes things’ when YOU accept the reality of YOUR situation as what you’ve been granted in life, by God!.
•A growing Christian accepts their ‘circumstances’ & ’situation’ as something God has allowed. A growing Christian then acts on those ‘ordained’/‘ordered’ circumstances in accordance with God’s grace, power, & perfect integrity thru Christ Jesus!
It is vital & Christ-honoring, to Pray DUTIFULLY!
And...
It is vital & Christ-honoring, to Pray CONCERTEDLY!
Application:
?Can God depend on YOUR CONCERTED & DUTIFUL PRAYING to Turn people to Himself?
?Will YOU serve God in ‘initiating the turn?’
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Remember the ‘Marine Corps Exercise Regimen For People Over 60.’ You have to start at the beginning & work your way up!
For God to accomplish the promised ‘turning of people’ to Himself, He had to INITIATE the actions that were necessary for ‘the turning’ to happen.
Action:
In Initiating the Turning of people to Himself, God uses...
3. CONCERTED & DUTIFUL PRAYER(:10)
1. RIGHTEOUS FAITHFULNESS(:5-7)
2. PRIVILEGED DUTY(:8-9)
Pt# 3 only! presented 10/01/2023am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
