HANDS UP: WIN! HANDS DOWN: LOSE!
Ex. 17:11
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Two ministers were scheduled to speak at a convention. The first speaker, a young preacher, discovered he’d left his sermon back home. He told the older preacher his trouble and asked him what he ought to do. The older minister said, "Trust the Lord, young man, trust the Lord."
2. The time came for him to speak and he asked if he could borrow the older man’s Bible. In the Bible he found a wonderful sermon and preached it with gusto. When he finished he returned the Bible to the older man, who said, "Young man, you just used my sermon that I was going to use in the next service! What do you expect me to do now?”
3. The young preacher replied, “Trust the Lord, good man, trust the Lord!"
B. FIND HIGHER GROUND
1. Lloyd John Ogilvie was Pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, California. He was also Chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1995-2003.
2. Ogilvie was flying home from Kansas City where he’d been speaking at an event. As he was on his way to LAX airport, during mid-flight, there was an emergency that occurred that the passengers didn’t know about until later on.
3. The LAX tower began to call the cockpit and told them, “You have a viable bomb-threat aboard your plane. The threat is this: the bomb is programmed to detonate as you descend to LAX, and it will detonate when you hit 5,000 feet.
4. The plane was half way from Kansas to LAX. They needed wisdom – divine intervention – to know what to do. The pilot got an idea, “Let’s land in Denver!”
5. Denver is 5,280 feet above sea level. The plane landed safely and no lives were lost. God always has a Denver, Colorado to keep you from blowing up. In the spirit-world, look for Denver. When you’re overwhelmed, FIND HIGHER GROUND! [Tim Dilena]
C. THESIS
1. Many times, the difference between victory & defeat is whether we are walking with God in prayer. Today’s Scripture is Ex. 17:11, which says, “As long as Moses held up his hands [in prayer], the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.”
2. We see that it was PRAYER that won the war, not human effort. We’ve got to keep our hands up! Today we’re looking at what prayer is, what prayer can do, and how prayer should be our highest priority.
3. The title of this message is “Hands Up: Win! Hands Down: Lose!”
I. WHAT IS PRAYER?
A. PRAYER QUOTES
1. Billy Graham said, “Prayer is... a two-way communication between God & man where we not only talk to God but also listen to Him.”
2. Leonard Ravenhill said, “You could estimate the weight of the world, [the explosive power of the sun] ...or the speed of lightning, but you cannot estimate prayer-power. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it.”
3. Guy King said, “No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil...he suffers from it!”
4. Richard Trench, “Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance but laying hold of God's willingness."
5. R.A. Torrey, “Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God’s infinite grace and power.”
B. 9 ROOT MEANINGS OF PRAYER
1. Ge. 20:7 “palal,” to “judge.”
2. 2 Chron. 6:32 “chanah,” “to bend or to stoop.”
3. Ezra 6:10 “tsela,” Chaldean, from “tsame”--“to thirst.”
4. Job 21:15 “paga” means to “impinge” or to ‘drive something in,’ like a wedge. To Intercede is to drive in the wedge of the supernatural.
5. Job 33:26 “athar.” Prayer is to God like one who “burns incense.”
6. Ps. 55:17 “siyach,” “to converse with.” Prayer is a conversation, not a one-sided monologue.
7. Ps. 122:6 “shael,” “to inquire,” to “consult.” To seek wisdom/ direction from God.
8. Isa. 26:16 “lachash,” to “whisper,” as in private prayer.
9. Zech. 7:2 “chalah,” “to be rubbed,” or to “seek the favor” of God, Dan. 9:13
C. THE DANGER OF NOT SEEKING GOD
1. Our hearts don’t automatically gravitate to prayer; we have to structure our lives so that we’ll be people of prayer. “And he [Rehoboam] did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord” 2 Chr. 12:14.
2. You see, TO FAIL TO PLAN (a relationship with God), IS TO PLAN TO FAIL! Someone said, “EITHER YOU’LL HAVE A FIRE IN YOUR HEART, OR YOU’LL HAVE A FIRE IN YOUR HOUSE!”
3. We need to be PROACTIVE to develop our relationship with God.
II. GREAT BENEFITS OF SEEKING THE LORD:
A. PRAYER GIVES YOU NEW VISION OF GOD
1. HOW PEOPLE WERE CHANGED:
a. Elijah was discouraged and ready to give up, until he got a new vision of God in prayer.
b. Moses couldn’t believe in freedom for Israel until he heard the voice from the burning bush and met the Creator of the Universe.
c. Isaiah struggled with his sinfulness until he saw God’s atonement for sin.
2. PRAYER CHANGES OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. After prayer, Paul said that “our present sufferings aren’t worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us” Rom. 8:18. Trials became the road to victory!
3. IT CHANGES OUR VIEW OF OURSELVES & OTHERS. We’ll see ourselves as God sees us and be changed. And we see the Lost as God sees them.
B. PRAYER RECHARGES YOUR SPIRIT
1. The Bible says, as Jesus was praying, He was transfigured (Mt. 17:2; Lk. 9:29). Us too!
2. Just like rechargeable batteries, we must be recharged spiritually.
3. The Early Church wasn’t only filled with the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, but was refilled over and over again. That’s why they had power to change the world!
4. It’s only as we pray and are refilled with the Holy Spirit that we’re going to be powerhouses for God!
C. PRAYER HELPS YOU BECOME A FRIEND OF GOD
Abraham was called “the friend of God.” God wants friends, not lip service. Are we a friend or just religious? Is God our “rabbit’s foot” or a Person we love? (1 Jn 1:3)
D. WE’LL HAVE AUTHORITY & BLESSING
1. The Centurion with a sick servant who sent for Jesus knew that he was in the line of authority all the way back to Rome. All the power of Rome would back him up, because he was part of that structure.
2. When you’re in fellowship with God, and obedient, you’re in the line of authority and blessing.
3. IMPORTANT THINGS HAPPENED AT THE FEET OF JESUS…
a. THE SICK WERE HEALED (The 10th leper fell at His feet to give thanks for his healing, Luke 17:16),
b. THE DEAD WERE RAISED (Jairus fell at His feet & got his daughter raised from the dead, Mk. 5:22),
c. THE DEMONS CRINGED AND SCREAMED! [The
Syrophoenician woman’s daughter was delivered, (Mk. 7:25); The Gadarene Demoniac was found clothed and in his right mind (Luke 8:35)],
d. THE APOSTLE JOHN GOT HIS REVELATION of the End Times (Revelation 1:17),
e. EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW & EVERY TONGUE CONFESS!
f. & THE DEVIL IS UNDER HIS FEET! PRAISE GOD!
g. At the feet of Jesus is where the miracles happen, so get to the feet of Jesus!
4. “The steps of a good man/ woman are ordered by the Lord” Ps. 37:23. God works out the details as we go along. We’re in the stream of blessings!
E. YOU’LL KNOW WHAT GOD IS DOING
1. “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” Amos 3:7. “But if they had stood in My counsel…” Jer. 23:22.
2. One of the great benefits of walking with God is to be spiritually aware of what’s happening. Such persons aren’t blindsided by the unexpected and are prepared to take the correct action.
3. E. STANLEY JONES was about to board a plane. He prayed. God spoke to him – “Do not get on that plane.” He didn’t and the plane crashed and everyone on board were killed. A reporter asked Jones, “So God only talks to you?” “No, but I’m possibly the only one who obeyed Him.”
III. ONLY BY PRAYER DO WE PREVAIL
A. ONLY WHEN WE'RE PRAYING ARE WE ADVANCING
1. In Exodus 17:11 God showed us the importance of intercessory prayer. When Moses held up his hands in prayer, Israel prevailed; but when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed.
2. This is true of us; when we're praying, we're winning. When we're not praying, we're losing.
3. The battle is the Lord’s, but we have a part to play in it. Our success won’t be in our striving, but in our dependency on God.
4. SHOWS THE MANIPULATION OF PHYSICAL THINGS BY SPIRITUAL MEANS. The battle was not determined by who had the superior force or the best trained men. The battle was decided in the spiritual realm. This means, we need....
B. TIME ALONE WITH GOD - REGULARLY
1. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Ps. 46:10.
2. There’s no substitute for one-on-one time between you and God. You REALLY only get to know God intimately when you’re alone with Him. Intimacy rarely happens in a group setting.
C. LET GOD BE YOUR GUIDE EACH DAY
1. ILLUSTRATION
a. A lady came up to the great preacher, G. Campbell Morgan, and said, "I only take the big things to God. I don't take the little things to God."
b. G. Campbell Morgan looked at her and said, "Lady, anything you take to God is little!" How true! The biggest thing you can think of is still small in the eyes of the Lord.
2. My God is so big that He knows the number of hairs on your head and so big that He guides trillions of stars in their courses at the same time. He keeps track if even one sparrow falls to the ground.
3. Dare to let God be your compass; give Him the driver’s seat of your life and you’ll go places no human could go alone.
D. SPEND MUCH TIME IN THE WORD
The Word is your food, the source of your power, and the basis for your claiming God’s blessings. We’ll either be conformed to the world or to the Word. Which will it be?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Going Too Fast to Hear God
1. A number of years ago, a Navy jet fighter plane shot itself down over the deserts of Nevada while testing a new cannon mounted on its wing.
2. The plane was flying at supersonic speeds, but the cannon shells were subsonic. What happened? The fighter shot the shells but caught up with them and hit them! The jet was traveling too fast.
3. POINT: Sometimes we travel too fast for our own spiritual good. God speaks, but we’re going too fast to hear Him.
4. Don't be guilty of traveling so fast with your life that you run past the sound of the Word of God. Be in the center of His will. [unknown]
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you realize that unless we’re praying about things, we’re losing ground – going backwards? Are you getting ahead of God’s will?
2. Our musicians are going to play a few songs. Let’s bring our needs to God in prayer. Are you needing God to do something for you or your family?
3. Let’s come to the altars. What do you need from God today? Let’s pray.
