Osceola Sermon I & II Chron. Mar 10, 2013 Pastor Bob Vale / Prayer is Powerful

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1 Osceola Sermon I & II Chron. Mar 10, 2013 Pastor Bob Vale / Prayer is Powerful In 1st and 2nd Chronicles: March 10 th, 2013 (Fourth Sunday in Lent) Book Theme: He is your intercessor and High Priest. Sermon Title: A Call For God s People To Corporate Prayer Sermon Topic: Prayer can be powerful in our lives and culture. Sermon Text: II Chronicles 7:12-16 Speaker: Pastor Bob Vale Biblical Focus: II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Scripture Lesson: II Chronicles 7:11-16 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 2CH 7:13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 8:30 a.m. Traditional Service 1. Hymn of Praise: 352 It Me, It s Me, Oh Lord. 2. Prayer Hymn: # 496 Sweet Hour of Prayer (Verse 1) 3. Congregational Prayer: # 481 The Prayer of Saint Francis 4. Hymn of Response: # 474 Precious Lord Take My Hand *Solid Praise Worship Service: See Matt Boggs Song List.

2 Overview of I & II Chronicles As we begin our sermon today on I & II Chronicles, I want you to know we are going to be talking about prayer. Prayer is a vitally important part of a growing Christian s life. Prayer Illustration: Some time ago a newspaper headline read, Missing Hyphen Blamed in NASA Rocket Failure. It was hard to believe that a small hyphen in a computer readout caused the destruction of a huge, powerful missile. Perhaps you ve heard the old proverb: For want of a nail a horseshoe was lost; for want of a horseshoe, a rider was lost; for want of a rider, a battle was lost; for want of a battle, a war was lost. The loss of the war, in other words, was connected to the loss of one small a nail. Apparently, that was the case here. On the day in question, a Venus space probe launch vehicle, boosted by an eighteen-million-dollar U.S. Atlas rocket, was lost because a hyphen was missing from a computer equation. Richard Morrison, a NASA official, told the House Space Committee investigating the incident that the missing hyphen caused a mathematical miscue. Said Morrison, The hyphen gives a cue for the spacecraft to ignore the data the computer feeds it until radar contact is once again restored. When that hyphen is left out, false information is fed into the spacecraft control systems. In this case, the computer fed in hard left, nose down and the vehicle obeyed. Who left out the hyphen? Morrison either didn t know or wasn t saying, but he speculated that it was the mistake of some senior official with advanced degrees and a Ph.D. in celestial navigation. There is an important hyphen that belongs in your life, too. It doesn t seem like much, but without it, you can crash. That hyphen is time alone with God. A time to pray, a time to read God s Word, a time to listen to God s voice. Just a few minutes a day is all it takes to keep our lives on course.

3 Let s talk about I & II Chronicles 1 & 2 Chronicles were originally one book just like 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 kings were. The name Chronicles was given to these books by Jerome in the 4 th century and it means diaries or things left out. I & II Chronicles basically retells the events recorded in the books of I & II Samuel and I & II Kings. I & II Chronicles are not just a vain repetition of the events that happened in 1 & 2 Sam I & 2 Kings, instead it looks at these events from a religious and theological perspective, instead of a historical one as found in I & 2 Samuel I & 2 Kings does. If you include the genealogies, which start with Adam in 1 Chronicles and finish with the Jews returning from Babylonian captivity at the end of 2 Chronicles, they cover a 3,500 year time period. One Characteristic you will see in the Chronicles is that they don t have much to say about the Northern Kingdom. Instead, they focus on Judah or Southern kingdom. In the last chapter, Judah is destroyed and the people are taken into exile in Babylon, and in the final verses the Persian king Cyrus conquers Babylon, and authorizes the restoration of the Temple of Solomon, and, apparently, the return of the Jewish exiles. I & II Chronicles were written around 450 B.C., Jewish tradition and most scholars believe that Ezra was the author. It s also interesting to note that many of the kings and events that we read about in the Chronicles can be backed up by Archeology, which gives external proof that we have an accurate account of these events in our Bible s and that they are not invented stories as some like to say. A simply outline of the Chronicles. 1 Chr. 1-9 From Adam to the Kings of Israel: The Genealogies 1 Chr The Reign of King David 2 Chr. 1-9 The Reign of King Solomon 2 Chr History of the Kings of Judah

4 The 2 specific themes are: 1. Despite all the disasters that had fallen upon the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, God was still keeping his promises to the nation and was working out his plan for his people through those who were living in Judah. 2. To describe the origin of the worship of God in the Temple at Jerusalem and especially the organization of the priests and Levites. David is recognized as the real founder of the Temple and its ritual even though Solomon was the one who builds the Temple. An interesting note about I Chronicles is the short, but important information about Jabez & his prayer. Turn in your Bible to I Chronicles 4:9 I Chronicles 4:9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. Jabez was more honorable than his brothers & his mother had difficult in his birth and gave him the name Jabez.

5 1. Asked God to Bless Him indeed. 2. Asked God to enlarge his territory. 3. God s Hand would be with him. 4. God would keep him from evil that I may not cause pain. This scripture passage says that God granted his request. That sounds like a prayer we all could take up in our lives. Illustration about prayer: There is a prayer I want you to hear: It is from a man named, C. T. Studd. C.T. Studd was handed the world on a silver platter. He inherited a fortune from his father, who was one of the wealthiest Englishmen of the latter 19th century. He was also a world-class athlete, and captained what some say even to this day was the greatest cricket team in the history of Britain. However C.T. Studd gave it all up to become a missionary to China, India and Africa. (He wanted to expand his territory.) Listen to this powerful prayer: "Christ's call upon my life is to is to feed the hungry, not the full; to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches and cathedrals at home in which to rock professing Christians to sleep by means of clever essays & sermon, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances, but to raise living churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the devil's clutches and snatch them from the very jaws of hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus and make them into an Almighty Army of God. "But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither church nor state, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, clothes, silver croziers or gold watch-chain crosses, church steeples or richly embroidered altar cloths, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches of our community and the mission field."

6 Although the Prayer of Jabez illustrates a message about prayer from one of the Bible s most overlook spiritual hero s. Open your Bible to II Chronicles 7:14 Let s take time to read it together. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. God is also telling us a few things in this verse about prayer. 1. If my people who are called by my name: = Christians 2. Will be humble 3. Will Pray 4. Will Seek God s Face 5. Will Turn from their wicked ways. The Promise from God: I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. A great understanding of how God wants to do two things for us when we pray. 1. Forgive us. 2. Heal us. a. Spiritual healing. b. Emotional healing. c. Physically healing.

7 You may ask the question: What does prayer do? 1. Prayer builds our relationship with God. (James 4:8) Come near to God and he will come near to you. 2. Prayer helps us overcome temptation. (I Cor. 10:13) No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 3. Prayer is crucial in determining God s will for our lives. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; PR 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 4. Prayer accomplishes God s work. Luke 22:42 Jesus said, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 5. Prayer is a weapon of spiritual warfare. (Ephesians 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We have two different significant prayers found in the book of I & II Chronicles: 1. The Prayer of Jabez is centered upon one person. 2. The prayer in II Chronicles 7:14, is directed to a large group of people; (Perhaps a nation of people or a church congregation.) We must lift up ours & others burdens to God: John Calvin said, Our prayers must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden, we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. Praying for someone is a great act of love.

8 Illustration: There was a middle aged farmer walking on a dusty dirt road in a farming community, who was carrying a large sack of grain on his shoulder. Another farm came down the dirt road with his tractor and small wagon. It was obvious the heavy weight was quite a burden to the man walking down the road. The farmer driving the tractor knew the man purchase the bag of grain in town and was going back home about three miles down the road. He offered the man a ride on his wagon to get him home. The man who was walking and carrying the 50 pound bag of grain said a hearty thank you, and got on the wagon. However there was an odd part of this story. As the man on the tractor pulled away and began to go down the road, he looked back and noticed that his friend was sitting on the wagon enjoy the ride, but he still had the 50 pound bag of grain on still sitting on his shoulder. The farmer stopped the tractor and told his friend, you can lay the bag of grain down on the wagon next to where you are sitting; you don t have to carry that heavy burden as I take you home. Oh, no, said the man. I feel it s almost too much to ask you to carry me with your tractor and wagon. I wouldn t think of asking you to carry my burden also. Rather odd isn t it: Maybe you are like that man. You ve allowed Christ to carry your life to even be your Savior but you are unwilling to entrust certain areas of your life to His care. Jesus wants control of your whole life: (Matthew 11:28) says, Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest If there are problems in your life too heavy for you to bear alone, give them to Jesus. He will carry your load.

9 Let s Pray, Heavenly Father, To those who are weak today, give your strength. To those who are emotionally drained give your peace. To those who have sinned.grant your forgiveness. To those who are sick and in pain bring your healing power. To those who think they need your love the most give them love. To those who don t think they need your love at all give them love. Keep us as a people full of love, joy, peace and mercy. Amen Wisdom Quotes about prayer: I have two quotes this Sunday. I could not decide which one was better, so I am using both. 1. John Bunyon said, "Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer." 2. William Law said, "He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life." Benediction: Philippians 4:19-20 May God supply all you need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

10 Pastor Bob s Sermon Notes God is also telling us a few things in this verse about prayer. 6. If my people who are called by my name: = Christians 7. Will be humble 8. Will Pray 9. Will Seek God s Face 10. Will Turn from their wicked ways. The Promise from God: I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. A great understanding of how God wants to do two things for us when we pray. 3. Forgive us. 4. Heal us. d. Spiritual healing. e. Emotional healing. f. Physically healing. You may ask the question: What does prayer do? 6. Prayer builds our relationship with God. (James 4:8) Come near to God and he will come near to you. 7. Prayer helps us overcome temptation. (I Cor. 10:13) No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 8. Prayer is crucial in determining God s will for our lives. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; PR 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 9. Prayer accomplishes God s work. Luke 22:42 Jesus said, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 10. Prayer is a weapon of spiritual warfare. (Ephesians 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.