← ArchiveSunday, March 9, 2014DateMarch 9, 2014Speaker—TextDeuteronomy 5Passages in this sermonDeuteronomy 54:43Deuteronomy 5:229:09Isaiah 621:05TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00I tell you, I want to thank our young people for the earlier drama that they shared with us how powerful it was because of the potential of it actually speaking to us as we sit out0:23there every Sunday with various activities and things going on in our life. Hey guys, I want to do something a little different this morning. We had a young man come last week and join our church. I don't want to wait till the end to do that. So you take a minute and look him up. I'm not sure Brady's with us this morning, but if he is, is Brady with us this morning? I know he's sits in the back sometimes with his parents. He's not, but this is his picture. And we're so glad.0:53Brady came forward a couple of weeks ago when we were out back and said, I want to talk to you. And we literally went in the closet and he confessed Christ as his savior, came forward last week to follow the Lord and believers baptism, become a part of our fellowship. Would you just like to amen that? And I'll tell you, that's exciting. It's exciting to begin the church with understanding our worship1:18service. We've already begun our worship service, but continue it with, with this kind of visual, because, you know, I, I think of Brady and I look back in my life and when I confess Christ as my savior and, and, and, you know, it began with hearing the gospel and, and that gospel began to work its way into my mind. And I began to understand that, that I needed Jesus as a savior because I was a sinner1:44and I was miserable, even though I was a young child at the time, I knew just how desperately, uh, in need of, of forgiveness I was. And, and, you know, I, I can't tell you how I knew that other than God convicted me of that. And I knew that. And, and when the preacher gave the invitation to come forward, uh, he didn't have to, to say anything, I, I was busting to get out of the pew, uh, to go down2:08there because I wanted, uh, to know that my sins were forgiven because I was, while I was sitting in the pew. Now, some of you may want to argue this, but I want to tell you, long before I stepped out of that pew, I was experiencing God. I was experiencing a work of God's grace. I was experiencing2:28his conviction. I was experiencing his forgiveness. I was experiencing his presence. And I wasn't getting it from somebody sitting next to me. You know, we had a deacon's retreat this weekend and I tell you, I had an awesome time. And I thank God for the, the men that he has for us leading, working with us2:54this, this year. Uh, and we had a great time together. All of them were there and, and they gave devotions and, and one of them made a statement. And I, I, I, I know I'm not going to get all of it right. David, I don't know which side of the church you're sitting on today or because he's moves around and, and he may be out praying. But, um, uh, anyway, he shared a devotion and, and he said one of the saddest realities that takes place in a, in a man or a woman's life or anybody's life3:22is when they try, and I want to make sure I get this, to experience God with someone else's experience. Did I make, does that make sense? In other words, I'm not experiencing God, but I've seen you experience3:45God. So I want to experience God. So I'm going to just go ahead and imitate what you're doing so I can experience God. But I'm really not doing anything but imitating someone else. When in reality, I need to have a personal experience with God. I need to have a, a, a, a personal confrontation with the living God4:11concerning my sin, which I did, and concerning His grace, which He gave, and concerning His forgiveness, which I live under. And, uh, so I, I can understand what other people are experiencing God, and they come, and they share this excitement and exuberance that they're feeling. I want you to turn your Bibles4:38with me to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5. Remember we talked chapter 4 last week. Chapter 5, in Deuteronomy, it's, it's really just a, a, a, a same-o-same-o almost of what's already, Israel's already experienced, except this is a new generation of Israel experiencing this, because the old generation has passed away. You see, they, they couldn't grasp what God was doing5:04when He brought them out of Egypt. They couldn't grasp as they wandered just a few weeks into the wilderness to get to Gadesh Barnea, not 40 years. You see, it didn't take them 40 years to get to where God wanted them to get to the first place. It took 40 years of discipline to get them back. Now, I want you to think about that. I want you to think about the ability that we have as5:35individuals in the church today, because I think it's a beautiful picture and various illustrations of the Old Testament bring about realities of our lives in the New Testament. And that is, is that we could, why didn't Israel just listen to God? I mean, they had Caleb and they had Joshua to come back and explain what they were seeing. And Joshua, when Caleb came back and they said, man, yep,6:01there are giants, man, yep, there are these fortified cities, yep, there are all these things, yep, it's bigger than anything we've ever seen. Yep, everything these other 10 are telling you are absolutely true. But Joshua and Caleb said, but let me tell you something, God has promised it to us and all we got to do is go get it. And they said, wait a minute, there are 10 others that we're going to listen to first. I want to tell you, do you realize that there are people in the church today that6:27are listening to 10 people that have faked their experience with God over listening to one person who's had a real experience with God and it's destroying their opportunity to experience God themselves. I want you to think about what I just said. I believe there are people out there in the church that walk around as though they've experienced6:57this enormous presence of God in their life. And in reality, all they are doing is mimicking the experience of others. They've been absorbed into the church. They can be church leadership. They can be preachers. They can be deacons. They can be elders. They can be Sunday school teachers. They can be a lot of things. And the tragedy is, is that like Israel, we get to the place where God says, all you got to do7:22is go on over here, take this land. It's yours. Quit wandering through the wilderness. Quit worrying about the Amalekites. Quit worrying about your enemies. I'm going to give them into your hands. I'm going to go before you and give you everything that you've dreamed of, could ever imagine, never had before in7:45your generation since your family came over. All you got to do is obey me and do it. Joshua kind of said, that's it. Let's go. Let's do it. And we're ready. But 10 people said no. So that's why we're where we're at now. They've come back. They've wandered 40 years. A generation has died off. If you read Deuteronomy8:10chapter 5, all of it, you find it's the giving again of the Ten Commandments. We saw that over in Exodus as well, where God gave them the commandments. We got it again in Deuteronomy, because God again, His commandments hadn't changed. God hadn't changed. The I Am hadn't changed. He's the I Am's the I Am. He's still the same I Am that He was with their fathers ahead of, before them. And now He's going to be the same God now. And He's expecting the same thing from them. They're going to have an opportunity to do the8:39same thing. They're going to be able to make a choice. They're going to say, okay, we're back. What are we going to do? I want you to listen. This is an awesome time of communication between God and Israel, Israel and God and Moses, the mediator in this passage. And you know, we always read the Ten Commandments, and we always just read through it, and we don't really look at how awesome the rest of the passages. So let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 22. And folks, I want you to look at it,9:09because I hope you got your highlighter. I hope you got your pencils out. I hope you got your markers. I hope you got your notebooks. I hope you can write this down and say, I want to go home and read this again. These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick gloom with a great voice. Wow. I mean, listen to that. These words the9:35Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick gloom with a great voice. And he added, no more. That time. And almost saying this is what God gave the Ten Commandments. This is what we do. If you go back and read that, you'll see that. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And when you heard, listen, Moses is saying to the people,10:04and when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, isn't that amazing? A burning fire, and yet they're in darkness. We wonder how hell can be full of flames, and yet it'd be dark. Well, right here, explain. Notice he said, you came near to me. This is God speaking to the children of Israel. You came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. You said, behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his10:33voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen today that God speaks with man. Wow. We're going, what's so new about that. What's new to these guys? They are experiencing something fantastic because it said, yet he lives. Not only does God speak to man, but he lives. Now, then why should we11:02die? That's the question. For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we'll die. They're overwhelmed by this experience. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire as we have and lived? Are there any others out there like this? So then they speak to Moses, go near and hear all that the11:31Lord our God says. Then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we'll hear and do it. Wow, what a response. Now, just a real quick picture of that is that they came near to the foot of the mountain, the elders and the leaders of the tribes, and they heard God. They heard God speaking out of this burning mountain that wasn't consumed. They heard God speaking out of this burning mountain that12:00was dark and filled with the presence of the glory of God because that cloud is a symbol of that presence and that glory that God. And they heard God. How many of us would rush to the mountain today if we thought God was speaking over on Ball Rock Mountain? Or if we thought God was speaking over a Chee Hall State Park on Chee Hall Mountain? How many of us, the interstates would be packed with people12:30trying to get to the mountain, to the base of the mountain, wherever on the mountain, as close to the mountain as we can get? Because we want to hear from God. We're so desperate. We want to hear God and we'll go and we'll listen. And when they go and they hear, they're awed by the fact God's talking to them. And they make this question. They said, how's this that we're not dead and we've heard from God? Let me tell you something. Grace, mercy, that God is showing to them. So they're overwhelmed and then they12:59begin to back off. And they become fearful of the experience that they're going through. Let me tell you, we're going to read in a minute. I want to share with you. There are great men of God who've had the same experience who have had the same response. Very interesting. So let's go down to verse 28.13:23And the Lord heard the voice of your words. This is Moses talking back to the people. And folks, I want to tell you, this gets emotional for me. Because as I read this, there is an emotion that is an overwhelming emotion because I feel, I want to take myself and place myself. And I want you,13:45before we read this, I want you to put yourself for just a moment, don't be God, but put yourself in the position of God. As I read this, the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people in which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they've spoken. Wow. Isn't that awesome? God says they've14:12done well. They spoke well in all that they've spoken. Now listen to God's heart. Oh, oh, that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever. You hear what God's saying there? Oh, I only wish they14:36could do what they're saying they want to do. You know, maybe we would understand it better if we were the parent of a rebellious child. And we've been chasing this child in his rebellion for years. And we've heard this child make every promise in the world to us that they're going to quit drugs15:02or they're going to quit alcohol or they're going to quit this or they're going to quit that only to see them continuously fall farther and farther and farther and become more entangled into their abusive habits and abusive ways. And God literally is opening his heart to us. And we're seeing a glimpse of God here that you don't always get an opportunity to see. You see the whole thing, of course, in the New15:28Testament. But oh, listen to that. Oh, oh, that they had such a heart in them and that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever. Go say to them, Moses, return to your tents. But as for you, Moses, you stand here by me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and the judgments which you shall teach15:55them that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess. So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside. You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you that you may live and that you may be well, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days in the land which you16:24will possess. Wow. God said, Moses, stay here. I'm going to give you everything. So I'm not through giving you everything that I've got for them. I'm going to give it to you so you can go teach them so they can hear me and obey me and it be well with them and I'm able to leave them in the land that they're going to possess and take care of them. Can you imagine what it must have been like to hear God on a mountain16:51say, I want to be your mother hen. I want to be your lover. I want to be your caretaker. I want to be your resource. I want to be your ever-present help. I want to be your strength in the day of trouble. I want to be your fortress. I want to be your guard and your shield and your sword. I want to be your supplantor. I want to be all that you'll ever need. And they say, we want you to be that. And God says,17:19that's the heart I'm looking for. I only wish you meant it. How can God say that? Because God knows the intent of all our hearts. So in other words, God knows those who are faking the experience. God knows those who are relying17:46on a head knowledge. You know, you could have been brought up in church all your life. You hear me? You could have, you could have come up through the bed baby nursery and been brought up in the church, baptized by every new pastor that came along and be lost as a goose. And God be looking and going, man, I just wish you were meaning it. I just wish you knew what you18:13were doing. I just wish you understood. I wish you had truly heard from me. I believe your desire is there, but I don't think you have a clue in your heart as to what this means. Is that not what he's saying? Let's look at the event. When God decides to do something, he does it big. There's no mistaking18:44of what's taking place on this mountain, okay? God moved in the life of Israel in such a way that I believe, I don't believe just Israel saw it. I believe all the surrounding nations saw it. I believe everybody that knew Israel saw it. And you say, well, how do you know? You really, you know, it really doesn't matter what I believe. It's what God's word says. And what it says was is that God came down on this mountain and this mountain was filled with fire. It was filled with smoke.19:13You know, first of all, God does big things on mountains. And just quickly, do you remember the Mount of Transfiguration? It was up on the Mount of Transfiguration that Peter, James, and John saw the glory of Jesus, God's descending on Jesus and saw the Moses and Elijah coming down and standing there in the midst. It was on that mountain that those three guys said, wow, let us build some booths on this mountain. Let us serve you.19:44We'll follow you till we die. Wow, what an experience. And you know what I believe Jesus is looking at and he's looking down at Peter probably. He said, Peter, I just wish you really knew what you were seeing. I just wish you really knew what you were experiencing. Because it wouldn't be that long that Peter would turn his back on Jesus and deny him three times. On a mountain, so many neat things20:12happen throughout Scripture. It was on a mountain that the ark settled. It is on a mountain where God would lead Moses from time to time to speak to him and spend time with him and you know, we call those things mountaintop experiences. How many of you feel like you've maybe been in a mountaintop experience? At least you called it that. You know, maybe it was a retreat. Maybe it was a revival. Maybe it was a worship service. Maybe it was at home20:42in front of your TV and you're watching a preacher. You're listening to music. Maybe it was in your bedroom. Maybe it was in your prayer closet. But you had that experience. You called it a mountaintop experience. And that's where God's doing this big thing is on top of a mountain. I want you to notice he's doing it in the midst of a fire. Fire provoked the presence of God. And then he's doing it in a thick cloud. A thick cloud reveals the glory of God. Isaiah chapter 6. When the cloud filled the temple, when the smoke filled the temple, it was Isaiah that said,21:11woe is me for him, a man undone. I live among a people who unclean lives because I've seen God. I've seen him. It was his glory. And then there's the voice of God. His voice was a force and a reassurance to those that were listening. No, it wasn't Moses speaking on behalf of God. It was God speaking on his own behalf. It wasn't the preacher preaching. They were hearing God. Listen, it's easy sometimes for us to hear the voice of a preacher. Sometimes it's easy for us21:41to hear the passion of a preacher. And I realize that sometimes my passion gets carried away and sometimes little children walk out of here and go, brother, Chris was so mad today, mother. And no, he really wasn't. That's just the way he is. Y'all have to live with him, huh, Gail? You know, I am a passionate person. You think I'm passionate? Y'all just see me and my sons when we get together and all that passion in one room. Passion doesn't necessarily exude spirituality. Sometimes, Bill,22:09Sometimes, Bill, I wish I was an attorney. I'm sure I would get called down by every judge. But it's just that passion. Sometimes, you know, I have. I'll promise you. I've decided, you know, I'm going to preach just like a preacher down the road does. I'm going to clap my hands. I'm just going to get up and I'm going to talk. I can't! God didn't need Moses. To get his message across.22:40Even though Moses was the mediator at that point, even though Moses was one who's seen as giving the law, which the law would become that, which was the school teacher, the rule of arm of understanding just how far from God we really were when we measure ourselves according to the law because we can't keep the law unless we don't get into all that is. But on this mountain, there was fire on this mountain, there was cloud on this mountain, there was the voice of God and yet at the foot of this mountain were men who were hearing the very voice of God23:09as he spoke to them and that's where we have the ecstasy. See, you have the event and then you have the ecstasy and sometimes we think if there's ecstasy and there's passion, surely there's God. I had an evangelist one time and I think I may have shared this with you and it's funny, but I went and slipped into a revival meeting with one of my friends in the community where I lived. He was just a few miles away23:39and we were very, very good friends, kind of like Billy and I are and Mark and I were very close and we did not compete as pastors or as churches but our fields joined together and I went up to hear this evangelist speak who I'd had before and anyway, he had no clue I was there. I slipped in the back, slipped over in the corner, kind of underneath the balcony like some of you people were hiding now, you know, and guests are back there going, well, I ain't coming back here.24:08I really can't see that way. I'm going to get me some binoculars but I see you under that light over there. We got a good light over there but anyway, I got where there was no light, Doc. It looks like an angel sitting there if we didn't know no better but I sat there and this preacher's preaching and he's talking and he says, you know, Mark, he said, you got to work extra hard here24:37and Mark's sitting on the front pew just like every good pastor is. He said, yeah, he said, you know, you got old Chris Burns down the road. He said, you know, Chris has got the hair. I'm back there going. He said, yeah, he's got that hair. He said, it's always perfect, always in place. He said, Mark, you ain't got that hair. You're going to have to work extra hard. He said, you know, Chris has got that charisma. Mark, you ain't got much personality. And I'm telling him that.25:08I'm sitting there in the back going, where is he going? He said, Mark, one thing you both got to understand. You need the Holy Spirit. The presence of God in your life. The hair. And he told me that to my face so he wasn't telling me anything that he hadn't already told me. He said, hair and the personality will get you a long play but it will not bring down the power of God. Let me tell you something.25:40The ecstasy of an event does not necessarily prove a life change. People can have all kind of erratic responses to God but when the heart is changed and experienced God, the desire is to obey God. And that's where Israel has become. You said,26:10You said, behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen today that God speaks with man yet he lives. Now, then, why should we die? And you don't have to. They spoke up to Moses as though they had never been speaking this way before. Moses, we see that God is about something. You know something? I don't want to see that God is about something. I want to see26:40that God is using me and what he's about. We can stand at the foot of the mountain. We can see the smoke. We can see the fire. We can see the glory of God and we can see it from such a distance that we're not the ones that are experiencing the presence of God because we have dealt with God as an imitation and not the real thing. They had come to God as close as they dare. They'd come to the foot27:10of the mountain and they weren't going to come any closer. God had built some perimeters for them to come to but God built those perimeters so that they could get as close to him so that they could hear everything that he said. They could see his glory and he would speak directly to their hearts. Aren't you thankful today that we have Jesus Christ who literally speaks to our heart? So many people want to complain about the preacher. They want to complain about the Sunday school teacher. I want to tell you something. God speaks to our heart27:39when we enter into fellowship with him and his word. I want to tell you you want to feed you go to the feeding trough. If you're expecting the preacher to feed you you can't even keep up with the fast as I talk. Some of you are just hitting and missing on certain things. Some of you only hear the joke. Some of you don't hear anything. Some of you hear too much. They had come as close28:09as they dare. You know I believe there are people that come to God as close as they dare. They don't want God to change too much about them. I just want to get close enough to God that I can get some of the blessing instead of getting close enough to God that God hey you say it I'll do it. God you name the country I'll go to it. God you name the amount I'll give it. God you name the time it's here.28:38it's here. God you name what you want from me and here I am. There are not many people in that place in their life. They're as close as they dare to get. And for Israel they were as close as they dare to get. Yet God was still dealing with the people. They wanted to hear more from God from God but at this point they wanted it from Moses.29:08They said we need Moses to tell us. But then again there's an experience that causes us to be thrilled with the truth. And there were those there at the foot of that mountain that day. They were so thrilled with what they were hearing and what they heard and the fact that they saw this great explosion in the presence of God before them that they said you know God we'll do whatever you say. You know I believe29:38there are people that come to God and they give God their heart and they do whatever he says. I've met those people. Every time I go on a mission trip I find that there there are missionaries there that could have lived comfortable lives. Several of them have been here and spoke from the pulpit of this podium and they've shared their message and they've shared their stories with us. Missionaries are the heroes my heroes of our faith because they were willing to walk away from whatever they had going on30:07in this world to give it up and go down there and live in an unbearable humidity with people that didn't even speak their language who they struggle with communicating with give up the 2600 square foot house for the 1100 square foot house to raise their children in the school system of the country that they're in and to go out into the streets and invite prostitutes into their church let me tell you they go out when the people are going to be out30:37there on the streets I want to tell you something we don't even go out much anymore by the way our deacons discussed that that we need to go out again that we need to get out of this pew we need to get out into the byways and the highways and the hedges and they do that and they go out on the night the prostitutes are going to be out and they go out and they get amongst the prostitutes and it's only the women that do this the men don't and they go out and they invite them back to the lily house and they share31:06the gospel with them and they invite them out of the lifestyle that they're in and they become thrilled and they experience the presence of God and God does a life changing thing in their life and they walk away from the sin of their heart and they literally give up their livelihood believing that God has a better plan for them God has a better plan for your life today better than even the one that you have established listen to what31:32they learned that day they learned that they could come near to God and live you know there are a lot of people in churches today that they're not worried about coming near to God and living they're coming near to God they're scared about coming near to God because of what it'll cost them they're afraid it'll cost them the comfort of watching their regular TV program on a Friday night32:02during CR or on a Sunday afternoon at DU or on a Monday night out visiting or on a Wednesday night in prayer meeting they're scared that if they get too close to God that God may literally change their mind and they would become they quit becoming that obstinate hard-headed individual who has a set pattern that they have determined they're going to live life by and give it up to God talking to a32:29friend of mine the other day and Gail had shared this with me and I can't remember maybe it's called the master's program that the IMB International Mission Board has and the IMB will send two senior adults to a country for a certain period of time and you can be a missionary for those of you that think you can't be that now I don't know all the ins and outs and I don't know what that encompasses32:59that encompasses I don't know I don't know if you have to raise your own support or whatever but you know if God calls you why would you be afraid to follow God wherever God was as long as you knew God was there if you knew that if you stayed where you're at you're going to sit in a pew and the only person in the pew is the person sitting next to you and God is not there you know I wonder how many of us come to church and we have such an awareness of God33:29of God that we walk over to the pew and we sit down and say Jesus excuse me would you move over so I could sit down or where are you okay there you are and you sit down rather than just come in and plop down and go preacher bring me Jesus God chose the mountain God chose the people and God chose the education that they would get they learned that they could come near to God when Jesus died the veil was torn from top to bottom to signify33:59to signify you could come near to God in Hebrews the writer of Hebrews says we now have access to God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior our ultimate sacrifice we now have the privilege of hearing God and not dying it is said of D.L. Moody that you know D.L. Moody how many everybody here pretty much know who D.L. Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Church one of the greatest preachers34:28preachers of his day filled the Moody church up with people preached to thousands preached in England preached all over the world was a great man of God but there was a time in his life and in his preaching when two ladies went to Brother Moody and he shunned them off because they said Brother Moody there's only one thing he liked wasn't that he didn't have the Holy Spirit in his life at salvation but he didn't have this anointing they felt like he needed and before you start questioning let34:58let me just read this to you Auntie Cook this is written by another preacher Auntie Cook once told me of the intense fervor with which Mr. Moody prayed on that occasion on the occasion that these ladies told him he decided that he was going to get near the mountain he was going to get as close to God as he could get and what it did in Moody's life was it brought him to his knees with the intense prayer that he ever prayed in his life I want to tell you when you35:28you get intent in your prayer life and you're passionate in your prayer life be ready Mr. Moody you know with the intense fervor that Mr. Moody prayed on that occasion she told me in words that I scarcely dare repeat though I have never forgotten them and he not only prayed with them but he also prayed alone not long after one day on his way to England he was walking up Wall35:58Wall Street in New York Mr. Moody very seldom told this and I almost hesitate to tell it and in the midst of the bustle and hustle of that city his prayer was answered wow God chose the mountain the power of God fell upon him as he walked up the street and he had to hurry off to a house of a friend and asked that he might have a room by himself and in that room he stayed alone for hours and the Holy36:28Holy Ghost came upon him filling his soul with such joy that at last he had to ask God to withhold his hand lest he die on that spot from every from very joy lest he die on that spot from very from joy he went out from that place with the power of the Holy Ghost upon him and when he got to London partly through prayers of a bedridden saint36:57saint in Mr. Lessey church the power of God wrought through him mightily in northern London and hundreds were added to the churches and that was what led to his being invited over to the wonderful campaigns the following years and what are you saying preacher I'm saying that we dare over the next seven days put everything aside and37:25and pray with intensity for the presence of God that we dare put away the TV that we dare put away the radio that we dare put away the golf we dare put away the fishing that we dare put away whatever it is that we dare put away the work that37:55that we're so busy at that we dare put away whatever and over the next week at every moment maybe during the lunch hour walk outside the building and find a little private place and pray now I'm going to tell you something an intent prayer is not now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep if I should38:25should die before awake I pray the Lord my soul to take amen I've prayed oh God be with the little children Lord thank you so much for all your blessings God help I want to tell you some intent prayer calls for an intent person I want to tell you something think of it this way there's a rattlesnake in your bedroom and he's about to strike at one of your children or grandchildren how intent would you38:55you be to destroy that snake how intent would you be to reach the portals of heaven and no God has heard your cry they were educated that day that God was listening39:25listening they were educated that day that God's grace was sufficient that they live they were educated that day with an enduring desire but it wasn't theirs it was God's verse 28 the Lord heard the voice of your words this is Moses when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me I I've heard the voice of his people which39:55which they spoken to you they've done well in all that they spoken oh oh that they had such a heart in them as they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it may be well with them and with their sons forever God has placed the mediator before us just like Moses was a mediator before them the mediator40:24mediator that we have is Jesus Christ you notice that he says in verse 31 but as for you stand here by me Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the father to mediate between you and me how intent are you in getting in touch with him three40:50three weeks ago for a period of about three hours cell phones were just dead due to the ice storm snow storm that we had you remember that I couldn't call I couldn't get out people were trying to call me I couldn't call him my wife was at the hospital I had a son at school I had another son I didn't know where he was at for sure and I had a son up in Memphis and he was trying to call us on getting41:19getting in touch I went my mother and father walls and I found out if you had one of those old timey phones you could get through you dialed it but people were intent people were in need I want to ask you something do you ever really passionately go after something you don't need I41:48I want to tell you hear me we need revival we need God to come down on this place and change our hearts and our lives life action ministry is not going to bring God with them God's going to come down because of the intent and intense42:17intense prayer of his people and when we pray with a passion and desire to reach him look out at what he might do for when God gets loose things change you see I can remember revivals from my youth one42:47one revival we had two maybe three men with children gave up their jobs and became ministers pastors of churches one of them helped me do a funeral this past week of jail Womack his name brother dindy brother winburn was with him he pastored first baptist church tarrant for years I saw a man stand up and confess that43:17that he had an affair on his wife you say is that what you want from revival I want whatever it takes for God to come on this place I want to get as close to God as we dare that he might change our life he might change our focus he might change our hearts that he might change our motives that43:45that he might change the very reason why we come to church on Sunday and that we no longer rely on the experience of somebody else but that we know we've met with God and God has met with us if you're not a Christian here today I want to introduce you to an opportunity if God is speaking to44:15to your heart and you have a false relationship with him that one that's been imitated by others get rid of it you say well preacher how do you do that well that's between you and God I can't save you I can't motivate you I can't give you I can only tell you the truth that God says oh all that they would do what they said they do well we can't we44:45we have to rely on God today God spoken to you and you said preacher I've got to spend time with God today because I've heard from him and I haven't obeyed him and there's sin in my life that I need to get rid of I want to challenge you get rid of it or you'll never experience the true presence of the joy45:15joy that God has for you Dale Moody was a great preacher but when he passionately prayed as he had never prayed before God moved on his life like never before let's pray father as we gather here today I know45:43know that there's a mountain and I know you're on that mountain and I know that your glory and your presence is there but I believe God that mountain is right here right now that opportunity is Lord before us as your children we can keep wandering in the wilderness until a generation dies off and a generation arises that's hungry enough for God that46:12that we'll do whatever it takes to see you oh God today I would just pray Lord let your Holy Spirit motivate move touch bend break empower heal console pierce46:40pierce whatever God you need to do do it today that Lord we would no longer be imitators but we would be people coming off the mountain that had met with God and have agreed that you and you alone are God and we are your servants in Jesus47:09Jesus name I pray amen to ask you to stand for him of invitation God has spoken to your heart if you feel that Lord is speaking to you this morning we invite you to step out and come if you feel like this is the church that God has brought you to you want to be a part of fellowship of this church step out and come if you want to know Christ as your personal Savior step47:41God will beMore sermons on Deuteronomy →
