Why do we get to talk to Him?

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.

Do we express thankfulness? Is it something that characterizes my life?

Can I express gratitude toward God without being in the habit of expressing the same emotion to others?

The others had most likely had long weeks. Hard work. Frustrations. I watched the Holy Spirit melt weary hearts and refresh them with the glories of Calvary!

Amos 3:8 says,

A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

Peter and John said,

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

O, to have the relentless passion to speak about what I have seen and heard!

We must be careful however when we envision revival. What does it look like? Obviously it is a renewal of great enthusiasm in religion as Jonathan Edwards would put it. It is a time when many receive saving grace. But it is also a time of turmoil. Why? Because the enemy hates revival.

The Reformation is a perfect example. Luther, having first tasted the infinitely rich grace of God knew that the rest of the world was enslaved to sin and the Lord used him to proclaim the truth of justification by faith through grace. But don’t forget the backbiting, bloodshed, trials, persecution, suffering, etc. that also characterized the Reformation. Luther did not live a quiet life. He suffered. But he also rejoiced to see the church revived.

The Great Awakening was an amazing time of revival in New England, yet Jonathan Edwards was grieved over the envy, malice, confusion, backbiting, etc. that happened along with spiritual renewal.

When we pray, “Let Your Kingdom come.” We must mean it. And we must be willing to endure for the Lord’s sake whatever may come as a counter attack. Thank God His grace is greater still! He is victorious!

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There, where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God’s grace;
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.
Grace, grace, God’s grace;
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

I strongly believe that this generation will taste a great revival. God is at work in amazing ways around the globe: China, Iran, Iraq, right here in De Soto. Amen, Lord! Come quickly!

He can’t be mostly sovereign and He can’t be barely sovereign. Why? Because He’s not mostly holy or barely holy, He’s not mostly God or barely God. He is holy. He is God.

Is this childish? Think about a piece of paper that is half black and half white. Is there a line that separates the two sides? No, as R.C. Sproul explains, the division is “the razor’s edge.”

The difficulty comes when we can’t tell which side an issue is on. We don’t have the ability to grasp God’s sovereignty so we say, “that’s a gray area of Scripture.” But is that true? Are their gray areas with God?

I argue that there are not. How about you?

And though this world with devils filled
should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear for God has willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him!

Whether it’s raised hands, clenched fists, closed eyes, bowing before the Lord, standing with a look upward, encouragement during prayer, enthusiastic listening to the sermon, and so on, our body language reveals how we are receiving God’s Word during worship.

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Are not the quarrels in churches based on this very thing? I’m often tempted, as a young minister, and was often tempted, as a seminary student, to think that these types of things exist exclusively in Bible belt churches where we have grown accustomed to our freedom of religion. While we do take much for granted here in the Midwest regarding our political freedom of religion and public assembly, we are not the first.

It is easy to sit back and complain about complainers. It sounds so righteous and holy. It sounds so justified…especially when I can back it up with Scripture.

Oh, be careful, John.

The enemy has many, many clever tricks. If you haven’t read Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, I highly recommend it. Is not one of the enemy’s greatest weapons complaining? He certainly used it with the children of Israel in the wilderness.

“Do not give the enemy a foothold.” That means, John, don’t complain. But it goes further. Don’t give others a reason to complain about you. (Sorry for addressing myself here…) My parents wrestled with my forgetfulness and absentmindedness when I was growing up. They knew that if I grew up to be forgetful, that it would cost me.

So, don’t give others a reason to quarrel about you. We must discipline ourselves.

Secondly, don’t complain. I must not give the enemy a foothold to use me to discourage others. Even if I’m complaining about someone else, I am stirring up bitterness in their hearts.
James was dealing with this problem in the first century. We are not the first here in the Bible belt to deal with sleepy Christians who complain. This has been present from the very beginning.

So, what is the answer?

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

James is harsh, but remember the promise.

The Psalms shape the way we think and feel about God. (For a great sermon on this very topic, visit www.desiringgod.org)

I find day after day, that at least one word from various Psalms in my mind as directly applicable to the challenges, needs, and joys of that particular day.

I challenge you to hide God’s word in your heart that you might not sin against Him. Try praying a Psalm or two during the day. Better yet, hide a Psalm or two in your heart and treasure it…

Don’t be a stubborn mule, John! Don’t refuse to come near to Me and force Me to muzzle you and drag you kicking and screaming into My presence. Don’t forget the rich young ruler, John! Don’t be like that!

Or as the gospel hymn says,

I can hear the Savior calling,
I can hear the Savior calling,
I can hear the Savior calling,
“Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”

“The world will hate you because of Me.” So, here’s a question: why doesn’t the world hate me? Think carefully about this, we don’t simply do things to cause a stir as Christians. We don’t do things to be noticed or to bring attention to ourselves, whatever we do, we do for the glory of God.

But why doesn’t the world hate me? Isn’t friendship with the world enmity toward God? Why should the world hate me? Because Christ promised His disciples that it would…

So do I think of things to do in order to cause trouble and get the world to hate me? Do I protest and slander a president who does not share my political views? Granted, the issues at stake are not simply affecting union members, elderly, the middle class, the lower class, the upper class, but the unborn…

But God is sovereign.

As a disciple, I must be as bold as I possibly can–to the point of being hated by the world. Bold in what? Spreading the Gospel, the Kingdom of God. If I am not persistent in my witness and evangelism to the point of being noticed and even being a pest, then am I working as hard as I should?

Think about the church in Iran: in 1979, it is estimated that there were only 500 Christians in the country who were formerly Muslims. It is estimated that that number has grown to over 100,000 today. Formerly, Christians faced unspeakable persecution, but as the church has grown, so has the boldness of believers. Today, persecution from the government has actually eased a bit since there are now so many Christians to deal with.

And we have no persecution in America. Rather, we have absolute freedom to share the Gospel with every single person we see. At the post office. At city hall. At the grocery store. At the park. At their house.

Are we relentlessly pursuing sinners? “To whom much is given, much will be required.”

Don’t be like a stubborn mule, John! Witness!