Prayer Changes Things

Text:

Exodus 32:9-14:

9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

 

Theme:

Prayer Changes Things

 

Introduction:

• The scripture is extracted from Exodus, the second book of the Bible and the second book of the Pentateuch, the five books of the law of Judaism.
• The main character is Moses. Moses was born the son of Amram and Jochebed, the brother of Miriam and Aaron.  But, later, by way of an ark of bulrushes, pharaoh’s daughter who unwittingly/unknowingly paid Jochebed to nurse her own child adopted him into the house of pharaoh.
• The years of the life of Moses are divided into three forties over the 120 years of his life:

1. the first forty he spent as a prince in Pharaoh’s court
2. the second as a shepherd in Midian with his father-in-law Jethro.
3. the third as a king in the Jeshurunian wilderness, leading the Isrealites toward the Promised Land.

• It was during this last 40-year period in Moses’ life that we find our text.
  • GOD’S SERVANT had taken refuge in the upper altitudes of Mt. Sanai
    • Away from the people of Israel…his assigned work
    • Away from the pangs of the wilderness…his impending struggle
    • Away from the construed wiles o the devil…his reminder of mortality
  • GOD’S SERVANT is experiencing his time in his closet
    • Talking to his Creator…the One who knows his strengths and weaknesses
    • Talking to his Father…the One who knows his every pain and care
    • Talking to his Friend…the One who gives him comfort in tough times
  • GOD’S SERVANT is getting direction
    • From his Lord…the One to whom he has committed and submitted his life
    • From his Master…the One who has commissioned him to go THROUGH this wilderness
    • From his Deliverer…the One who has brought him thus far and will see them to the Promised Land
  • Moses’ took this trip to Mt. Sanai because GOD’S SERVANT knew that PRAYER CHANGES THINGS!

 

Body:

• Complication à People thought that he was taking too long
  • Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
  • In their impatience, they turned to idolatry
    • They implored Aaron that they be given another to serve. God is taking too long!
    • Aren’t we guilty of sometimes thinking that GOD IS TAKING TOO LONG!
      • We get frustrated when He doesn’t move when we want Him to move
        • Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”
      • We turn to other gods à our own intellect, other people, money, alcohol, drugs, etc
• God interrupted their conversation
  • While God and Moses were talking, God was watching over the people still
    • It was Moses’ responsibility, but while Moses was in the closet with God, God was still watching over them.
  • What the people were doing was so abominable that it caused God to interrupt their conversation.
    • God will tell me when you try to do things behind my back!
      • We are to “Put on the whole armour of God” (Ephesians 6). The armor covers everything but your back because GOD’S GOT YOUR BACK!!
    • You can hide from, sneak around, or slip pass God with your sin!
  • God was angry
    • God not only told Moses what the people were doing, He also told Moses what He was going to do to punish them…destroy them!
      • God can and does get angry. SIN MAKES GOD ANGRY
      • It is not anger that is wrong. It is what you do IN YOUR ANGER that can be a sin on your record.
        • Ephesians 4:26, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”
        • A parent does get angry at a child’s wrongdoing. However, it is their love for the child that stirs them to anger when wrongdoing has occurred.
    • Moses spoke up to God
      • Moses spoke in his being the advocate, representative, intercessor for the Children of Israel.
      • Moses asked God questions
        • It is good to ask GOD questions when understanding is needed…just go to God and not other people
          • Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
      • Moses did not QUESTION God!!
        • Moses did not do as we tend to do – try to tell God what He needs to doJ
        • John 4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
      • The difference between ASKING A QUESTION and QUESTIONING is when you think you already know the answer
        • You are questioning when you ask while thinking that you already know the answerJ (example of a child with their parents)
• Moses’ speaking up to God saved the people from God’s anger!!

“And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

• Example of God’s Divine understanding not be that of Man!!
  • GOD REPENTED à Repentance is simple to change direction
    • Mankind must repent to change its CHARACTER
    • God merely repented in changing His ACTION…God did not change
      • Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
    • EVIL à The act was evil not in its essence but in its perception to mankind
      • What God was going to do was just and right, which is true to God’s character.
      • The people’s perception of God’s action is what attributed and “evil” hue to it. It was not cool for those who were to be destroyedJ.

 

Conclusion:

• God heard and honored the cry of His Servant, Moses! PRAYER CHANGES THINGS!!
  • Does God hear and honor your cry?
    • We must obey God’s commandments for Him to answer our prayer!!
    • Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
    • John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
  • Are you His servant?
    • Will you die in Him?
    • Will you live for Him?
    • Will you suffer for Him?
    • Will you trust in Him?
    • Will you walk with Him?
• PRAYER CHANGES THINGS!!
  • It changed me one day!!
  • I wasn’t fit to live and wasn’t afraid to die!
  • I CALLED ON GOD!!!!!
• PRAYER CHANGES THINGS!!

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