Sermon - 20 October 2013 by Bruce McCallum

1. “If we don’t, He won’t”

3. What is your experience of prayer?
• Why do you pray?
• What difference will it make if you do pray or if you
don’t?
• Does God need you to pray or does He just want
you to pray?
• Does God really change His mind when you pray?
• Isn’t God sovereign and He accomplishes what He
wants and when He wants? And, if so, why pray?

4. “In prayer I learned that without God I CANNOT and
without me God WILL not.” (John Wesley)

5. Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in
our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground."

7. Flood
Genesis 6:5 (NKJV)
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

8. Genesis 6:6 (NKJV)
6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on
the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

9. Genesis 6:7 (NKJV)
7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth, both man and
beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am
sorry that I have made them."

10. Genesis 6:8-9 (GW)
8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah. …. Noah had
God's approval and was a man of integrity among the
people of his time. He walked with God.

11. Golden Calf
Exodus 32:9-10 (NKJV)
9 And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this
people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now
therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot
against them and I may consume them. And I will
make of you a great nation.“
Exodus 32:9-10 (GW)
9 The Lord added, “I've seen these people, and they
are impossible to deal with. 10 Now leave me alone.
I'm so angry with them I am going to destroy them.
Then I'll make you into a great nation.”

12. Exodus 32:12-14 (NKJV)
12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He
brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face of the
earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from
this harm to Your people. 14 So the Lord relented from
the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Exodus 32:12-14 (GW)
12 Don't let the Egyptians say, ‘He was planning all
along to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off
the face of the earth. That's why he brought them out
{of our land}.' Don't be so angry. Reconsider your
decision to bring this disaster on your people. 14 So the
Lord reconsidered his threat to destroy his people.

13. Hezekiah’s gets an extra 15 years
2 Kings 20:1 (NKJV)
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And
Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and
said to him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in
order, for you shall die, and not live.' “
2 Kings 20:1 (GW)
1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was about
to die. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him
and said, “This is what the Lord says: Give final
instructions to your household, because you're about
to die. You won't get well.”

14. 2 Kings 20:5-6 (NKJV)
5 "Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people,
'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: "I
have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely
I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the
house of the Lord. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen
years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of
the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My
own sake, and for the sake of My servant David." ' "

15. God offers Solomon a blank cheque.
2 Chronicles 1:7 (NIV)
7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to
him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

16. 2 Chronicles 1:10 (NIV)
10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead
this people, for who is able to govern this great
people of yours?“
2 Chronicles 1:10 (GW)
10 Give me wisdom and knowledge so that I may lead
these people. After all, who can judge this great
people of yours?”

17. 2 Chronicles 1:11-12 (NIV)
11 God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's
desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or
honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since
you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and
knowledge to govern my people over whom I have
made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge
will be given you. And I will also give you wealth,
riches and honor, such as no king who was before you
ever had and none after you will have."

18. Rehoboam’s humility
2 Chronicles 12:5 (NIV)
5 Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and
to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in
Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to
them, "This is what the LORD says, 'You have
abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to
Shishak.'" (He was the Egyptian king)

19. 2 Chronicles 12:6 (NIV)
6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled
themselves and said, "The LORD is just.“
2 Chronicles 12:7 (NIV)
7 When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves,
this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: "Since they
have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but
will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be
poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

20. 2 Chronicles 12:12 (NIV)
12 Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's
anger turned from him, and he was not totally
destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

21. God changes His mind
Jeremiah 18:7-10 (NIV)
7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is
to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that
nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent
and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if
at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom
is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my
sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the
good I had intended to do for it.

22. Jeremiah 18:7-10 (MSG)
7 At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a
country by the roots and get rid of them. 8 But if they
repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start
over with them. 9 At another time I might decide to
plant a people or country, 10 but if they don't
cooperate and won't listen to me, I will think again
and give up on the plans I had for them.

23. Jonah in Ninevah
Jonah 3:4 (NIV)
4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He
proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be
overturned.“
Jonah 3:5 (NIV)
5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast,
and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on
sackcloth.

24. Jonah 3:9 (NIV)
9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with
compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will
not perish.“

25. Jonah 3:10 (NIV)
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned
from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not
bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah 3:10 (GW)
10 God saw what they did. He saw that they turned
from their wicked ways. So God reconsidered his
threat to destroy them, and he didn't do it.

26. 1. If we don’t, He won’t

27. 2. You’re too busy not to pray!
Noah – Ask God to change His mind!
Moses – Appeal to God to honour His promises
Hezekiah – God won’t ignore the cries of your heart
Solomon - God wants to partner with you to fulfil dreams
Rehoboam - Humility shapes your future
Jonah - Repentance shifts destruction to beauty

28. “God’s plans for us are not chiselled in concrete. Only
His character and nature are unchanging. His
decisions are not.”
Brother Andrew (“And God changed His mind”)

29. History belongs to people who pray!

30. 3. To the church called El Shaddai
Ezekiel 22:30 -31 (NIV)
30 "I looked for a man among them who would build
up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf
of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I
found none.

31. Where are we headed?
Zechariah 12:10 (NIV)
10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and
supplication…
Zechariah 12:10 (NLT)
10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on
the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem…