Notes from Sunday 7 July, 2013..
Speaker: Pastor Don Woke
Key Passages: Psalm 3
CRY OUT and He will answer…. CRY OUT… He will give a specific answer!
Message summary:
God has indeed never left himself without witness. Fasting like we all know is not an easy exercise, but sometimes we need to go through this exercise to show our urgency and for us to passionately call out to God our Father. This is a month for us to cry out. In the 1990’s there was a film that was shown “The rich also cry”, leaders of nations, billionaires have their time of crying however the crucial question is who are you crying to?
In 2 Samuel 15, when Absalom David’s son stirred up a rebellion against his father, David was distraught more than that, what was being said to David was that there is no help for him anywhere. David was in a situation where everything seemed hopeless (The situation as well as the people who spoke to him) however David said, “I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill”
The Key word for today is CRY OUT. It is to call out loudly to get someone’s attention (In this case God). It is a call to a specific person for a specific response especially at a time of critical need. Sometime we cry out because of various reasons. This crying out is a call to God for aid especially at such times that we call critical. Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10 was in a desperate situation and all he did was to call out/cry out to God for help 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”
Isaiah 58:9 says that we shall call and he shall answer, we shall cry and he will say to us ‘Here I am’. As we call out to God this month, he will hear us and answer us. Isaiah 30:19 is another evidence of the fact that when we cry to God, he will answer us. This month presents to us as a church, as families and as individuals an opportunity to cry out to God from our heart. When we call unto God, we are saying this is a situation that must change, this is a situation that must be different because of this, we must cry from out heart and not our lips. The psalmist in Psalm 55:16-17 says that in the morning, afternoon and in the evening will he cry to the Lord and the Lord will hear his voice.
In Exodus 2:23-25 the Israelites had been living under bondage after Joseph had died and the King of Egypt had died. They cried out in the midst of their burden and their bondage and God heard thier groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! God has ordained that it takes us crying out or asking for what we want for God to act. Another version of the passage says that God knew it was time to do something.
I Chronicles 5:18-20, 2 Chronicles 13:13-16 equally show different situations where the Children of God had cried out to him and he delivered them from the situation that they were in. Both passages talk of desperate situations of war, it was not a time to do the usual things, or to pray the normal way however they decided to cry out to the Lord in their desperation and he answered them. Another biblical reference is the story of Jehoshaphat who was a rare breed, however somehow, he formed an alliance with a bad King (Ahab) it was a wrong partnership, one that was doomed. In the passage, King Ahab invited him to join him to go to war with him. Ahab went in a camouflage whilst Jehoshaphat went in his Kingly regalia. Thus when the opposing army saw Jehoshaphat, they surrounded him, however Jehoshaphat cried out to God and God heard him and diverted them from him 2 Chronicles 18: 28-31.
Probably you have made a mistake; you all of a sudden have discovered that your situation is doomed like Jehoshaphat in his battle. The Lord would intervene and deliver you in Jesus name! If you have refused to pray because you have a guilty feeling over the things that you have done know today that God is interested in showing you goodness, God is interested in saving you. This month, God will hear your cry!
Peter in Matthew 14: 29-41 was sinking however, he cried out to Jesus to save him and the Lord did. Samson’s story in Judges 15:18-20 is another testimony of God hearing us when we cry out to him. In verse 19, God caused water to break forth when Samson had almost died of thirst he named that place the spring of the one who cried out! The crux of this message is that Samson was about to die of thirst, however, he cried out in the midst of his desperation and all of a sudden, there was a spring, a fountain, and to commemorate what had happened, Samson called the place “En Hakkore” which means the spring of the one who cried out or the caller’s spring.
In this month, as you cry out to your father, he will cause a spring for you. God will cause something to spring up for you as a response to your cry. Know that everything that is written in the bible is written as an example to us, if God can then, he can do it again today! Where there was no way, take note that it didn’t take a process, it didn’t take time, it happened immediately! Suddenly! This month as we cry out to him there is going to be a spring, an evidence, an answer immediately. For someone it might be a job, a spouse, a child, healing whatever it is, a spring will come out for you today! Suddenly, what was not will become, decide that you have a project with God, decide that this month if all I will do is to cry out to him You will- Cry out in the morning, afternoon and evening, because we know that he will hear, he will answer.
Seek the Lord this month, wait on the Lord this month, Cry to the Lord this month…. He will answer with a clear and a specific word! Know that there is help for you in God this month.
There is going to be a spring for you this month!
