Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Going ABOVE and BEYOND

Melody Mason

Daring to Ask for More - Part 1

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here together, and I just pray that you will be glorified this morning, that you will speak through me, Father, that you will increase our faith, our faith in You and our faith in Your Word and in who You are.

Thank You for what You've done and thank You for what You're going to do this morning.

We praise You in Your precious name, Amen.

I thought for this morning's session I would start with sharing just a little bit of my personal testimony, kind of give some groundwork for where I'm coming with prayer ministry.

And I think it's encouraging just to hear where people have come from and what God is doing in their lives.

So I'm going to start with testimony this morning and then I'm going to share some more.

I mean as we go through the whole week we'll be talking about tools and keys to grow your prayer life, but you'll see it's a lifestyle.

It's really a lifestyle of consecration to God and surrender and obedience and really having an ear to His voice and so that will be throughout all the different themes.

And we're also going to take some practical time to pray together and just show you how I would lead starting a small group prayer ministry or starting a larger group as well, some different things.

And so we'll do that part way through the week.

But to start with I want us to just turn in our Bibles to John chapter 11.

And this is a story that I know that you guys are very, very familiar with that's not obviously brand new.

So this is a story where Lazarus had died, obviously Martha and Mary had asked Jesus to come and to help them because they believed that He could.

But Jesus doesn't come, He comes 4 days too late, is what it seems like, right?

So picking up in John 11, we're going to look at verse 20.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went out and met him, but Mary stayed still at the house.

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." So if you had been here 4 days ago, my brother would not have died.

But she says, I know that even now whatever you will ask of God, God will give it to you." So we see the faith that Martha has in Jesus, if he had been there a few days before.

So Jesus responds in verse 23, thy brother shall rise again.

Your brother is going to come back to life.

Then listen to what Martha says in verse 24.

Martha said unto him, "'I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.'" but was Jesus talking about the last day?

But I think so often what happened with Martha, right here in these few verses, happens with us as well.

You know, especially we've grown up in the church, we've heard a lot about the God of yesterday, how God parted the waters of the Red Sea, and He raised the dead to life, and brought manna from heaven, and all these different things.

And something else we also talk about is the God of tomorrow, the God of the future.

We know a day is coming when His Spirit is going to be poured out and when there's going to be more miracles and evidences that He's with us in the physical realm, but what about today?

Yes, intellectually we know that, but how do we live?

We see as the story goes on, Jesus takes Martha to the tomb, or says, take me to where he is, and you see the doubt that is still expressed in Martha as he gets to the tomb, because he's saying, roll away the stone.

She's like, Lord, do you really want to do that?

You know he's going to stink, you don't want to do that.

And even still, she's trying to stop him from doing the miracle today.

And so often, It's true in our own lives.

Do we believe in a God that is living and powerful today?

I just think this is just a powerful story.

Vietnam is a little bit more difficult region spiritually.

They can't have open services and things like this because it's a communist country.

And so there was a group, a house church, meeting together and praying that God would work and do a deeper work in each of their lives.

And as they're praying, they begin to have a burden.

First we're kind of praying about our own little issues and things, but then as God is growing, He gives us a burden for the lost.

He gives us a burden that's wider than ourselves, and that's the purpose of prayer is to reclaim what has been lost.

If you are ever looking for your purpose in life, we're told in 2 Corinthians 5, it's the ministry of reconciliation.

We are to be reconciled and we are to help others come back to God.

And so that is the purpose, ultimately, of prayer.

And we've been hearing that, by the way, in the morning devotions.

How many of you have been part of the devotion with Jason Sligar?

If you haven't heard them, you need to get the CDs.

I'm going to take a series home with me because they've been so powerful about putting on the armor and the fact that we are actually in a battle.

This is not peacetime living, we are in a spiritual battle and we have been actually ever since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden walked away from God.

So anyway, back to this church in Vietnam, they began praying for a wider purpose.

And they began praying, Lord, you know, a couple members in the house church, they actually came from this village that was about 100 miles away.

And there were no believers in that village, and they had a heart that God would do something in that village.

So they began praying, Lord, please, please help us to reach that village or bring people to know you in that village.

And so while they're meeting and praying, this woman from the village, her name was Yen, came to the city where they are.

And she was struggling with stomach issues and found out that it was a terminal disease, probably stomach cancer or something like that.

And so the doctors couldn't do anything for her, but she knew the people in the house church and they invited her to come and to learn about Jesus.

And she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.

And she began opening her Bible and eating the words and just falling in love with Jesus that she'd never known because she was not a Christian previously.

But she's getting sicker and sicker and sicker.

And so she goes back to her village to be close to her family and they continue praying.

Lord, we've been praying that you would give us a believer in this village to spread your love and to share about you, and now there's 1 here, but she's dying.

And so they're praying and praying, and then the sister of Yen calls them on the phone and tells them, you need to prepare for a funeral.

And they tell the sister who's also not a Christian, we've been praying that God would heal her And we serve a God that is living and powerful and we believe He's going to heal her." And the sister is kind of scoffing.

You don't understand what's happening here.

You need to prepare to come for a funeral.

So anyway, and they tell her before they hang up the phone, they say, Yen took back with her a black book and it's called the Bible and in that book there's a chapter, if you look it up it's in Psalms and I think it's Psalms 31, let me double check here.

We want you to open that book to this chapter in Psalms.

Open the Bible to this chapter and read these verses and put Yen's name in the passages." Well, the lady kind of scoffs.

They hang up the phone and they continue praying, "'Lord, you've given us a believer.

Please do something.'" Well, then they pack up their bags, a couple days later they arrive at the village and they found out what happened.

That sister, who did not believe in God, after she was already dead, She remembered what they had said about the Bible.

And she thought, well, it wouldn't hurt to do what they said.

Even if I don't believe in their God, I can at least do what they said, with respect to my sister.

She opened the Bible and she started reading it.

Psalms 30 verse 2, Lord cried unto thee, thou hast healed, and she puts Yen, its name in there.

Lord, thou hast brought up Yen from the grave, thou hast kept Yen alive, that she should not go down into the pit and she continues reading.

And as she's reading these passages from scripture, Yen begins to move and Yen came back to life.

Daring to Ask for More - Part 2

Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for the opportunity to be here again this morning, and we just pray especially for your Holy Spirit right now, Heavenly Father.

I just ask that you would speak through me, Heavenly Father, that your words would be shared.

And I ask that we would not leave this room the same way that we came in today, but just ignite a deeper fire within our hearts.

Yesterday I talked a lot about my experience with coming out of what I call wilderness Christianity, which is what I believe that we've all been raised in.

The lukewarm Laodicean condition, the church of the wilderness, and the fact that we don't really understand, I think, the deeper life and the deeper experience that God longs for us to have as Christians and believers.

So I talked some about that experience and about the key that God has given us in prayer.

It's not a magic key just for emergencies, it's our key to life.

We cannot live spiritually if we're not breathing spiritually, which is prayer.

And of course 1 of my favorite topics which I talked about yesterday was the power of praying the Word.

And I shared some of these prayer and promise cards which actually teach people how to pray the Word of God and you can download these cards at our website ReviveOnReformation.org and you can ask me afterwards about that.

But just being in the Word of God is so vital.

You know, we need, as Jason Sliger has been sharing in his morning devotionals, and I keep referencing him because I'm like, our messages really do complement and go together.

So if you're not hearing his morning devotionals, you really need to hear them or get copies of them to take home the Holy Spirit coordinates and brings things together and I see that happen again and again and it's really exciting because I Don't know what people are speaking about.

They don't know what other people are speaking about But the Holy Spirit knows and so he brings things together and so it's just beautiful But there has to be there has to be a balance in our lives, you know, time in the Word and time in prayer.

We can pray and pray and pray, and that's good, but our prayers need to be according to the Word of God.

How do we know what His will is if we're not in the Word?

We're not going to know how to pray according to His will.

And so it's so important that we be in the Word.

So I'm going to share more this morning talking about our greatest need.

And I want to start by sharing a testimony with you, see if I can get my remote to work, about Alexander the Great.

And I love this story, maybe you've heard of it, but if you haven't, it's just such a unique story.

We've all heard about Alexander the Great, you know, he was the mighty conqueror that lived before the time of Christ, and conquered all the then known world.

But something that is not as well known is that He was also a compassionate ruler.

And 1 day out of every year He would invite different random subjects from His kingdom to come together and give the request, and they could ask him for whatever they wanted.

And 1 time this 1 year this man was there and there were many people there asking you know some were asking for food money for food and some were asking for money for medical expenses or to send their children to school, or all these different things.

And this 1 man came forward, and he had a different request.

And he said, tell the king that I want a palace.

And he's talking to the spokesman, and the spokesman, of course, is relaying the message to the king.

And so he says, tell the king that I want a palace.

Well the spokesman is like, who do you think you are?

I mean look at what these people are asking for, money for food and clothes and medical and all these things.

And he says, yes, yes, tell the king I want a palace and I want it to be fully furnished, and I want a large banquet hall because I have lots of friends that I want to be able to invite together.

And he's giving all these specifications, and the spokesman is getting more and more upset because he's like, you can't ask the king for this, you need to think of a more reasonable request.

Well, the king, Alexander, as the story goes, sees that there's some commotion and so he asks the spokesman, what is the man asking for?

And so the spokesman comes up and whispers in his ear, he's asking for a palace.

I told him he can't ask for a palace, but he's persisting and he wants it fully furnished and he wants a large banquet hall and he lists all the things.

Well King Alexander thought about that for a moment And then he smiled and sat up a little straighter.

Well, the spokesman is like, how can you grant that request?

And the king says, you see all these people in the request that they're asking me, things that they're asking me for.

Anybody that has a little extra could help them.

But this is the first man that has made me feel like the king that I am, because only I can grant this request.

It reminds me about the fact we serve the King of the universe, right?

We serve the King who we're told in Jeremiah 32, 17, stretches out the heavens by His great power.

There's nothing too hard for Him, but how often do we stop by just asking for those little things, you know, money to pay the bills or food or our lost keys or things like this.

We serve the King of the Universe who holds up the stars and the worlds, who knows them all by name, and yet He cares when we lose our keys.

He cares about putting food on our table.

So I'm not saying we don't give those things to God.

He cares about the details, the private pain, even the prayer you cannot pray.

So we give Him these things, but we don't stop.

Jeremiah 33, verse 3 says, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

And my favorite Bible verse I shared yesterday, Ephesians 3, 20, Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Now I just want to clarify here, when I'm talking about praying for palaces, I'm not talking about physical palaces.

Some people, God does give palaces, mansions, whatever to, and I pray if you're 1 of those people that you're using that for the glory of God, because that's only the reason that you should have that.

I'm talking about the fact that He's calling us to the promised land, to Canaan, to the land spiritually of abundance, and He's calling us to have success winning people and bringing people into the kingdom.

And so that's what I'm talking about, daring to ask for more, daring to ask for palaces.

So yesterday I shared some of my testimony.

There's always more things to tell and more things to share.

But I just wanted you guys to get a little glimpse of the fact.

You know, I don't feel like I've arrived.

I'm on the journey with all of you, but I feel like I'm like 1 of those spies maybe that has tasted and seen a little bit of the goodness of the promised land.

And I'm just like, wow, there is so much more for us spiritually if we only recognized that.

And so that's okay let's see here if I can get these controls going the right way.

And so I believe that God has so much, so much more in store for us.

I love the promise of Malachi 3.10 which says, prove me and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there's not room enough to receive it.

Of course this has to do in the context of tithing offerings.

God wants us to prove him and to take him at his word.

Now I think we would all agree, how many of you would agree that we're in a crisis right now in our world and our church?

We're in a crisis in our homes, we're in a crisis spiritually, and something needs to change.

And the exciting thing is, you know, Israel was in a crisis at various times, and God sent people to stand in the crisis and to stand strong, and that's what I believe He's calling us to do as well.

So I'm going to bring you to this reference here from the pen of Ellen White.

It says, it was because Elijah was a man of large faith that God could use him in the crisis of the history of Israel.

As he prayed, his faith reached out and grasped the promises of Heaven.

There's 1 point where Ellen White says, we are to grasp His promises as leaves from the tree of life.

Those are our healing leaves that we have been given in this lifetime to hold on to.

Grasp his promises as leaves from the tree of life.

As he prayed, His faith reached out and grasped the promises of heaven, and he persevered in prayer until his petitions were answered.

He did not wait for full evidence that God had heard him, but was willing to venture all on the slightest token of divine favor.

And yet what he was enabled to do under God, all may do in their sphere of activity for God's service.

Daring to Ask for More - Part 3

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day.

This is Wednesday, and it seems like time is going very quickly, but Father, we just pray that you'll help us to gain what you have for us today, to absorb what you would like us to retain today.

And Father, we're praying especially for your Holy Spirit to fill this place.

You promise when 2 or more are gathered together that you're in their midst, and we are here gathering together, Father, seeking a deeper experience with you, especially as it relates to prayer.

So Father, bless our time together today and fill us with your Spirit, we pray in your precious name, Amen.

So I shared that in the seminar we're going to have some practical experience just to not only draw us closer together and have some time in prayer, but also just to demonstrate when you go back to your own church groups or even your family group or whatever, ways that you can come together and pray.

And some of you may have experienced this already and hopefully so, but I'm going to be focusing specifically on United Prayer today and how to come together in unity in prayer.

Before I share what we're going to do, I just want to read a couple thoughts to you.

I assume you probably already have the Praying for Rain booklet.

If you don't, we want to make sure you get copies.

There's some out there and I'll have some up here as well.

But this is really a handbook to help you start small United Prayer groups.

It has a lot of inspiration, a lot of Bible promises, things along that line.

But I'm looking here in the beginning, why should we have united prayer?

Of course we know the promise of Matthew 18, 19 and 20 that says, "...if 2 of you shall agree as touching anything that they ask, it shall be done for them.

Where 2 or more are gathered together, He is in their midst." so we know that.

Referring to that promise, Ellen White writes in the book of Evangelism, page 414, she says, "...precious promise.

What marvelous results would appear if the united prayers of this company were to ascend to God in living faith?

If we would really bind together, what would God do?

And here's something else that she writes in the book Fundamentals of Christian Education, page 210.

Brethren should stand shoulder to shoulder, uniting their prayers at the throne of grace, that they may move the arm of the omnipotent.

Heaven and earth will then closely be connected in the work, and there will be joy and gladness in the presence of the angels of God when the lost sheep is found and restored." So as I shared already yesterday, there is such a beauty and a power when God's people pray together.

And actually we're told the power of those prayers comes in relation to the unity and the love that there is within the group, 1 for another.

It's very hard to be united when there's discord, right?

When there's discord among you, you're not very united.

I tell people, don't wait until the discord's all taken together to come together and pray, because as we pray, God has a way of doing something in our hearts to heal that discord.

And I've seen this happen time and time again with churches that I've been at and shared this with, how you know we'll start and we'll be praying together and just people are overcome with conviction.

They need to go and make right wrong with so-and-so, somebody that's in the group, and they'll go and do that, and they'll hug each other and cry and pray together, and then it's like the prayer meeting doesn't want to end, people don't want to leave, because they can feel the Spirit of the Lord there, and God is going to work in His church and among His people if we will come together and uniting our hearts together in unity and prayer.

So, you know, there's many stories I could share and I'm not going to take a lot of time talking this morning because I really want to have some time today to pray and I'm going to demonstrate and you're all going to be part of this, you know, we're not just going to pretend, we're actually going to take time to pray, but it is going to be kind of a model and a sample for you as well.

But I'm gonna demonstrate 2 different types of prayer that I believe are a real blessing for groups.

This is not obviously, you know, like, oh, this is just what you need to do, and if you're not doing this, no, that's not it at all.

But this is just ways that we've found have been such a blessing, and especially even for young people and children that have a hard time getting involved, you know, because we adults tend to wax a little bit too eloquent.

And sometimes it's a struggle for others or maybe those that are a little timid and those that are a little bit more, you know, feeling like, I just don't know how to pray like they do.

So, you know, I can't, you know, and obviously God hears the heart even if you're not speaking, but we're seeking to create an atmosphere that all can be involved as the Holy Spirit convicts.

And I just say pray if the Holy Spirit convicts you, and if you don't, just pray in your heart.

But like I said, there's so many stories that I could share as we've had United Prayer Groups.

I remember 1 time there was a group praying, and it was a small group, and eyes were closed, and so people didn't really know whether people were coming or going, but towards the end as they were singing a song, it just sounded like a lot more people had joined because it was so beautiful.

But when they opened their eyes, they found that it was the same small group that they had started with.

The angels were actually singing with them.

Series

Going ABOVE and BEYOND

Daring to Ask for More - Part 2

Transcript

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