The God Who Hears the Desperate

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:04:51] Good morning, everyone. Welcome. We are so glad that you are here this morning. For those of you joining us online, we are thankful that you are here as well and looking forward to all God has in store for us this morning. For those of you still in the foyer, come on in and join in. We're ready to worship this morning. So, reminder to sign in on the attendance pads. Those are the little red notebooks that are in the back of the pews. Sign yourself in and pass those down the row so that everyone can get signed in. And then a couple of announcements.
[00:05:22] are selling barbecue tickets, tickets for barbecue plates. If you are interested in that, you will buy your ticket today. They will have them ready for pickup next week. Today is the last day to order them. So please, if you want that, make sure you get your ticket. Also, I needed
[00:05:37] to let you know that we've made a change in our Wednesday night activities. We have canceled this week. Wednesday night, we're not having snack supper, and we're not going to meet for Bible study. But that's because we have this big event this weekend, next weekend called Spirit and
[00:05:55] Truth. And so we're hoping that everyone will be there and be a part of that. It is going to be amazing. Registration did close. However, if you find that you have a last minute change of your
[00:06:06] schedule or the ability, Pastor Stephanie know or the prayer team know that you'd like to be a part of it. So hopefully we can coordinate some food for you, but otherwise come to the door and we'll
[00:06:22] let you in. We want you here. It's going to be amazing. And if you are unable to participate, please keep praying through that weekend for us. God is going to do amazing things.
[00:06:33] Lastly, just a quick reminder for those of you that are part of our prime time, that's 60 and older, they are meeting tomorrow as usual. So plan to be in the fellowship hall with your potluck
[00:06:43] dish and enjoy your fellowship. And with that, let's go ahead and stand up and do our call to worship. Everybody stand. I said earlier they were a little slow too, and I said it's calisthenics
[00:06:56] time. Let's go. I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. Lord, my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. You, Lord,
[00:07:13] brought me up from the realm of the dead. You spared me from going down to the pit.
[00:07:19] Sing the praises of the Lord You his faithful people Praise his holy name For his anger lasts only a moment But his favor lasts a lifetime Weeping may stay for the night But rejoicing comes in the morning
[00:07:39] Thanks be to God Thanks Kelly

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:07:41] Please join me in prayer Lord God we thank you for today We thank you for the opportunity we have To come together as your church to worship and glorify you and lift you high.
[00:07:55] Lord God, I pray that every element of worship in this service glorifies you and you alone.
[00:08:02] Father, open our minds and our hearts to your word and what you would have us hear today.
[00:08:07] In Jesus' name, amen.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:08:09] In the land that is plentiful With the streams of abundance flow Blessed be your name

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:08:30] When I'm found in the desert glades When I walk through the wilderness Blessed be your name When you pour out in the darkness closing, Lord Still I will say the name Blessed be your name
[00:09:07] Blessed be your glory Blessed be your name

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:09:23] When the sun's shining down on me When the world's all as it should be Blessed be your name

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:09:39] On the road marked with suffering Though it's vain in the offering Blessed be your name In the dark be the names to save Blessed is his name

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:12:26] I confess without you

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:12:45] I fall, that God's my hope, when God's grace is found, I'll stand, I'll fall on you, your trouble, the heartache, to Jesus, and find your peace, if you'll run down, and if, come to Jesus, and find your peace,

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:16:34] He is hope for the hopeless, for the weak, for the hurt, the prince of peace, author and maker of everything, defender, deliverer, king of kings.

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:18:35] He is, he is helper and healer forevermore, and savior and shelter through every storm, my refuge, redeemer and Lord of lords.
[00:18:49] He is, He is Child of heaven and son of man Provider, protector, the great I am Alpha, omega, beginning and end He is, He is Hope for the hopeless Rest for the weary Hope for the hurt
[00:19:15] He is all that you need

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:00] Let's pray.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:20:23] Oh Lord, that song is the truth of it.
[00:20:32] you are everything apart from you we have no good thing but with you we have all that we need for we know that you know exactly what it is to be one of us tempted in every way
[00:20:53] seeing firsthand the sufferings of people the hurts and the pains and the joys and everything in between so we praise you lord that we have a god like that who will meet us where we are, who knows our hearts and our minds and does not turn away from us because of
[00:21:16] what you find here. Instead, you draw us to yourself. You draw us to you that we might find healing and hope and a shelter in the storm, for that is who you are. We praise you, Lord, because
[00:21:33] you are our creator who created us to be in relationship with you. You created us to be whole only in you, only that when you are with us and within us. So we pray that this morning, Lord,
[00:21:46] you would pour out your Holy Spirit on everyone who is here and meet them in their need. Draw them to yourself. The things that we do not share with anyone else, Lord, read them on the tablets
[00:22:02] of our heart. Let us not be ashamed to look to you, for great are you. And we know that we do need you, Lord. And yet sometimes we try to do our life as if we do not need you. We keep you at
[00:22:27] arm's length instead of running to you. With one breath, we praise you for all the good things that you have done in our lives. And with our next breath, we refuse to obey you. And so we pray,
[00:22:43] Lord, that you would forgive us for being double-minded people. We pray, Lord, that we would embrace the truth of who you are and who we are in your light. Lord, our world is in turmoil.
[00:23:09] We see it all around us. We see it in our community. We see it in the lives of our neighbors.
[00:23:16] We see it in our nation. And we pray, Lord, that you would somehow use us in the midst of all of that, that we could look outside of ourselves and to others the way that you do, to alleviate
[00:23:34] suffering in this world and not cause it. And we ask your forgiveness, Lord, for humanity, for those who turn to violence to be heard, for those who feel like their only outlet is to harm and to destroy. We pray for our country and for those who value politics
[00:24:04] over human lives we pray for those in other countries who at this very moment are being slaughtered for their faith in you and yet the world seems to turn its face away from them we pray for those among us who are suffering who are enduring things that they do not tell anyone
[00:24:29] about and we ask that as your church lord that you would help us to respond to all of these circumstances and situations with compassion and love and grace for we believe lord that your love and your power is stronger than the enemy who seeks only to steal kill and destroy
[00:24:53] lord we lift up the deeds of those in the congregation and for those a congregation has identified in our community we lift up the family of the north side staff member who died and the driver who was involved we lift this situation this horrible situation up to you
[00:25:21] and we ask that you would speak peace and comfort and understanding into all of those lives that were involved lord we pray for lisa winkle and her family lisa who has coded several times and they brought her back and yet she has decided to stop all her
[00:25:48] treatments and to accept what may come. We ask that you would meet her where she is and prepare her for what is to come. Make yourself known to her, God, and give her peace and comfort
[00:26:04] and strength. Lord, we give you praise for successful surgeries, for Janet Zoller, and that she's gotten great reports ever since. We pray for continued healing for her and that she would be made well and strong. Lord, we ask you that you would hear our prayers, that
[00:26:33] you would turn your ear to us and consider us. We know that you do hear us, and we ask that you would answer our prayers according to your will and in your goodness and in your
[00:26:50] grace and in your love. And we pray all these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:27:06] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:27:13] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:27:23] And lead us not into temptation,

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:27:27] but deliver us from evil.

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:27:28] one. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. At this time, our children can leave for Children's Church with Mr. Malik and Mr. Robert and Ms. Faith.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:27:56] Ah, my microphone was on earlier, and I trust you all turned it down and muted it while I was singing, right? Anyway, real quick before we, we're slightly in a different order today because I was really impressed with the solo. Just let me draw your attention back of
[00:28:16] the sermon notes, front of the sermon notes of the sermon notes. On the back is a quarterly financial report. I just do this every quarter. In the first quarter, we took in about $239,000 and we spent about $239,000. The bad news is we probably spent about $500 or $600 more than we
[00:28:35] took in. But the good news is that was because we knew we were replacing an air conditioning unit, and that was half of that. We paid half of it, so that was $20,000 more we spent. The church
[00:28:46] budget is like your home budget, only bigger, and stuff comes up. And so the first quarter was good.
[00:28:52] I just thank everyone for their faithful giving, and I thank everyone who works to take care of the money on our various committees for doing a good job. Anyway, at this time, even as we've
[00:29:04] worship the Lord by praying and by singing and really in truth just by showing up. That is an act of worship. Would you stand now and worship the Lord by affirming your faith by reciting
[00:29:17] together the Apostles' Creed? I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
[00:29:28] I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
[00:29:43] He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
[00:29:56] I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
[00:30:11] You may be seated. And now, Kara sang a solo at the first service, which really goes with the sermon today, which is about when we pray to God, really needing an answer.
[00:30:25] And I thought it went with the sermon so well, I asked her to sing it right in front of the sermon. So Kara, would you minister to us now in song? They say sometimes you win some, sometimes

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:30:49] you lose some, and right now, right now I'm a loser. It's easy to sing when there's nothing to bring me down. What will I say when I'm held to the flames like I am? Saved through the fire with
[00:31:30] your mighty hand they say it only takes a little faith a little faith is all i have god when you choose leave mountains unmoved oh give me the strength to be able to sing it is a way my soul
[00:32:21] and i know you can save through the fire with your mighty hand for the sorrow and i know But I'll go away if you just say the word.
[00:33:03] On my day, Jesus said, I'm what man.
[00:33:13] Cause I know, I know, it is well with my soul.
[00:34:20] It is well.
[00:34:21] Thank you, Kara.

[00:34:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:34:43] I believe that introduces the message we're going to get into this morning.
[00:34:48] But before we really get into the message proper, Let me open this morning's message by asking you a question, a question I've asked before, and the question is, as many of the youth remember, can I tell you a story?
[00:35:10] Only this time the story is going to be different.
[00:35:13] Usually when I tell you a story, it is something from the news or from history or from a movie or some personal experience I've had, and I'm using that story to introduce this morning's Scripture of the Day.
[00:35:30] But today I want to use one story from the Bible to introduce the second story from the Bible, which is the one I want you to hear more.
[00:35:39] And by the way, as part of the opening story, I want to tell you my wife is among those who are away at women's retreat, but this is one of her favorite stories from the Bible.
[00:35:51] And when I told her I was going to preach from one of her favorite stories from the Bible, she guessed which one it was right away.
[00:36:00] So as I read this story to you, I want you to listen to it because it is part of God's inspired word, seriously.
[00:36:09] But also, if you can, try to ask yourself, not so seriously, why you think my wife, Linda, would particularly be amused by this particular story from the Bible.
[00:36:23] So this is from the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20, verses 7 to 12, where Luke, the doctor, the disciple of Jesus, and also the sometime recording secretary, tells us something that happened while Paul, the apostle, was preaching. And so we read from
[00:36:44] the book of Acts from Luke, on the first day of the week, we came together to break bread.
[00:36:51] Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.
[00:37:05] Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep while Paul talked on and on and when he was sound asleep he Eutychus fell to the ground from the
[00:37:21] third story and was picked up dead at this Paul went down threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him and he said don't be alarmed he's alive well then he Paul went upstairs again
[00:37:39] and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. After which, the people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. Now, I'm curious how many of you think you can guess why my wife finds amusement in that story. It could be because this is an
[00:38:01] account of the Word of God being preached and the power of God being displayed. I mean, Eutychus was dead, and God raised him to life, which was great. But no, I think my wife really passes over that
[00:38:16] portion and likes that story from Acts 20 for a different reason. She likes that story because it reminds her of me. And she loves me, but when she reads about how Paul kept on talking until
[00:38:30] midnight, and Eutychus was falling into a deep sleep while Paul talked on and on. And now after God used Paul to heal Eutychus, Paul then continued his sermon and went on until daylight, raising the
[00:38:45] question of whether Eutychus had to stay after having fallen out of the window and been raised from the dead and listened to the rest of the sermon. I mean, can you imagine? Behailed? Now, as I was saying on point C, well, I think Linda reads that and she wants to laugh at me because
[00:39:05] she can relate. By the way, maybe this is the real reason why Paul did not take a believing wife with him when he ministered everywhere around. It might have been he simply talked too much and scared
[00:39:18] them all away. By the way, here is a fun fact of life. I don't know how true it is anymore, but wives in the past have complained that their husbands won't talk to them. I don't think that
[00:39:32] the wives of preachers make that complaint as often. Anyway, to come to my point, which may not be clear, but it is real. Sometimes we joke about and we joke around the things we care about
[00:39:46] the most because being serious can hurt too much. So when we care about people, including ourselves, and they need healing or they need help, like Eutychus did, that thought, that response can trigger the humor response.
[00:40:07] Meaning sometimes we joke about healing, and I know some good jokes about healing, but we joke about them because we find hoping for healing to be an unavoidable desire.
[00:40:19] But that desire and that hope is too painful, too weighty too confusing to think about seriously and so we try to deflect with humor or by changing the subject how about them cowboys well this morning I want to share with you
[00:40:39] a second story from the Bible a true story that captures I think better the pain of what it is like to be at our wits end really needing God and then I want to say a few words to you
[00:40:52] about going to God and praying for healing for yourself and for others or having people pray for you.
[00:41:00] So would you pray with me now?
[00:41:03] And then we'll turn to the word.
[00:41:07] Oh, Lord, this world can be rough to live in.
[00:41:14] And it's easy to want to close our eyes and not see and distract ourselves and not think about what matters most.
[00:41:28] But you've given us a faith through which we can overcome.
[00:41:32] a faith that says even if the worst happens that's not the end of the story and so we pray this morning as we listen to something you did 3,000 years ago that you would speak
[00:41:50] to each of our hearts today this we ask in Jesus' name Amen okay let me now share with you an ancient Old Testament story about God healing someone that I believe can speak to all of our hearts, probably not today, but one day.
[00:42:16] And this story is a story of a miracle, a miracle that took place during the days of the prophet Elijah. They have songs about that. And this miracle took place at a time when Israel was
[00:42:29] ruled by a weak king named Ahab. And he wasn't only weak, but he did not faithfully worship the Lord. In fact, as part of his unfaithfulness, he married a very pagan, forceful wife who didn't
[00:42:49] use that combination well. And you may know her name. It's Jezebel. There's a reason why we don't name our daughters Jezebel. And God had led Elijah to challenge Ahab and Jezebel by announcing that for the next several years, presumably because of their faithlessness to God, God was going to send
[00:43:10] a drought on the entire kingdom to display that he was not pleased. A drought that was worse than what San Antonio gets. And after God told Elijah to announce the drought, God then told Elijah to
[00:43:24] run away, or maybe just take a road trip or vacation, to go to the Kirith ravine east of the Jordan River, where Elijah could drink from a brook, and where God had commanded ravens to bring Elijah food. By the way, and just an aside, what I just told you reveals a deep and
[00:43:46] important biblical truth. My football team is in the Bible. The Cowboys and Texans, not so much.
[00:43:55] By the way, Scott Penning said his football team is in the Bible too. It's the Lions.
[00:43:59] anyway what I described with Elijah was the arrangement until it changed and when things changed this is what happened sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land that happens then the word of the Lord came to him go at once to Zarephath in the region
[00:44:20] of Sidon which was outside of Israel and stay there I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. Now let me just say, God does not always direct us and our steps so directly.
[00:44:37] Sometimes, including times in the Bible, we are following the Lord and we do not know for a season what to do next. This happened famously, or at least famously to preachers, in the book of Acts
[00:44:50] chapter 16, verses 6 to 10 with Paul. But sometimes God is more direct. And that happened this time because Elijah had been willing to go out on a limb, on a very dangerous limb for God that could
[00:45:07] get him killed. And so God said, okay, I'm going to help you now. Here's a roadmap. So he, Elijah, went to Zarephath, when he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to
[00:45:22] her and asked, would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? As she was going to get it, he called, and bring me please a piece of bread. By the way, I was joking earlier about
[00:45:36] Linda thinking of me when she thought about Paul talking on forever. Well, I hope I don't remind Linda too often of Elijah in this scripture. Honey, can you get me something to drink? And she
[00:45:48] gets up. And while you're up, could you get me something to eat? You know, make me a sandwich.
[00:45:54] But Elijah's request probably was not as bad as me being lazy or selfish, because he really was thirsty. He really was hungry. And the problem was, in this case, he really was not the only one,
[00:46:09] because listen to how the widow of Zarephath answered him.
[00:46:14] As surely, she said, as the Lord your God lives, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug.
[00:46:26] I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it and die.
[00:46:37] You know, in America, we don't know how blessed we are.
[00:46:40] We have more food than we can eat.
[00:46:43] Oh, I go to a restaurant, they give me too much, I have to take it home in a container.
[00:46:47] We often take in more calories than we should.
[00:46:52] And that means we know nothing about the four-year-old child, say, in Malawi, who is crying because the last bit of food they had was a little bit of porridge a few days ago.
[00:47:03] Or we know nothing of conditions even in Europe, in old England, where some woman, elderly woman who has outlived her ability to earn sits in her cold attic apartment nursing her last cup of cocoa
[00:47:21] made with more water than milk and she calls that supper.
[00:47:27] We don't know about such things but we are told that God who not only used ravens to feed Elijah but who also sees even the sparrow fall he sees those who are in need maybe we should too just
[00:47:46] saying well anyway God apparently saw this widow in Zarephath and so Elijah said to her don't be afraid go home and do as you have said but first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you
[00:48:03] have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. And by the way, at that moment, Elijah does sound a tad selfish, but then he says this, for this is what the Lord, the God
[00:48:13] of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land. So Elijah said, in effect, to this woman in a pagan culture,
[00:48:31] God, the one God, has called on you to take care of me.
[00:48:36] And by the way, he's going to take care of you too.
[00:48:42] So she went away and did as Elijah had told her.
[00:48:45] So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and for her family.
[00:48:49] For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
[00:48:58] You know, sometimes stories do have happy endings.
[00:49:01] And you look at this, and isn't it great?
[00:49:04] But even though it would be great if the story ended here, it didn't.
[00:49:10] And something happened that was a lot worse, but then things got better.
[00:49:16] Sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house, the widow of Zarephath, became ill.
[00:49:21] He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.
[00:49:26] And then she, the widow of Zarephath, said to Elijah, and here's a sentence for you, What do you have against me, man of God?
[00:49:35] Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?
[00:49:40] Now, I wonder, you might not say those words, but have you ever felt them?
[00:49:45] That God was judging you.
[00:49:48] Maybe that he is judging you now.
[00:49:51] I mean, picture this woman.
[00:49:52] Her life is hard.
[00:49:54] Her life is lonely.
[00:49:55] She is expecting to watch her son die of starvation and die with him.
[00:50:01] Good times.
[00:50:02] but then God sends his prophet this man of God to her and he asks her for help and he promises her that God will help her also and it seems to be happening this God who she does not know
[00:50:15] seems to be blessing her and then her son dies so she has to wonder God are you just tormenting me punishing me for my sins by giving me hope and then taking my hope away
[00:50:29] have you killed my son to remind me of my sin? I mean, it's hard not to read the widow's question without at least feeling your heart break for her. There are no jokes about healing for this one.
[00:50:47] Well, Elijah replied, give me your son. He took him up. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried
[00:50:59] out to the Lord, Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I'm staying with?
[00:51:06] Keep in mind, Elijah was a prophet, and the things he did were said were true, but they weren't easy things for anyone, and you had to wonder if Elijah was ever going, what bad luck I am. So are you
[00:51:17] bringing tragedy on this widow too by causing her son to die? And then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him. You know,
[00:51:35] I understand people think that those who speak of healing and miracles are just making things up.
[00:51:46] I had a friend at seminary who was part of a tradition that talked about miracles often, and they were real. But he said sometimes when they're talking about the goiter that was healed, it was like a fish story. How big was that goiter? He was saying that as an insider and one who
[00:52:03] believed in miracles. I understand people thinking some things are made up. I understand and I believe some, but not all, faith healers are running a con job. But I've also listened to missionaries tell of times when, you know, their whole life is putting everything on the line for
[00:52:22] God, living in some foreign country, and they're trying to reach a new people group for Christ, and at some juncture, at some point, they desperately need God to show up and do something, because what is at stake is the people believing that the message is true.
[00:52:41] And I've listened to missionaries say, you know, he showed up. And that point of desperation is where I think Elijah was at or around in this moment.
[00:52:53] Well, the Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.
[00:52:59] Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house.
[00:53:03] He gave him to his mother and said, Look, your son is alive.
[00:53:08] And here's a thing the woman said next that was almost as good as the last thing she said was bad and sad.
[00:53:15] She said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God, And I think more importantly, that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.
[00:53:27] And as I read that, I can't help thinking that this poor, probably pagan woman, who lived and died 3,000 years ago, was beginning to grasp another possibility she hadn't considered before.
[00:53:44] Do you know the story of Hagar in the book of Genesis?
[00:53:47] And how God met her when she was rejected and discarded, and thinking that she and her son were going to die.
[00:53:54] And after God met her and provided her with water, she said, he is the God that seeth me.
[00:54:03] By the way, some things, not the whole Bible, but some things are better in the King James.
[00:54:07] They're almost clearer.
[00:54:09] Why, I think the widow of Zarephath may have been moving towards that thought as well.
[00:54:17] Now I wonder, I'm curious, how many of you know or remember the wedding song?
[00:54:23] It's called There is Love by Paul Stuckey of Peter, Paul, and Mary.
[00:54:26] Anyone who's young know it?
[00:54:28] It used to be sung all the time at weddings.
[00:54:31] You see, in the days when not dinosaurs but hippies roamed the earth, Paul Stuckey was a member of a group called Peter, Paul, and Mary.
[00:54:42] I think they had been in Sunday school at some point.
[00:54:45] Even though they weren't a Christian group, they remembered things.
[00:54:48] And, well, he attended a friend's wedding and was inspired to write this song that I think it was at all the weddings in the 70s and the 80s.
[00:54:56] And it begins, He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts.
[00:55:03] Rest assured this troubadour is acting on his part.
[00:55:08] How many of you remember that?
[00:55:10] Okay, if you're older.
[00:55:12] And the song goes on.
[00:55:13] And if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
[00:55:18] do you believe in something that you've never seen before well i think of those words when i read this biblical record i mean then who is the giving for who was the feeding for for whose benefit was
[00:55:33] this entire series of events involving elijah i mean god kept elijah alive but he could have simply used more ravens i mean the ravens just drafted 11 new players and signed a bunch of free agents. They got 20 more ravens. God could have made more ravens without a problem to bring
[00:55:50] more food. But instead, apparently, the God of the universe looked on this pagan woman who seemingly was on the wrong team, this widowed woman of Zarephath who carried around guilt over some undisclosed sin and sorrow over the prospect of starving, and God decided, I see her, and I want
[00:56:11] to know that I see her, and that she is forgiven. So God met her through the person of Elijah.
[00:56:22] And as I say that, do you realize that he is the God who seeth you too, and that he will meet you through the Holy Spirit and the person of Jesus Christ? So how do we pray when we feel like the
[00:56:40] widow of Zarephath, when our flour and oil are running out and we think we aren't going to make it, when we're afraid we're going to lose our son, our daughter, our parents, our spouse, or whoever
[00:56:53] matters most to us. If faith healing can be a source of jokes and criticism, real prayers for healing are not. They evoke our deepest emotions and leave us with the sense when we get right down
[00:57:09] to it that we don't know what to think, we don't know how to feel, and we don't even know what to pray. So some people, some Christians, don't even want to hope and pray at all. It's all too much.
[00:57:26] A little church history. Maxie Dunham, still alive in his 90s, Methodist pastor of the first order, a man of biblical and personal integrity. Interesting, not known to everyone, but in the 1960s, when the civil rights movement became the question of the day, Maxie Dunham wrote an
[00:57:48] editorial. He publicly took a stand against racism and segregation, and he lived in the land of racism and segregation. So this wasn't a way for him to gain notoriety or to get rich. This was a
[00:58:01] way that you might get killed. But beyond that, Maxie was an evangelical, which, by the way, the correct meaning of the term has very little to do with politics unless you're trying to convert politicians. Because being an evangelical actually means that you believe Jesus saves, and that he
[00:58:20] has saved you, and that he will save anyone, and you want to tell people about that if you can.
[00:58:26] It's why I don't give up on the word evangelical, even though it's dragged through the mud.
[00:58:31] So Maxie stood for the Bible and for the gospel. He pastored some really big churches.
[00:58:37] 30 times the number of people here.
[00:58:40] He's the past president of the World Methodist Council.
[00:58:44] He founded the Curcio movement, which became the Emmaus community, and he was, for a time, the president of Asbury Theological Seminary, which was the largest training ground for ministers in the entire Methodist world.
[00:58:58] But for all that, I remember him sharing that one time when he wanted to start a new church service on a different night, dedicated to praying for healing.
[00:59:08] It was at one of these mega churches where you have so many people, if 1% shows up, it's a lot.
[00:59:13] Well, he set off a firestorm.
[00:59:16] People were associating healing services with something disreputable and manipulative.
[00:59:21] And if I remember from hearing this decades ago, his wife apparently calmed everyone down and said, no, this isn't about being shady.
[00:59:29] This is about praying for real to a God who hears and a God who heals.
[00:59:35] So sometimes we can't deal with the really big stuff, the really big needs in life and the hope that God is there.
[00:59:45] But even if we can't deal with that, sooner or later we have to, and we all need prayer, serious prayer.
[00:59:57] I attended Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.
[01:00:01] While I was there, there was a professor of exegesis named Bob Lyons.
[01:00:06] and biblical exegesis might best be described as the disciplined work of interpreting the scriptures using the best means that you have and that you know how to use up to and including the original languages.
[01:00:22] Well, Bob Lyons was a good prof but he seemed to a lot of us like he was a little judgmental.
[01:00:30] Now I'm going to use another word that's misunderstood.
[01:00:32] He was liberal.
[01:00:34] not in the sense of believing that the Bible was not true but the main thing that energized him was thoughts of justice and providing for the poor and being fair, which is all good stuff
[01:00:46] to believe in and live out but sometimes, as with anything that really lights our heart on fire it can make us judge metal it can create a spirit, that's for everyone to be honest, we didn't feel the grace of God when we were around him
[01:01:05] and he didn't look, not that everybody should be smiling all the time, but he didn't look happy with his faith. Well, then he had a heart event, maybe heart attack, and he was supposed to recover, but he wasn't. So someone at the hospital, I remember hearing, called the seminary.
[01:01:28] I don't know who they spoke to, but they suggested that some people come out and do that prayer thing that you folks do.
[01:01:37] Now, Asbury is a believing, praying seminary.
[01:01:41] There was a team of professors who would make a point of praying for really deep situations.
[01:01:46] People with PhDs who did exorcisms.
[01:01:51] Well, they went and prayed for Bob Lyons, and I'm told while they were praying, that was when he regained consciousness.
[01:02:00] And he looked up, and the first thing he saw was four of his colleagues.
[01:02:05] a couple of them with PhDs, all standing around his bed and talking to God on his behalf.
[01:02:14] I was at Asbury for a continuing education event when that story became known.
[01:02:20] And by chance, I went to the gym one night and I saw Bob Lyons doing laps.
[01:02:25] You know how when you get older, walking around in a circle becomes your exercise?
[01:02:29] He will.
[01:02:30] Well, he looked better.
[01:02:33] He looked different.
[01:02:35] He looked happy.
[01:02:36] he looked healed and not only physically you could see it for what it's worth John Wesley the principal founder of Methodism I don't think he would have ever called himself a faith healer if the term was
[01:02:53] even used in the 18th century he claimed to have no special gifts or powers from God only what God gives to every Christian well someone went through all of Wesley's journals his diaries talk about Paul talking forever
[01:03:10] Wesley wrote forever, and he found that along the way there were numerous times when John Wesley wrote in a very matter-of-fact way. He wasn't bragging that, you know, someone was sick, kind of interrupted my preaching. We prayed for him. I think they were healed. It really read a
[01:03:26] lot like that account from the book of Acts, where Paul was preaching, Eutychus needed to be healed, he was healed, Paul continued preaching, and then he went on his way. John Wesley's journals read that way on occasion.
[01:03:43] So you may not know how to feel or think about praying for healing.
[01:03:50] You may not know how to pray for healing at all.
[01:03:53] I mean, I know that I know far from everything, less than I should.
[01:03:59] But as Christians, it is our right to go to God with our needs.
[01:04:07] So let me remind you of something I shared before in December from another Asbury prof, and I'll probably trot this out every six or 12 months.
[01:04:18] Steve Siemens says that when we pray, God heals.
[01:04:23] But seriously, he heals in different ways, which are all real but quite different.
[01:04:29] He says he heals directly and supernaturally, like what we read about in the Bible.
[01:04:36] It still happens today.
[01:04:39] He heals through doctors and medicine, nurses too.
[01:04:43] I often wonder if this is not God's highest plan.
[01:04:47] Sure, he can heal.
[01:04:48] It's no problem at all.
[01:04:50] But he's created a whole realm of work where people are going around imitating Christ, even if they don't know it, by doing what Jesus did.
[01:05:00] He heals through our body's natural processes.
[01:05:02] What's the phrase I heard?
[01:05:03] If you cut yourself, your skin will heal unless you're dead, and then it won't.
[01:05:08] Your body heals itself quite often.
[01:05:12] And sometimes he heals, not by making us better physically, but by giving us the grace we need.
[01:05:21] and that is our testimony.
[01:05:25] And sometimes this sounds like a cop-out and a cheat, but it's not.
[01:05:31] He heals through victorious death, and I know how it sounds.
[01:05:35] We pray that so-and-so would be healed.
[01:05:37] God healed them.
[01:05:38] They died.
[01:05:40] I mean, that doesn't sound really good, except if you believe it's all true about Jesus, and I believe it is, I think I'm...
[01:05:51] How many of you know someone who's had a knee replacement?
[01:05:52] and you talk to most of the time it goes well and is the person who got the knee replacement happy that they got it oh yes should have done that sooner it's much better i think that if we
[01:06:08] are in christ when we leave this world and get to where we are going we'll say wow this was better than a knee replacement i mean i don't even need my glasses anymore i don't think i have them but
[01:06:21] that's okay. And I left my medication somewhere, but I don't think I need the pills anymore.
[01:06:27] Now seriously, I believe sometimes the worst thing that can happen to us, like death, and the best thing, turn out to be the same thing. By the way, I don't think doctors will mind being
[01:06:47] unemployed in heaven. I think they'll probably get a kick out of beating their operating and examination tables into, I don't know, something else, dinner tables or pool tables or something.
[01:07:00] So let me close with a question. Will God hear you when you pray or when someone prays for you, particularly when you're desperate? I think so. Let me remind you of that widow from Zarephath.
[01:07:17] The Bible says in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Acts, which is, by the way, a New Testament book. It's about Jesus directly. Well, it says that when Jesus spoke at his hometown, they had heard that he had done miracles in Capernaum. And so they wanted him to do miracles
[01:07:37] in Nazareth too, probably in part because they wanted a show or a sign or they wanted to see something. Well, Luke tells us that Jesus said, I assure you that there were many widows in Israel
[01:07:52] in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years, and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the
[01:08:03] region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet.
[01:08:11] Yet not one of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian. When Jesus said this to the people of his hometown who really were not favorably disposed to the thought he was a prophet. They were not
[01:08:23] happy. They wanted to think that they were special. After all, they didn't have that reputation or that they were going to have their moment. They didn't want to hear something else. And so they didn't
[01:08:33] hear, at least not right away, the good news that God will hear anyone. So if you think you are somebody or a good person and you can impress God. I mean, hey, look at me. I'm a preacher
[01:08:49] and my degree has the embarrassing, I think, inappropriate name of Master of Divinity. I just think that doesn't sound right. Well, if you think something like that, I think you're off base.
[01:09:04] So remember the good news is good news for everyone who would have it. It was good news for young men like Eutychus and the widow of Zarephath and if you believe that God is God
[01:09:17] and Jesus is the way God will hear you he is the God who seeth you he is the God who heareth you and you don't have to speaketh in King James for that to be true
[01:09:34] you can talk to him like yourself through Christ so we're going to have our closing song now and let me just make an invitation like i make most weeks if any of you need prayer for anything i encourage you to come
[01:09:50] to the altar and pray and if you want someone to pray with you if you come to the altar you can pray on your own or if you want pastor stephanie and i would be happy to pray with you only

[01:10:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:10:02] understand he hears you too please stand as you're able

[01:10:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:10:09] Sometimes you have to ask what you really believe

[01:15:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:15:05] and you might wonder if the preacher really believes what he says and I do looking back I can count more than one time seemingly all the big times when I needed to go to God in prayer
[01:15:21] and he answered me he just didn't answer me as quickly as he answered people in the Bible though in fairness you can read a story in the Bible a lot faster than it took to unfold
[01:15:33] a few pages can cover decades so I just encourage you to believe the Lord is with you and that he hears you would you join me in the sending forth Christ has died Christ is risen
[01:15:52] Christ will come again