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Good morning. Today we are looking to Genesis chapter 18 and we look at real friendship and the pleading priest. This is a story and account of a very personal encounter of God with Sarah and with Abraham. And so two questions I like us to think about today and that is have you ever encountered God? Because this will be a story which talks a lot about God encountering with you and you waiting on him, us waiting on him so that we may experience him in our lives. And the second question is what has your prayer relationship with God been like? So when I talk about the first question, we usually think about bigger events or the time when you accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and how the Holy Spirit just moved in your heart and that's a time that you never forget and we usually separate that from everything else and say ever since then I feel very dry. So the second question I like to ask you this is something that Abraham has with God and that is this. How is your prayer relationship with God in life? I'm not asking about your prayer consistency. I'm not asking for your day-to-day devotion. I'm not asking for your schedule or what you do in your in your daily Bible reading plan because I know people I've been in seminary before and they had do and they do this every day but yet their relation their prayer relationship with God tends to wither. So I want to get to the crux of it again. Every time when I come up here I'd like to speak to your heart because that's where your encounter with God will be. That's where your relationship with God is established. And so these are the two questions I'd like you guys to just think about at the back of your head. Before we get into today's message, I would like to ask that as I speak to you today, I ask that for a personal prayer point. Would you please do me a favor and pray for me? Because I'm just about recovering from flu. I'm still coughing in between. So as an apology, first things first. If I cough in between and it's annoying you, I'm very, very sorry. It's aggravating me as well. Um, but I like the way John Stock puts it when he got older and as he preaches he tends to forget his train of thought and he would pause for 10 15 seconds on the at the pulpit and then after that he would go up to the congregation says please do not despise me. Please pray for me that his word will still per will still permeate through to you. So please pray for me as as even throughout as we hear his word today and as we get into this journey this part of journey between with Sarah with Sarah and Abraham why don't we go to God and offer our hearts to him and we shall start prayer let's pray
father God we thank you for the journey that we've been going through journey through Abraham and Sarah and this family oh And Lord, we thank you for seeing being able to see how you encounter and you administer to them. And so we ask, oh God, that we prepare our hearts to do the same thing. And we ask these questions in our in our hearts, oh God, about our encounter with you and also our relationship with you. We pray that we will be transparent and honest unto you. We ask, oh God, that wherever shortcomings you begin to mold and change in our hearts and whatever we lack, oh God, we pray that you just fill us, oh God, with your love. Open our ears, oh God, to hear your word. Oh father, we ask that you bless your servant even now. Let it not be his words. Let it not be his wisdom, but God, let it be yours. Let it be your will fulfilled in this place at this time. And this we say in Jesus name. Amen. We look at the journey and what Abraham has gone through in Abraham for Abraham. Abraham chapter 12, God comes up comes down to Abraham and says, "Get ye out of your country and I will make and I will give you a land that was promised to you. I will bless you and make your name great. Your generation shall be a blessing and and through you all nations will be blessed." And Abraham took that by faith. He went he goes on a journey. He leaves his family. He goes only with his wife Sarah. a couple of servants, a couple of servants and he just rolls off into a place where God actually had not given him direction of where he would be. He also has a conversation with God in Genesis chapter 15 when he says, "Oh God, you have asked me to leave. You said that you will make me a nation and and have many descendants, but I'm already so old. What what uh what's going to happen?" And God pulls Abraham all out into the stars and says, "You don't know this yet, but as you look at these stars, if you can even count them, so shall be the number of your generations." And we see God having this encounter with Abraham throughout the entire throughout the entire passage. But then the question we we then would have at the back of our head is what about Sarah? What about Sarah? We see God speaking to Abraham and then Abraham would usually just tell the message to his wife and his servant that they'll go through Egypt. They'll go through a place here. They will move for they they'll move around. They will divide. Uh Lot will go down to Sodom and Abraham will still stay will still stay and wait upon the Lord. And God has been comforting, encouraging, giving him word. But Sarah slowly at the back is emptying and emptying and emptying away. We even see prior to this scene on the prior to this picture scene, we remember uh the words of our brother Arnold when he shared about how when uh when Sarah actually lacked when Sarah actually uh had doubts and have what we call crisis of faith and he she did a very drastic action. He brought she brought Hagar over to Abraham and said this will be your wife. Have a son for me. And unfortunately, Abraham said, "Okay, you know, he didn't even complain." And so we see this lady, this wife, this faithful wife who's been following Abraham in this journey, but she herself never had a personal encounter with God until finally we see in this passage and how God reaches out to her. It's so beautiful. It's so mild. It's so soft. It's so gentle. And yet and even so gentle to we sometimes cannot imagine or we sometimes cannot did not realize of how gentle and how gracious God has been with them to us. And so here in this scene here we see three men of course of course they of course one is the voice of the Lord and they come to Abraham and Abraham provides the traditional hospitality. He provides the lamb. He provides a goat. He provides bread, meat, uh, and hospitality, a place to sit, a time to rest, fellowship, and so that these guys may eat. And as they were eating, Sarah was, uh, in, as was in custom at that time, she will wait in the tent. Women will women will be will always be in uh, in sitting away from the male guests. But God says something very interesting. And he said in this time, "Where is your wife Sarah?" As if God doesn't know. But Abra but God already from the be from the beginning of the of this conversation with Abraham, he says he's actually implying this time I want to talk to Sarah. Where is Sarah? And Abraham said Sarah is waiting the sitting in the tent. And and God in his omnitions, he knows that Sarah is at the door over there waiting. And God says, "In one year from now, you will have a son." And Sarah, having gone through such a tired journey, they're now in their 90s. And the text says very something very interesting that uh the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself saying, "After I'm worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" She's actually being a little crude. She's actually being rather cruel. She says, "My sexual desire has already left. God, you God, my biological clock has stopped and now you're asking me to have a son."
And so this laughter is not a jokey laughter. It's not a joyful laughter. It's a cynical laughter. And after hearing all of this and you say that you she will have a son. Sarah at the back of her in the back of her head is laughing cynically and I have not seen God's favor upon me. What makes you think that you do so well? And we would expect suddenly God to turn to this huge judge and says, "How dare you doubt me? How dare you speak to me that way?" He didn't do the same way as as he would as Gabriel did to Zechariah. Remember the story of Zechariah when Gabriel went to Zechariah and said, "You will have a son and his name shall be called John the Baptist." And Zachariah had doubt and Gabriel and Gabriel said, "I am the voice of God. I am telling you this message." And now you shall be mute because you because you don't want to hear my message. That's very very harsh. We would expect Sarah to receive something like that because it's quite insulted what Sarah has said. But God speaks very gently. In fact, so gently, he didn't even bring up the crudeness. He just said this. Is anything too hard for the Lord? You know, she said, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I will return to you now that I'm old?" Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. And then Sarah being afraid, she went up and said, "I didn't laugh, lying to an omnisient God. Bad idea." But God very gently said, "No, but you did laugh." And from that encounter, we see a whole change in Sarah's condition which we'll talk about in a moment. Friends, essentially one point I have about when it comes to the story of Sarah. I only have two points today. That's why two questions. One is regards to Sarah and the other regards to Abraham. And in regards to Sarah, my advice to you and my plea to you is this. You need to have a personal encounter with God.
In this modern society, oftentimes we try and pragmatically say, "Yeah, I have a relationship with God." You know, I read DA Carson, every single book that he has ever printed out. I have read I have listened to every one of Tim D. Keller's sermons online. You know, I've read apologetics books by Ravi Zacharias, William Lane Craig, you know, and I and I kind of know God, you know, I can reason out. I have the logic. But friends, the problem is that when we keep on doing that alone and not expecting God, the living God, who we expect to actually change our lives, if we don't expect him to encounter with us, if we don't prepare ourselves to actually meet our maker, then what we're just basically doing is academic exercises at the back of our heads. I'm not saying that this is detrimental to your salvation, but I'm saying that this is an experience that every person expects to have when we come to serve the living God. You need to have a personal encounter with God. It's a very bold appeal because like I said earlier in the text we see that all the while it has been with Abraham and Abraham believed God and in God had commanded it to be righteous to be his righteousness. It's always the encounter with Abraham. Abraham Abraham what about Sarah? And so that's why Sarah was waning in the background to the point where she gets cynical and laughs. But God comes back to her sheet and say, "Is anything impossible with God? Don't worry. In a year you'll have a child." And Sarah in her fear see God and say, "I didn't laugh. I didn't laugh."
to which then God said no but you did such such so gentle it's the truth but you did laugh but usually we lie so blatantly to our parents guess what happens to us faster than speed but with God this time he's so gentle to be could we we I when I read this text I was so surprised of how gentle God can be. And because he's encouraging, we need to have a personal encounter with God.
I can give you three reasons why we need to have an encount personal encounter with God. Number one, it affirms your faith in God. We see this story and how it turns around and how Sarah after that you notice you notice that she then waits for God for that year and later we see truth be true be told that I that then she gave birth to a son Isaac and her dialogue later which we sh we will share later turns from a laughter of cynicism to joy to to bitterness to h to to to from from bitterness to happiness from from from
emotionally bitter laughter to a laughter even unto herself because she herself thought I can't believe it but I'm glad I did. It affirms your faith in God. We see this also as Paul wrote in with for in first Corinthians. Here's what he says. For I delivered to you as of first importance of what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and he appeared to Kas and then to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by grace of but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. whether then it was will I or they so we preach as and so you believed you know Paul in his great knowledge and in the traditional sense would have just said you know this is all you need to know Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again that's it is what we've been preaching and this is what we shall preach to and this is what we shall preach to you and we carry on this message so on and so forth notice Notice how personal Paul makes it. Notice how personal Paul makes it for two reasons. One is is for evidence of witness. Paul says this, you know, uh Paul uh Paul says this to to the to the church in Corinthians. This is something you should know that Jesus had was uh that Jesus died, buried, rose again on the third day, and he didn't just disappear and didn't leave us a message. No, he lingered. He actually encountered with us. He appeared first to Peter. He appeared to the women. He appeared to 500 people. And he lastly, like I'm one untimely born, he appeared to me. And Paul, when he the way he writes it, he's basically saying, "And even though I don't deserve it, I am the one that killed churches. He has encountered me. And I have an encounter with him. And my life has never been the same. On the contrary, when I thought I could not do much, I end up working out even harder because of the grace that God has given me by being able to let me see him by able to let me encounter him in a powerful in a powerful and wonderful way. And this is what we believe and that's what we preach to you and we ask you to preach this as well. It affirms your faith. It affirms your faith with others. Personally for me, when I I grew up in First Baptist Church, I've gone through Sunday school. I've done Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and Joshua and Judges and Kings and Chronicles and and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra. I have done Malachi. I and we've done the Gospel of John every two years. is all good head knowledge. It's fantastic and Sunday school does a fantastic job in that. But I hated God with all my heart because all this was just head knowledge for me. Standards that I had to follow because I was also a pastor's kid doesn't help you know and because of that standard I hated God. I fleed from him. I didn't want this Christianity if it's just all head knowledge and having to obey blindly. It took a journey for me. It took a time when finally I emptied out and said, "I need this answer. I cannot live any further without it. God, I give up. Whichever you are, come into my life and change me." And God came like a bang and and had and gave an encounter. I was 16 years old on the floors and the floor footsteps of full gospel assembly. When all these things came to being when all these things came to be real to me that this Jesus who did all this in history is now lives within my heart like the old hymn says and that never and that will never ever leave me. Ask any of the brothers and sisters here who preach Christ as Lord and Savior. Ask them how did you come to know Lord? How how did you come to know Jesus? And they will tell you of their encounter. It affirms your faith. Number two, as we see in the text as well that it also that apostles even Paul had a personal encounter with him. I'm not saying this because see because they do it we can. No, I'm also putting an emphasis on this. Often times we think that God only appears to people in the Old Testament days up on a mountain in a still voice in a veil of a cloud of fire something very great and grand and we think that only happened old testament here in modern 21st century after Jesus Christ we don't have these anymore that's not true this is a new testament encounter this is actually Paul was saying this to the church. And so the encounter is an expected experience for us when we go to so that we will know in our hearts that Jesus Christ is truly the living God and the savior of my soul. Finally, one more point is this. God wants to encounter with you
friends. God wants to come to you to speak to you to let him into your life and to live the life which he has called you to be.
He's not hiding from you. If God's going to play hide and seek and he chooses to hide, who do you think will win that game?
If God chooses to play hide and seek and he hides, can we find him at all?
No, but because he has shown himself through his son Jesus. He has shown himself to Sarah and to Abraham, to the apostles, and now he wants to show himself to us. And he makes this promise. Jeremiah said this to a nation that was banished from their hometown that was in ruins and they were told to live among them. You will live difficult lives but tell you what Jeremiah then says this. I am not far away from you. I am right there by your side and you shall seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. That's why I'm asking the heart question. Have you ever encountered God?
Would you like to?
This might appeal to you that because by the grace of Jesus Christ, we can actually encounter him. And because he promised his Holy Spirit, we can encounter him. Now the question is, would you? Now of course at the back of course up front we say Mark of course I want to but back of heads I think there are a couple of things that Sarah had gone through which I think we too in today in today's modern age we are also encountering and the first one is this
why haven't I had an encounter with God you might ask this question or some of you may ask you know or maybe may actually say you know I'm I don't I don't feel like having an encounter with
And this could be one of the reasons you could tell me more. Life has made me too cynical to expect an encounter with God. I've been through the rut. I've been through difficult times. I've been through two three economy crisis crisis in Malaysia. I've seen devastation. I've seen sadness. I've seen corruption succeeding. I'm too cynical to finally come to God. things have happened in my family which I felt God you have not been near and so I'm just too cynical to have an encounter with him. Well, you know what Sarah felt exactly the same way. We see this here. So Sarah laughed to herself and after saying after I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? She's worn out. She's journeyed with Abraham through the wilderness for years and years and years based on a promise that Abraham told Sarah that God had said to Abraham that you know the gen if we look at the stars and we can count them that will be the number of descendants that will have and Sarah be like wow okay when do we start when does it start and finally at 90 something years old Abraham was pushing 100
then God comes you will have a child.
But friends, here's the thing. God is faithful. God is trustworthy. God keep to his keeps to his word. God will encounter you if you are if you call out to him. In fact, for Sarah, God did she didn't even ask, but she knew but God knew that that's what she needed. She was so empty. And so God by his grace talks to Sarah this time and he says, "Hey, is anything impossible with God? In one year when I come back, you will have a child. I didn't laugh, but you did. And you laugh this way now, but you will laugh very differently later."
And some of you may ask this question also or may just admit to this. I'm too afraid to encounter God. Sarah felt that way, too. She was so scared because she was pointed out of her cynicism of being rude that when faced even though so gently by God, Sarah looked at him and said, "I didn't laugh."
And sometimes we we do that as well. Even for even for you know why I think it's probably because of our lack of trust even among our loved ones on this earth that we end up having these problems. Let me tell you a story. There was a time when I was a kid four or five years old. We just finished watching a movie where it involved um K Reeves uh helping out in a vineyard. And when K Reeves was helping out a vineyard at night every night we see them dining and of course there's wine. And I like and I like to hear the ching the two glasses just touching each other. Cheers. Cheers. Because it looks so happy, you know. So I said, you know what? What can I do to do that on a regular basis at home? And I thought the back of my head, there's some crystal glasses in dad's cupboard. Long story short, I broke one of them. Now in any Asian family and you break something very dear to your mom or dad, what will be the most logic first thing that will be the most logical to the back of your head? What would you do? Run. Run. Run. My dear friend, do not look back. Go to the field. You know, go to the field. Last time they used to have these playgrounds, man, on concrete and they have these drainage things which you look where you can call just a tunnel. I crawled in that one. I said, I'm never leaving. I'm not going home. I'm just way too afraid. I've done so much. I've done so much wrong. And now this is the tip of the champagne of the champagne glass iceberg. I'm in so much trouble. That happened at 3:30. I ran out of the house because he comes home at 4:30. He found the mess. He Yeah, he found the He found the mess. He went looking for me all over inside the house, but he knows me too well. He probably ran away to the field. And he did something very interesting. For the first time, he didn't pull me back to the house and give me the whopping that I deserve. Here's what he did. He waited until dinner time. So that's until 7:00. And at 7:00, my mom comes up and says, "Mark, I know you're here. You always run here and hide here whenever you done something wrong. So I come out and said, "Yeah, mom, I'm here and I'm really, really sorry." And I said, "That's" and she said, "That's not something you need to tell me. That's something to tell dad." And of course, I come up to, "No, no, I'm scared. I don't want to go to dad. It hurts."
But my dad But my but mom said my your dad told me to tell you that he's not going to even that he's not angry about it and he forgives you. He just wants you to come home, have dinner, and know that you're safe.
And I was and I was as cynical as Sarah. I was like, "Really, man?
Sure not. Mom said, "Yeah, sure, sure, sure. If you don't believe me, you can stand right behind me." I was still shorter than my mom. You can stand right behind me. Hide behind me until we get to the dinner table and I promise you nothing will happen. So, I said, "Okay, sure." Went behind, literally hid behind my mother's skirt, went to the dinner table, didn't even dare look at him in the eye. I just looked straight at my plate.
And then suddenly my dad tapped me in the shoulder and said, "Son, I'm glad you're safe. Did you get cut by the glass?" I was so shocked, man. Really? Said, "Yeah, are you okay?" I said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Fine." And of course, he told me very, very strictly. He's very stubbornly said, "Son, those glasses are very precious. You're too young to handle them now. Now out of six, I only have four left. Let's try and keep these four to your wedding day. So I'm like, okay, I'll never touch it again. He says, "No, eventually." And my dad says, "No, eventually you will touch it on your wedding day. Maybe even younger." But in the meantime, I like to do this. There's a reason why he waited until 7:00 p.m. You know why? He went out and got me a bunch of plastic.
And he says, "Mark, these are your practice glasses. If these can survive for a few years, you can ching them all you want. Just imagine the glass sound and you'll be fine." And sure enough, on my wedding dinner night, he brought out those wine glasses and we cheersed.
Friends, often times when we say that we're too afraid to God, we always think that we we always think that we go that he comes up that we go when we go to him, we're going to get a walloping that we do deserve. And we do deserve a wallop. We do deserve it because we are not worthy to even be before to even come before him because of the sin, the wrongs, and the rights that we did not do of our lives. Of course, we deserve to we deserve a walloping. But through Jesus Christ, he gives us this grace, you then become so gentle and he says, if you come to me, I will forgive you. I will reinstate you. You will be called my children. I'll be called your God and heavenly father. It's all going to be okay. And because Christ got the walloping for us,
we're not going to face it when we go to him in faith. So question now I give to you is this. Now that you know, now that you know that God still waits for you even when you're cynical. Now that you know that God forgives you already through his son Jesus, would you would you now come to him and have that encounter with him? It's going to be it might feel as awkward as I did when I when I entered into the kitchen on the dining t at the dining table without looking trying to look eye to eye with my father but at least from that attempt then the relationship is reestablished friends will you at least make that attempt so that that relationship with God and you is reestablished and I promise you your life will never be the same again.
So now we get to the text where we see Sarah who had that cynicism that had that fear and see how it ended. It ended it looked like it ended quite abruptly but there's a point but Sarah denied it saying I did not laugh and for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh." And then we get to verse 21 and he says, "The Lord visited Sarah and he as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore and Ab bore Abraham a son in his old age in a time of which God had spoken to him." And Abraham was 100 years old when his son was Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me or even laugh at me." And she said, "Who would have said so to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his own age." We see Sarah looking in this passage and he was like, "Wow."
And Sarah and Sarah's like, "Wow, earlier I laughed cynically, but now God has given me laughter. And even though people will laugh at me because I'm nearing 100 years old and I'm having a little baby that's mine, and I am nursing her at 100 years old, people will laugh at me. But you know what? It's okay." Who would have thought that God would look upon me and give and graciously fulfill that promise? Now I bear Abraham a son in his old age.
Same thing for us. Who would have thought that God would love us? Who would have thought that God cared for us? Who would have thought that God was willing to die for us and now lets us enter back into his presence and have an encounter with him. But thanks be to God that he did. And now we have this chance. So friends, you hear also as Jesus said, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." God wants to have an encounter with you. And in fact, Jesus himself said this. Come to me. I will teach you.
Follow me and you will go to where I will. You will go to wherever I will go. Learn from me and then you will learn to live as what God wants us to live.
Have you ever encountered God? Would you like to would you put aside? Would you put aside your doubts and fears and through Jesus Christ approach him once more? That's my prayer for you. Now my second prayer Now my second question to you is this and this one will be very quick. What has your prayer relationship with God been like? I'm not talking about how many times you pray a day. If I wanted to do things like that for all my life, I know other I know other churches and places that do that religiously. Holding beads and say you're holding beads and saying all the and saying prayers again again again. But I'm asking about that relationship. How transparent are you before God when you pray? How honest and how we and how straightforward are you? And furthermore, when you pray to God, are you praying just for yourself or are you praying as God will want you to pray? And you ask and you're asking Mark, what do you mean? You notice Abraham when he goes to God this time when the three men left the Sodom and Gomorra to Sodom to check it out and see whether whether they should destroy, Abraham approached before God, stood near to him and said, "Are you really going to fill all those people in Sodom? What about the righteous ones?" And we see this personal relationship that is so near. And God and Abraham this time is not asking God, "God, are you sure you're going to give me a son?" No, he asked this question. God, are you really going to destroy Sodom? Second point I want to give you guys is this. God wants us to intercede for others. God wants us to intercede for others. Our prayer life gets very cold and very upset because you just talk because sometimes you talk about me myself and I Abraham asked when am I going to have a son? Abraham asked where when will I have the descendants? Abraham asked am I doing anything that's wrong to you? All this me me. This is the first time the very this is the first time I believe that Abraham actually is now asking about another place. And then we see how close this relationship Abraham has with God because now they have a common concern over another.
Here's what happens when we when we go to God as priests for this n for this nation as pe as people who intercede for others. This is our prayer. This is what happens when we pray unto God for the sake of others. Here's what happens. You say God want because God wants us to be involved in his work. We read the text and we see this. The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do, seeing that Abraham surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him and that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. Abra God actually asked this question and it's rhetorical because he knows the answer already. Shall I hide what I will do to Abraham? And not talking about just about Sarah having a child because he told that to Abraham already. Now he's talking about what he will do with Sodom. And as Abraham overheard this part and he heard that the two men are going down to Sodom, he goes up to God and say, "God, are you really going to destroy all of them?" Some of us may think, some of you may come up to me cynically and say, "Hey, Mark, if God has already um fixed his will already in in people's lives, what's the point of praying?" Well, it's the relationship. It's the participation. It's being involved with God. That's what he wants. And that's why God wants us to be involved in his will. And we see this also in the New Testament when when Jesus when be before he was going to be tried and crucified, he says this to his disciples. He says, "No longer I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you." Jesus is asking us when we pray, establish a relationship with him because he wants to involve you in his will. And that gives us a life of purpose, meaning, and adventure with him. And we will be so full of wonder to see how God will fulfill his will in our surrounding homes and our country.
The other reason why God wants us to intercede for others is that because it brings us closer to God. We see this text and it's very interesting in Genesis when Abraham when when the men turned from there and went towards Sodom but Abraham still stood before the Lord. So he was really an approximate. Then Abraham draw near. It's not spiritual. He literally went up and said and then asked this question. Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? I'm concerned. I'm concerned, God. Will you really do this? And guess what happens when you do that? When you ask and inquire of God, you actually draw nearer to him. It brings us closer to him. In fact, we even see this also in New Testament. James, this is advice and says this, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. So, it's a proximity again. Resist him and the devil will flee from you. But draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Basically, he's saying is this. Stop going between the devil and you the devil and God. The devil and God. Resist the devil. Go towards God. And as you draw near to him, guess what? He comes to you too. We see Abraham taking their step forces. Will you truly will you truly wipe away the righteous with the wicked? Abraham sounds like he's questioning God. How dare he? Because God wants him to. God wants to interact. And God wants to interact with you, guys. Prayer is an interaction with God. Not only does he expect us to speak to him, but he expects us to listen and interact with him also.
How has your prayer life been like? How has your prayer relationship with God been like? Has always been one way? Has it always been uniformed? Has always been padded by all kinds of by by all kinds of very nice and lofty words. How many of us would dare say Psalm 51 and really mean every single verse? Just as Jansen had actually said, "Oh God, create in me a a clean heart and renew in me as a a sp a a steadfast spirit. Purge me in honor and slow. Basically, David is saying this. Do what you need of me
because I know I'm dirty. I know my transgressions and against you and you alone have I sinned. I've done something wrong. Will you forgive? Of course he does.
And as you draw near to God, then draws closer to you. So when you come to God and say, "Dear God, I'm worried about this nation." Guess what? He will speak to you and say, "Now we need to change your death."
So God wants to be involved, wants us to be involved in his will. He brings us closer to him. And and lastly, God wants us to partake in his grace. God wants us to partake in his grace. We see this text and we see how gracious God is when when Abraham interacts with with God. It's very interesting. He asked us this question. Will you indeed sweep away the righteous and the wicked and the wicked? What if 50 people were there? And God said there were 50 people I won't destroy. Wow, that was easy. How gracious.
Then he says, "I'm I'm I'm burdened to speak again, but I'm just but dust and ashes." You see, there's an admittance of his position. But God, will you what what if there were 45? What if there are five short of 50? And God very graciously said, "If there were 45, I will not I will not destroy."
And then he says, "Let not the Lord be angry about because I will speak again.
and says okay in the verse 13 I won't destroy I have undertaken to speak before the Lord 2010 you know how and by the way you see how cheeky Abraham can be also if they were 50 they were show 45 then okay if there were 45 I will I I will I will I will not destroy 40 can very quick you know in the text then 40 okay no problem then he skips instead of dropping by five by five. He then drops by 10. See, he's trying to get a good bargain. But also, he's realizing God's grace. He's partaking in it. And he realized, "Oh, God, I don't deserve this. Let not our Lord be angry be angry because I will sleep one more time." 10 can. I know I went from 50 to 10, but 10 can. And they were 10. And then they went about that way. But friends, we then later will see in the story what happens to Sodom. Why? Because they can't even find
Som. But God is God would honor his word. If there were truly 10, he will forgive. And it went from 50. It went from nothing. I will destroy Sodom. Even there were 100 righteous. Then Abraham comes out there 50, 40, 30. You see how much grace that is being shared between him and God.
And we see this also in the New Testament. He says this, "Truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that and the father may be glorified in the son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. What Jesus is bas is basically saying is this. If you encounter you establish a relationship with him, you know God and therefore you interact with him and he's both loving and caring. And so he will interact with you and through you and through us together we will see God's wonders fulfilled before our very eyes is so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ and he's calling us to do that. So friends, have you encountered God? Would you like to Would you like to see that joy that Sarah finally had after all that? Let that be that prayer in your heart. And friends, also let this be a question that we put in our hearts
always, regularly, not quantity, but quality. What has your prayer relationship with God been like?
And may I propose this? We'll need to answer both at the same time. We will answer both at the same time. When you become honest with your prayer walk with God, with prayer relationship with God, he will encounter you. And after you've encountered him or if you if you encounter him first, he will change your prayer relationship with him. You'll never be the same. So let us answer these questions in our hearts today, every day for the rest of our lives. Let's pray. I'd like to invite the worship team up to get ready and I would just want us to meditate on these two questions. Think about these two people.
How Abraham and Sarah were actually not worthy. They were part of another tribe that was really that didn't even know him. They didn't even know God. And yet God calls them out encounters with them and their lives are changed and how the relationship with them is so dynamic. So when we are called to pray and I hope that you'll be there on Monday the 25th
and we go by faith in knowing this that when we pray not only will we see our prayers fulfilled in time but we will also see our relationship draw closer to him.
Have you ever encountered God? If not, would you like to and what has your prayer and what has your prayer relationship with God in life?
Oh father, we give you thanks this morning. And father we ask that as we come before you honestly and earnestly asking us or answering these questions.
I would like to pray first and foremost for those who have yet to encounter you in their lives. Sure, they know you, oh God, through the wonderful Bible studies, through the devotions, through the online YouTube streaming of sermons, but God, they have yet to encounter you. Their faith has only been the faith of the head. You have called us, oh God, to give our whole heart as well. So God, I like to pray for each and every person here who yearns and seeks out for God for for for this encounter. I pray, oh Lord, that you ready their hearts and that you put your Holy Spirit upon them, oh God. Let them experience and encounter your peace, your love, your joy, your happiness, your conviction, your heart, oh God, what it loves and also what it hates. Let us encounter that today, oh God. And so that we will remember this day and our lives will never be the same. And father, as we ask about our prayer relationship with you, we don't count the number of times we pray, but we count on how much we have encountered with you in our prayer. Oh God, we pray that you teach us to be more transparent in our prayers. That we admit that we're sinners, that we believe we need your help, that we confess, Jesus, I need you every hour. Change me, oh God. And father, I pray that you also put a burden for your people in our hearts so that when we pray, we don't just selfishly pray for our own needs every day, but we pray for our brothers and sisters and our neighbors, too. Even now, oh God, we pray for our enemies, those who claim to disrupt the peace, those who claim to kill for the sake of a belief. We pray for them now, oh God. who has taken the lives of so many of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East. We ask, oh God, that you will speak to them and they will repent, that they will be forgiven. How we long to see them, oh God, to make you known in their lives so that their lives too will never be the same. And as we pursue that endeavor, oh God, as we pray for the people who you have burdened in our hearts, it draws us closer to you. So God, let our relationship with you be dynamic. Let it not just reach within but reach without as well. And so that through that way too, our lives will never be the same again. Thank you, Jesus. You have made this all possible. We wait for you your encounter and we wait and we come to you earningly seeking after you so you may change our lives to be more like you. And this we ask and pray in Jesus name.
