Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Make Us Worshipers

Theme: Worshipers Who Pray Through to a Completion

Series: Grasping the Foundational Truths of Prayer

“Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid.

Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.

The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

(Exodus 14:13-14)

A Biblical intercessor hears the voice of God and then moves forward in faith and gives others opportunity to follow

If you have been a Christian for very long you are very much aware of this chapter in Israel’s history.

Most people even if they are not Christians have heard something of what happened at the Red Sea.

The vessel the Lord chose to work through in preparing a people to be freed from bondage was Moses.

God enabled Moses to do many great things before the Lord, one was being an intercessor.

A Biblical intercessor gets involved by first interceding in prayer by making petition or entreaty in favor of another.

(Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary) A Biblical intercessor hears the voice of God and then moves forward in faith and gives others opportunity to follow.

In Deuteronomy 5 we see Moses interceding with the people of God, reminding them to “…be careful to do what the Lord [their] God directed [him] to teach [them] to observe…” (Deuteronomy 5:1-33) In Numbers chapter fourteen we read of God going to strike the Israelites down with a plague because of the their grumbling and desire to rebel against the Lord.

(Numbers 14:2,9) However, Moses intercedes for them by trusting in the Lord’s great strength and loving character.

(Numbers 14:17)

Moses speaks to the Lord saying, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.

Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished… In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

(Numbers 14:18-19)

Moses was a worshiper who interceded for the Lord to God’s people giving them His instructions, he interceded for the Israelites urging them not to rebel, and he asking God not to strike the people with a plague, not because he had a hidden agenda, rather he had a zealous heart for the protection of God’s character among the nations.

(Numbers 14:13-16) His response to Lord’s wrath against the Israelites was, “If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, `The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land He promised them on oath; so He slaughtered them in the desert.'”

(Number 14:15-16)

Just what made Moses the intercessor that enabled Him to enjoy the power of God?

What is the character that enables the church of Jesus Christ to walk in step with the Holy Spirit and enjoy the power of God in her labors with the Lord?

I would like to propose to you that Exodus chapter 14 and other Biblical records of the Lord working in and through the life of Moses present to us the foundation of making worshipers who pray through to the power of God in their lives and ministries.

What is in the heart of worshipers who have the ear of God

The first truth that the Holy Spirit wants you to grasp is what is in the heart of worshipers who have the ear of God.

There is a heart attitude that must be present in the Body of Christ that shows all who see the Lord’s church that God listens when they pray.

There needs to be that vessel who can allow people to see the power of God working in their lives.

John 9:31 says, “We know that God does not listen to sinners.

He listens to the godly man who does His will.”

(John 9:31) The English Standard version gives us this wonderful translation with, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him.”

In John chapter 9 we read of Jesus coming across a man who had been blind from his birth.

(John 9:1) His disciples asked him why the man was born blind.

Jesus’ answer was, “…this happened so that the power of God might be displayed in his life.”

As we continue to read through John chapter 9 we read that the man was healed (John 9:7) and this drew a great amount of attention from the people who knew him and especially from the Pharisees.

The Pharisees questioned the man who was healed and his parents.

They hurled insults at him and put him out of the synagogue.

They told the man that they were disciples of Moses, and “we do not even know where this fellow comes from.”

(John 9:7-34)

From studying the prayer life of Jesus, we know that God always hears Him because He was fully submitted to His Fathers will.

(John 11:41-42: Hebrews 5:7) Listen to the words of a man who was touched by Jesus, the Son of God who accomplished His father’s will.

(John 9:35-38) The man said, “...Now that is remarkable!

You don't know where He comes from, yet He opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners.

He listens to the godly man who does His will.

Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.

If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."

(John 9:30-32)

The Bible says, “[When] Jesus heard that they had thrown him out…” (John 9:35) He went and found the man and then led the man to believe in Him.

(John 9:35-38) After their conversation the man who had been healed by Jesus said, “‘Lord, I believe’ and [then] he worshiped [Jesus].”

(John 9:38)

The Pharisees mention that they were disciples of Moses.

Moses occupied a unique place as God’s friend.

Exodus 33:11 says, “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

(Exodus 33:11) Another worshipper of God, Abraham, was also called “friend.”

James 2:23-24 says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend.

You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

(James 2:23-24: Isaiah 41:8) At least two other times in the Bible Abraham is referred to as being God’s friend, one of those being when the Lord was speaking to God’s people, reminding them that they were chosen for a purpose.

(2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8)

The term “he was called friend” in James 2:23 is another way of saying that he was right with God.

It was not that Abraham earned favor with God by his obedience, rather through his obedience he was showing what a real friend to God is.

(The Expositors Bible Commentary) In Isaiah 41:8 Abraham was referred to by God through the prophet Isaiah as being “my friend.”

“My friend” literally means “loving Me.” (A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory) It was a special privilege of Abraham to be known as God’s friend.

A truth that must be grasped by all who want to be intercessors and true worshippers of the Lord Jesus is, Abraham loved God, and he showed his love by his obedience.

(The Pulpit Commentary)

Jesus called His disciples “friends.”

He elevated the disciples above mere tools and made them partners in His work.

Christian friendship with Christ is much more than casual acquaintance; it is a partnership of mutual esteem and affection.

Jesus defined friendship in terms of obedience to His commands.

John 15:14-16 says, “You are My friends if you do what I command.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.

Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.

Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

(John 15:14-16)

Warren Wiersbe was so correct when he wrote, “The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master.”

Mr. Wiersbe capitalized the letter “M” in Master, referring that true freedom is found in surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ who is the only One who can teach you what truly liberty is.

Another truth the Holy Spirit wants you to grasp is that an intercessor who has the ear of the Lord is a worshipper who wants to be taught of God and live in His presence

A foundational step to becoming intercessors who have the ear of God is to walk in the type of obedience that reflects we are His friends.

Another truth the Holy Spirit wants you to grasp is that an intercessor who has the ear of the Lord is a worshipper who wants to be taught of God and live in His presence.

The heart of the great intercessor Moses is so revealed to us in Exodus 33:12-13, “Moses said to the LORD, ‘You have been telling me, lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

You have said, I know you by name and you have found favor with me.

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.’" (Exodus 33:12-13)

Here we read of Moses’ prayer and the Lord’s answer.

Every great intercessor for the Lord has this heart.

This was the cry of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:10, “…I want to know Christ… I press on to the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

The Lord God had called Moses to lead the people, however, we read in Exodus 33:1-3 that God said He would not go with Moses to the land of promise.

His reason for not going with Moses to the promised land was that the people of God were so stiff-necked that He might destroy them.

(Exodus 33:1-3) God said that He would send an angel ahead of them to drive out the people who lived in the land.

This angel is different from the angel of His presence.

A church that is going to have fellowship with God and give the true worship that enables them to enjoy His presence must understand that sin will exclude them from enjoying the presence of God’s Spirit.

A true church will recognize when she begins to replace worship in spirit and truth with traditionalism, legalism, and denominationalism, and is worshipping the Lord in faddism.

A true church has leaders who are led by the Holy Spirit and who do not look at the church through rose colored classes.

Moses does not argue with the Lord about the church of his time being stiff-necked.

He relies upon what God told Him.

Moses becomes that worshipper who knows and then clings to the promises of God.

He speaks to the Lord saying “It is you who has called me to lead these people.”