Fresh Air
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Focus …
13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
Full text …
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
This text represents a difficult time for Moses and Israel
Moses returned w/ Ten Commandments to find the Golden Calf / idolatry
Tablets are broken, 3,000 Israelites slain by sword
God brings a plague on the people
God tells them to leave Sinaii in unkind terms
Moses meets w/God in the Tent to pray
What does Moses teach us about prayer? Prayer helps us:
What does Moses teach us about prayer? Prayer helps us:
Discern God’s Ways
Discern God’s Ways
“…show me your ways…”
Moses understood that God is unlike man.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As such, he (and we) cannot understand God unless He shows us.
Likes & dislikes
Desires & plans
God’s ways reveal his nature and character … Him!
Prayer (along with the Bible) reveals what God is doing, what He desires, how He works, ect…
Know God personally
Know God personally
“…that I may know you…”
God wants you to know him:
In Eden, God walked with Adam & Eve
In OT, He walked with Israel in the tabernacle and temple
In NT, He walked with apostles through Jesus
Today, He walks with believers through Holy Spirit
Academic knowledge of God is good, but the purpose of the head knowledge is to lead us into relationship and fellowship/communion with him
Intimacy
Receive God’s favor
Receive God’s favor
“…find favor in your sight…”
Root word (hēn) means grace
n. masc. grace, favor.
As we walk with God, his grace/favor is directed toward us. We seek to please him and He blesses us
Understand our position
Understand our position
“…this nation is your people…”
Israel belonged to God, and Moses knew. This was his own reminder that Israel was not Moses’ problem but God’s. Moses was only the visible human conduit through which God had and was delivering them
Christians, meaning “in Christ” are the responsibility of Jesus. We are his. We serve him; He does not serve us.
You are a creation of God; you were created for Jesus. (Col 1)
Pray This Way
Pray This Way
Pray Continually
Pray Continually
pray without ceasing,
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Pray Faithfully
Pray Faithfully
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Pray Privately
Pray Privately
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Pray Biblically
Pray Biblically
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Conclusion
Conclusion
