How to pray for God's Work

[0:00] Well now, we're delighted to have Dick this morning and he's going to be preaching for us in the first book of Kings. So perhaps you'd like to turn there with me and we're going to read together in 1 Kings chapter 18.

[0:13] If you have one of the church Bibles, I think that's page 299, 299. And a very well-known story, but sometimes when a story is well-known, it's important, isn't it, just to read and listen very carefully.

[0:30] So that we make sure we're reading what actually is here, not just what we think might be here. So we're going to read 1 Kings 18, beginning at verse 17.

[0:43] Background to this story is the prophet Elijah and his increasing clashes with the wicked king Ahab and his even more wicked wife Jezebel and their promotion of these pagan prophets of the horrible god Baal.

[1:07] So 1 Kings 18 at verse 17. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

[1:26] Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.

[1:37] So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go limping between two different opinions?

[1:54] If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

[2:06] Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire to it.

[2:25] And I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your God, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

[2:39] And the God who answers by fire, he is God. And all the people answered, It's well spoken.

[2:50] Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose for yourselves one bull, and prepare it first, for you are many. And call upon the name of your God, but put no fire to it.

[3:01] And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it, and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us. But there was no voice, and no one answered.

[3:17] And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a God. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey.

[3:32] Or perhaps he is asleep and must be wakened. They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation.

[3:48] But there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me.

[4:01] All the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

[4:16] And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two sails of seed.

[4:28] And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time.

[4:42] And they did it a second time. And he said, Do it a third time. And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

[4:56] At the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all of these things at your word.

[5:20] Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.

[5:31] Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

[5:45] And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.

[5:58] Amen. And may God bless to us this, His Word. Well, it really is a delight to be with you again, and not least in this lovely hall.

[6:21] I've always loved this hall, and it's a pleasure, as always, to be with you. And to say thank you, I want to add my thanks to those of your minister.

[6:33] You may not know, we had a conference here this week, and many ministers were here, and this building proved to be ideal for that kind of conference. So I want to thank you for helping us, for feeding us, for putting up with us.

[6:51] Some of these ministers are quite a trial, aren't they? And you put up with us wonderfully well. And we enjoyed ourselves. We did a lot of learning. We did a lot of hard work. I had a workshop, which had to study Elijah and Elisha, that we're looking at this morning.

[7:06] I'm a hard taskmaster, but we had great fun, and we discovered some great treasures. And we're going to look at some of those treasures this morning and this evening in our two services. So the theme this morning is how to pray for God's work in the world.

[7:22] I don't know if you feel you need help in that. I need help in that. I have prayer letters sent to me and so on, and I often know really how to pray effectively for these people that I care for and the work that they're doing.

[7:35] So that's our theme this morning, how to pray for God's work in the world. And our text is in this very familiar story, but only two verses, 1 Kings 18, and if you have a Bible open, it's verses 36 and 37.

[7:54] So I'll read these two verses again. It's a lovely prayer, so short, so succinct, so to the point, so calm and so confident.

[8:05] At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed. O Lord, there are three things that are prayed here.

[8:16] Watch for them, please. There are three separate things that the great man prayed for. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and have done all these things at your command.

[8:39] And he repeats the first intercession, the first prayer. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.

[8:57] Now, before we plunge into that prayer, there is no point whatever in praying if you never get an answer, if your prayer never gets beyond the ceiling.

[9:08] And that was the very awkward problem, wasn't it, with the all-day prayer meeting conducted by the Baal prophets. It's a famous story and a familiar story, and frankly, it's impossible not to smile, isn't it, as you read it.

[9:24] I feel sure the writer must have smiled as he described it. If fervor and many words and religious razzmatazz could guarantee a hearing in heaven, then surely this prayer ought to have it.

[9:41] Look at verse 26, the sacred dance, which must have been a sight for sore eyes. In verse 27, they're shouting as though God is deaf.

[9:54] Some Christians still do that. And then verse 28, notice the sympathetic magic as they cut themselves and the blood pours out.

[10:04] I've seen that myself on television, as you may have done, in Hindu processions in India, with their bodies covered with scars and blemishes.

[10:18] And then verse 29, a large dose is added of frantic prophesying. So, you know, it's quite a prayer meeting, isn't it? It goes on all day. There are obviously people who think that an all-night prayer meeting is going to bring in the goods.

[10:30] So they go on all day, and they look like a lot of madmen gripped by hysteria. And it's so different, isn't it, from the calm confidence of the prophet Elijah.

[10:42] And the result, well, I'm very fond of that part of verse 29 at the end. Midday past, they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice, after which they must have been completely exhausted.

[10:56] But there was no response. No one answered. No one paid any attention. It's delightful, that, isn't it? No one answered.

[11:08] No one paid any attention. They knocked at Baal's door. They tried to batter it down, but they discovered there was no one at home. Not that, as Elijah suggested, with a good deal of sarcasm, he was traveling and busy or taking a nap.

[11:26] It just was that he wasn't there. Now, by contrast, Elijah could expect an answer. No point in praying if we can't expect an answer. And clearly, Elijah could expect an answer.

[11:38] And this is because, and I think it's an important point, God had already established a relationship with his servant. And I want you to look at verse 24, which in some ways is a key verse in the whole story.

[11:52] I'm sure you know that. This is the exact challenge that was made. Then you call on the name of your God. I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God who answers by fire, he's God.

[12:04] Now, historically, of course, the fire was important. That's what they were praying for. That's what came. I recall seeing the children at the church where I was rector for many years coming out of their classes at the end of the service.

[12:21] And I knew they'd been studying Elijah in this scene. and a little girl came out with a very pretty dress. But it was absolutely covered with red ink. I knew exactly what had been happening.

[12:33] She'd been painting Elijah and the sacrifice and the fire had come down but unfortunately it scattered all over her dress. Now, the fire, of course, was important in the original story, wasn't it?

[12:45] But it's not very important for us today. The principle at stake in this verse is quite clear. The God who answers, he is God.

[12:57] That is, if God does not answer prayer, then he is not a real God. Now, this is a wonderful truth. Listen to this carefully because it's really at the heart of our relationship with him.

[13:09] We know perfectly well that God speaks. The word of God runs through the scriptures. But the question is this, does God listen? We reverently ask, does God listen?

[13:22] And having listened, does he answer? Because without speaking and listening, no relationship is possible. You've discovered that many, many times with people who never stop talking and won't listen.

[13:38] Last year, when I went back from Glasgow, I changed trains at Edinburgh and I was sitting twiddling my thumbs in the train at Edinburgh when in the next station, I've just forgotten where it was, a man got in with some friends just nearby and I tell you the truth, I'm not kidding you, he spoke without stopping until we got to King's Cross.

[14:04] To this luckless audience who apparently could say nothing more but just yes or no. He simply trampled on them. He simply dominated them. I thought, who on earth are these people that they put up with it, relentlessly.

[14:19] You know how annoying that is on the train. It's like people with endless mobile phones. Here I am, I'm on the train, which is fairly obvious to everybody else. So when I got up at King's Cross, I thought, I'll have a look to see who these poor creatures are who had to listen all the way.

[14:37] It really was astonishing. He never stopped and if he stopped, there was a sort of feeble yes or no and start again, he did. Now I discovered a new Scottish word last night at supper. It was on the table mat at the, my host.

[14:50] It's the word blether. It may be familiar to you but I've never heard it before and I put it down carefully on my napkin because I wanted to learn this word and in case you as a Scotsman don't know what it means, to blether is to chatter incessantly, to burble on and on and that is exactly what this man was doing and it was a blethering nuisance to all the rest of us.

[15:13] Now do you agree with me that a relationship must mean that we not only speak but we listen to those to whom we speak, we hear what they have to say, we answer and the wonder of this passage is, I think it's the great wonder of the passage, much more important than the fire falling down because that's all gone and passed, is that Elijah knew a God and we know a God who not only speaks to us and that word is very precious but a God who also listens to us and answers.

[15:45] That's our very great privilege if we are Christians. A God who answers, he is God. Can there be a more important or encouraging word? So now having got that out of the way, that there's not much point in praying unless God listens and answers, let's look at this prayer because there are three very important requests here and if you're going to pray for God's work in the world, if you have prayer lists and people for whom you pray, if God's work is important to you, we just prayed about it, you are bound to have to pray about these three things.

[16:21] They are priority prayers. Number one, verse 36 and verse 37 at the beginning, priority prayer number one, that God may be known in his world.

[16:34] Now, that that is priority number one is surely shown in the Lord's Prayer. What does Jesus do when he teaches us that Lord's Prayer?

[16:46] Priority number one is our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, all before we come unto our concerns at all.

[16:58] So when Jesus teaches us to pray, priority number one is that the name of God may be hallowed, the kingdom of God may come and the will of God may be done. Before we think of ourselves at all, priority prayer number one.

[17:11] It wasn't so in Elijah's day because the people were completely ignorant of the true God.

[17:26] As you know, they had wandered into Baal worship. I won't go into that. It was a very ugly thing. And so people had become ignorant of their true God.

[17:37] God. And that is exactly true of our society today. It really wasn't true when I was a lad. It wasn't true two or three generations ago.

[17:48] People knew, at least vaguely, even if they didn't go to church, who the real God was. They'd been to Sunday school, they'd been to Bible class, or something similar. But now, from top to bottom of our society, God and his son, Jesus Christ, are hardly known.

[18:07] Our prime minister is able and charming, his cabinet as well, but they seem to be totally ignorant, don't they, of the things of God. It is astonishing that men so able should be so ignorant.

[18:20] Our prime minister even thinks he can reconstruct the created order and modernize what God has ordained, for example, that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

[18:31] Is it not amazing ignorance, indeed arrogance, to suppose that you can redesign God's world better than he can? Now let me spell out reasons why this is prayer priority number one.

[18:45] First, many and most people in our world have quite false ideas about their creator and judge. Of course, you know why that is so. from Genesis chapter 3, the devil has been spreading lies and people today swallow them hook, line, and sinker.

[19:02] He hasn't even changed his lies. I shop a bit at Marks and Spencers. They have quite good food. I dare say you know that. And, you know, they try to encourage me to spend more money because when I look at the food, it nearly always says new recipe.

[19:21] I think that's wonderful. The last one tasted awful, perhaps this will be better. Now, do you think that the devil is saying in the 20th century, new lie, new recipe?

[19:33] No, no. He's still, thousands of years later, telling the same lies. He hasn't got any new recipe. He doesn't need one because it's so effective. The lies that he tells, that we won't die, that there's no such place as hell, and so on, no such thing as God, he's still saying the same thing and no new lies are needed.

[19:58] I don't know if you can remember the name of Stanley Baldwin. He was a pleasant, easygoing prime minister in the 1930s, long before my time and probably yours as well.

[20:09] And he had a very poor reputation when the war came in 1939 because he'd done nothing to rearm our country, at least not until the very last minute. And so people thought poorly of his premiership.

[20:26] After the war, his younger son, a university don, wrote a book about his father in order to restore his reputation. And it had rather a simple but rather a striking title.

[20:38] It went like this. My father, the true story. My father, the true story. And it occurs to me that that sort of title would be very good for this book, wouldn't it?

[20:51] Holy Bible may not mean much to people today, but my father, the true story. That is what this book is about. And that's what the ministry of Christ is about, isn't it? Everything that Christ said and did was in order to tell people the true story about his father.

[21:07] And just as this is at the heart of Christ's ministry, isn't that at the heart of what our preaching is meant to be? I wish I'd said this at our conference last week. What are we here for?

[21:18] Why to tell the true story when all around us there are lies? And there can only be one cure for lies and that is the truth. I hope you believe that.

[21:29] You know, the power of God is seen in truth. You cannot drive out lies except by truth. So here then is prayer priority number one for all of us to pray as we pray for God's work in the world and our friends or our missionaries or ministers or whatever.

[21:48] Father, may your name be hallowed, may your son be known, may your truth be recognized. That's why we pray that number one prayer. Then again, there are many today, perhaps most, who think about it at all, who want to say something like this, that all religions are equally true.

[22:11] I think there may have been something of that in Elijah's day. I don't think all the Israelites had given up on God completely, their God, but they wanted to have Baal as well.

[22:21] He was useful for fertility, for rain on their crops. So I think they had a foot firmly planted in both camps. There are hundreds of people, aren't there, like that? They have a foot in God's camp and a foot in the world in Baal's camp.

[22:35] And I think that's why we get verse 21. What are you doing limping between two opinions? Make up your mind. Put your foot down where your belief is. One of the issues that we considered in the workshop I led this week was the importance of the negatives in Scripture.

[22:57] You know, it's not enough to preach the yes. You've also got to preach the no. Let's look at an example of that. Jesus did this. He was a positive preacher, but he was also a negative preacher.

[23:09] That is, he said, the opposite of yes is no. Now, let me give you a very, very obvious one. You don't even need to turn it up in your Bible. John 14, verse 6. If you'd like to, do turn it in your Bible.

[23:20] I'll read it now. The yes and the no. What is true, but also what is false. Jesus answers Thomas by saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[23:33] That's the yes. And then the no. No one comes to the Father except through me. My very first day at university was a very happy day.

[23:45] I look back, it's a long time ago. It's a very happy day because my roommate wanted to know all about Christ that very, very first day and we started a great friendship.

[23:57] But on that first day I happened to turn on the radio and a church leader was speaking for five minutes on that marvelous text, I am the truth, the way, the truth, the life.

[24:08] And he was taking each word, way, truth, life, for five minutes for three weeks. and I just happened to come in by chance at the first. So I listened to him on I am the way and it was excellent.

[24:24] I flipped on the radio the week following, I am the truth and that was good. And then I turned the radio on a week later, I am the life and that was fairly good. Excellent.

[24:36] And I waited at the end of the third talk knowing that nothing else was going to come, there wasn't going to be a fourth talk, I waited for the second part of the verse to be expanded and of course it wasn't. But without that, the verse is meaningless.

[24:52] If I say to people today, Jesus is the way, they say, yes, we agree, he's one of the ways but there are many ways and we don't actually happen to believe in that one. Jesus said, I am the way and there is no other way.

[25:06] I am the truth and there is no other truth about God to be found. I am the life, I am the eternal life and there is no eternal life apart from me. If we state Christian truth, we must point out that the opposite is error and that's not popular today.

[25:26] There's a great deal of weak preaching which is prepared to say the positive but not to follow it and actually common sense tells us we must do that. You're doing it in everyday life. Someone asks you to look at the way.

[25:38] You say, well yes, go ahead there, turn right, not immediately right but half right. You say that naturally, don't you, in order to be careful and accurate so they don't come back the same circle and fail to find the way.

[25:55] So, because people have false ideas today and think that they, all religion is the same, we must state the case clearly as Elijah does here.

[26:11] He's saying that God is the, that God is the, God of Israel is their true God and that Baal is not. And then, of course, many today are saying there's no God at all.

[26:25] And it seems there's a growing number. It's rather chic, isn't it? Again, our sad political leaders are like this. Nick Clegg thinks it is clever to say he's an atheist.

[26:37] So does Ed Miliband. I think he always has been. But the real scandal, my dear friends, is not that there are atheists out there in the world but there are atheists in the church as well.

[26:50] Within the body of Christ, there are those who virtually, do not believe in the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I brought with me a cutting from the Times, our meeting which took place six weeks ago in London at St. Martin in the Fields.

[27:09] It was a 50th year anniversary of the book everybody was talking about and that book was Honest to God. Do you remember that Honest to God some of you older ones here? They printed 6,000 copies but in the end a million sold and it was translated into 17 languages.

[27:28] And the message of that book from leaders of the church, one being a fairly well-known bishop, was God is not personal, the incarnation is a fairy tale, and much of the Bible is mythical.

[27:43] And the man writing this article says that it ushered in the golden age of liberal theology. It also ushered in the growing apostasy in the historic denominations.

[27:57] The name of the writer Ian Brady, he's a reader in church history and practical theology at St. Andrews University. So if you're kids at St. Andrews University, you better warn them against him because you must be mad.

[28:09] I was just beginning at St. Helens in the city of London where I was a rector for many years. We had lunch hours as you do here.

[28:21] And quite a number of people were coming along in the early 60s when this book was first published. And I felt I must refer to it and show that it was earlier. I'm not sure now as I look back whether I was wise.

[28:33] I think business people are too sensible sometimes to be taken in by this. However, I did and for two Tuesdays I sought to show that this kind of church atheism was a fatal error.

[28:49] Unknown to me in the crowd that came I suppose these controversial things always bring a crowd and unknown to me there was a Christian leader, church leader there Elsie Chamberlain who was a leader of the congregational churches in this country.

[29:07] She was a fine and gracious lady. At the end of the service she beckoned to me and asked me to walk with her down the path out of the church and I did so and I was slightly shaken because gently but firmly she rebuked me for my talk.

[29:25] How could I she said a very young minister challenge these great scholars these distinguished theologians. I have to say I was slightly taken aback.

[29:37] I wasn't sure what to say in the face of this assault but God came to my rescue. I claim no credit for it but I believe the Holy Spirit put it into my mind to say to her then and there as we walked along the path do you realize Dr. Chamberlain that nowhere in this book is God called Father.

[30:04] She stopped literally as though she'd been hit by a bullet. She paused she looked at me she was a tall woman she looked down at me and she said Mr. Lucas I apologize.

[30:19] I wonder if she'd read the book. That you can write a book about the Christian faith without mentioning our Heavenly Father is to be self-condemned. It's not honest it's dishonest to the God we know and she realized that immediately.

[30:36] As I said she was a fine person. It was just at the very same time when atheism was beginning to enter into the Christian church that John Stott and a number of other faithful Christian leaders met some of the men behind the myth of God incarnate.

[30:55] They met for a day's conference. All morning they discussed together and sought to come to groups of the issue and got absolutely nowhere. The discussion was evasive and unsatisfactory.

[31:11] The lunch hour came and they lined up at the canteen for their food and one of the leaders of the liberal modernistic theology was just ahead of Dr. Stott.

[31:23] Drawing about to venture John said to him Bill that wasn't his name by the way Billy said do you worship Jesus? And quick as a flash came the answer of course not.

[31:35] So there after a hopelessly muddled morning the whole issue was out in the open. The myth of God incarnate meant that Jesus Christ was a man like any other man not part of the Trinity not one that we worship not one called God not the Savior of the world.

[31:57] That's why priority prayer number one is this prayer at the beginning of verse 36 and the beginning of verse 37 answer me oh Lord answer me so that this people will know that you are God.

[32:09] Answer me answer me today Lord Jesus so that the people in Glasgow the young people especially may know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that there are no other Saviors to turn to.

[32:20] Isn't that a priority prayer number one? Now I spent most of my time on that so briefly prayer number two and prayer number three will you look at this again will you gather your thoughts together because prayer number two and prayer number three are important they may not be quite the same as prayer number one but they're still very important.

[32:42] Prayer number two let it be known that you are God in Israel I want to get the exact vocabulary here the exact language and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.

[33:01] Now is that Elijah being egotistical? Why should he pray about that that God should cause people to know that he's the servant? Well of course obviously they might know that the 450 prophets of Baal are not but imagine yourself coming out and seeing these people against one another.

[33:22] The 400 prophets of Baal are chaplains to the queen Queen Jezebel. I take it they are sleek and well fed. I take it they are clothed in wonderful vestments.

[33:36] I take it that they are the recognized clergy and that everybody realizes that. Then cast your eye away from them to dear old Elijah that ancient camel hair coat that's been darned a hundred times by the widows that's a refath.

[33:56] That frugal lunch pack in his hands sandwiches made of locusts and wild honey. I doubt you should find them in the sandwich shops in Glasgow. Though they tell me actually that the protein is very strong in locusts so they were quite nourishing.

[34:12] Personally they're not for me. Here is a man who seems to be the past scorned by the king and his dreadful wife wouldn't not the ordinary people feel that the future lay with the 450?

[34:37] I've been thinking about this as I go in and out of the premier inn just up the road where I'm staying. All day long a voice is speaking outside the lift doors opening doors closing.

[34:49] It's a phrase we use isn't it very often in life I wonder how many doors open to Elijah for his ministry. I imagine Elijah going to a local school. Could I please have a meeting here?

[34:59] Oh no I'm afraid the authorities won't allow you to come. I suspect that wherever Elijah went the doors were closing and wherever the 450 prophets were working the doors were opening.

[35:10] the sort of thing may happen to us today. Back in the city of London in the 1960s where I was speaking at St.

[35:26] Helens at the lunch hour on Tuesdays half a mile away there was another church and another minister who also had a Tuesday lunch hour service. He was a nice man and he spoke well.

[35:42] He was all those years ago the first leader of gay liberation in London. Imagine a youngster coming to start work in the city aged 18 or 19.

[35:54] He tries out the various churches the various lunch hour services. He comes to me and then the next Tuesday he goes to hear this man. We both wear a suit we're both clergymen of the Church of England the situation is much the same.

[36:08] We're standing in a pulpit there are people in front. There's really no difference. Why should he believe me and not believe him? And you say I need to pray Lord when that youngster hears the gospel at my lips may he realize that this is what you have.

[36:28] What does the verse say? That I've done all these things at your command? Because I can't be your servant if I don't do what you tell me to do and if I don't say what you tell me to say. Lord please show him that though I'm just an ordinary person what I'm saying on Tuesday is what you tell me to say and therefore it is your word not my word.

[36:48] prayer. It's a very important prayer. It means that if you are praying today in this city you ought to be praying Lord may the people recognize true Christian ministry.

[37:04] It's not necessarily in every church. May they find people they can trust. May there be preaching which is given at your command words that you have given.

[37:19] Finally prayer number three. First that God may be known. Secondly that God's messengers may be known. There are lots of religious teachers in the world today.

[37:32] Lots around here I'm sure are mosques temples. First prayer that God may be known. Second prayer that God's messengers be known for who they are as speaking his word.

[37:45] And thirdly and there it is in our prayer isn't it right at the end of verse 37 that God's power may be known and that you are turning their hearts back. I think that's a very humble and wise prayer don't you?

[38:06] There's always a danger that people think we're manipulating them. There are lots of people manipulating today. There's lots of propaganda that people listen to which is false.

[38:20] Let there be no whisper you feel Elijah is saying. Let there be no suggestion that I have done this, that I work this miracle. I'm quite sure many people suggested it really was just Elijah being clever with inflammable liquid or whatever.

[38:37] but in any case my friends how can you bring back the apostate? How can you turn the heart of the idolater? How can you bring back the immoral who is absolutely settled in his false relationship?

[38:51] How can you bring back the careless to God? You can't do it and I can't do it. With man it's impossible. God only can grant true repentance. God only can change stubborn, willful, sinful hearts.

[39:04] God only can recover the lost. And that's why he prays that prayer. He doesn't want to take any of the glory himself. He doesn't want anybody to think that he's particularly clever.

[39:18] No, no, oh Lord, when their hearts are turned back please show them that you did it. Isn't that a lovely prayer? Please show them that it's your work and then it will last.

[39:32] Three prayers. Just look at those verses again. They're priority prayers for us today. They're how to pray for God's work in the world, how to pray for the missionaries of this church, how to pray for the work here at the Tron, how to pray for all Christian work going on in our country and in the world.

[39:52] One, we pray that the real God may be known and the real Savior and he alone. Secondly, we pray that the ministry of God, the ministry of Christ, the true ministry of the gospel, may be recognized for what it is.

[40:09] Standing out amongst all the religious propaganda of the world, may people recognize who is speaking the truth. And thirdly, when that day comes, when hearts are turned back to God, when we see this country again beginning to turn back to our Lord Jesus Christ, won't that be a great day?

[40:29] I hope I live to see it. Please, Lord, make them realize we didn't do it. We couldn't, but that you are turning and have turned their hearts back again.

[40:42] Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we marvel at the simplicity, the confidence, the quietness of this great prayer of the prophet Elijah.

[40:54] We thank you for his courage, we thank you for his insight, and we thank you for the fact that that prayer prayed all those centuries ago is exactly the prayer that we need today.

[41:07] Oh God, please let it be known in our country again that you are the true God and that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. We pray that Christian ministry, true ministry, we may recognize for what it is, and all false gospels may be rejected.

[41:27] And we pray that when renewal and revival come, that you may have the glory. We ask it for your dear name's sake. Amen.