God is Great! God is Good! So…Pray Big! 

Jeremiah 33:3 and Psalm 81:10

CBC Bishop, December 28, 2003

In a nutshell: God is not only able to answer prayer, but God is willing to answer our prayers. We miss out when we pray small. In fact God's command is to "Open Wide" to receive all that He wants to give.

I. Introduction

A. God's Ability to Answer Prayer

Christian parents often teach their children a little prayer that goes like this... "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food." And I think the reason that prayer has been passed on from generation to generation is because not only is it easy to learn, but it is also very good theology.

You see, the fact is…, -God really is GREAT! God is Almighty. God is Omnipotent. God is All Powerful. And God is infinitely able to do anything He chooses to do!

B. God's willingness to answer prayer

But not only is He great. He is also GOOD! That means that not only does God have the power to answer prayer, He also is very willing to answer our prayers. In fact, God delights in answering the prayers of His children.

And I'll go even a step farther. Not only does God delight to answer our prayers, but He really delights in answering our big prayers for big things.

I say that because not only is He the infinite and almighty God, but He is also our loving heavenly Father. The creation of the world proves God's power. But the giving of His Son proves His love for each one of us.

Romans 8:32 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

God is able, and He is willing to answer big prayers for very big things. That's why I've chosen this idea at the end of our first year together, and at the threshold of our future into 2004 and beyond. If we can grasp what God wants to teach us this morning, I know that some of the best days in the history of our church family are just ahead of us.

C. Our failure to ask

Illustration: There's a story about a man who was praying to God about some serious problems he was having. He prayed, "Lord, it may seem like I'm asking an awful lot here; but if You'll hear me just this one time, I'll never ask for anything again.

Well, friends, that's ridiculous! That's thinking that some how or some way you can exhaust infinite supply and infinte ability of God. No where in all of the Bible is there even a hint that human beings can ask God for too much!

In fact, as I read my Bible, I think it saddens God when we are so unbelieving that we lack the faith and trust to ask Him for the really BIG things!

There is an interesting condemnation in the Bible of the town of Nazareth. It says...

Matthew 13:58 58 And he (Jesus) did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Friends, I think the same is true for a lot of churches today. They miss out on many of God's mighty works because of their unbelief and their failure to pray BIG!

II. God Commands Praying BIG

A. God's Resume

Let me show you something that is written in the book of Psalms…(front of worship folder)

Psalm 81:10 10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

This verse is like a resume that God is submitting to His followers, because He wants the job of answering our prayers.

When He said, "I'm the one who brought you out of Egypt." He's saying... -I brought all the plagues upon Egypt. -I opened the Red Sea in answer to Moses' prayer. -I brought you out between the piled -up waters of the Red Sea. -I fed you with manna from heaven for 40 years in the wilderness. -I gave you water from a rock. -I brought you across the flooded Jordan River on dry ground. -I caused the walls of Jericho to fall when you simply marched and shouted. That's the kind of powerful God I am. That's just a hint of the resources that I want to shower on you. If you want something BIG done, just come to me!

And friends, that's not just a resume sent to the nation of Israel, this is a promise given to each of us at CBC, as well. God is just as willing now as He was then to give us the BIG things when we ask. He hasn't changed from the time of Moses. In fact, He wouldn't be reminding Israel and us of what He can do, if He didn't want to do it again! This is an incredible statement- "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it!"

B. We have little because we ask little (James 4:2)

Another verse that relates to this promise from God, is in...

James 4:2b 2b You do not have, because you do not ask God.

This verse is saying that not only don't we have because we do not ask, but we do not have much because we don't ask for much. I'm convinced as I read scripture that if we would exercise our faith by asking for more, God would exercise His power and give us more!

Illustration: George Mueller is called the modern apostle of prayer. Psalm 81:10 was a favorite of his. During his lifetime, Mueller received and dispersed over seven million dollars for God's work, without ever asking a single individual for a single penny.

All the money he received was in answer to prayer. He prayed into existence over 100 orphanages across England, that cared for more than 2000 orphan children. Day by day he prayed for their food, clothes and people to come and teach them. Every one of the needs he prayed for was met by God's provision.

He single-handedly supported over 300 missionaries, printed millions of tracts and circulated thousands of copies of the Bible throughout the world. George Mueller was a man who opened his mouth wide, and God filled it.

C. Great and Mighty Things

Now, let me show you another great promise regarding what God wants to do for us...

Jeremiah 33:3 3 `Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

When God asks us to call on Him so He can tell us great and unsearchable things, do you think He has in mind for us to pray for puny things? NO way! He wants us to ask for really great things! This becomes evident when you look at the context of this verse.

God was trying to teach Jeremiah to start praying some BIG prayers, because the nation of Israel needed some BIG help... -The Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar had surrounded Jerusalem... -They had already built up huge mounds of dirt up against the city walls to get ready to storm their army up and over those walls and into Jerusalem. -They were the most well armed army in the entire world. -Jerusalem had been under siege for months. Famine and disease had taken their toll on the moral of the people of Jerusalem. -They were weak and discouraged. -They were facing either death or captivity in another country for the rest of their lives. -And they needed some Great and Unsearchable things to start happening.

In the middle of this situation, Jeremiah gets filled with hope and courage. He says in...

Jeremiah 32:17 17 "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

Then he starts to recount how God dealt with Israel in the past, when they came out of Egypt (you have to read chapter 32 when you get a chance, because it is really cool!) Then God answers...

Jeremiah 32:26-27 26 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27 "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

Now, it's important to note that God is going to allow Jerusalem to be captured-not because He can't do anything about Nebuchadnezzar's army, but because of the unrepentant sin of the people of Israel. This was a result of the people being warned, and then blowing off God and continuing to sin, time after time after time.

But, it's in this context that God says the words of....

Jeremiah 33:3 3 `Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

In this context, God was saying, "Just ask me for forgiveness! Turn away from your arrogance, and sin and pride. And when you do, I'll annihilate these Babylonians! All you have to do is ask Me! I'll show you great and mighty things!" And He did later on. Just read the book of Ezra and Nehemiah to see the great and unsearchable things God did to bring His people back to Jerusalem.

D. Nothing will be Impossible

Now, let me show you some New Testament verses…

Ephesians 3:20-21 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

WOW!!!! -God is ABLE! -Not only is He ABLE, but He is ABLE TO DO! -And not only able to do, but able to do whatever He does, IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN WE ASK, OR EVEN IMAGINE. -But not just immeasurably more than we ask or imagine; but IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN ALL-not some, ALL-not most, ALL-not 99%, but ALL THAT WE COULD ASK OR IMAGINE!

That my friends, is some pretty BIG stuff! But then, like I said, we have a pretty big God who is inclined by His very nature and love for us, to answer the prayers of His people.

III. But Why Pray for Big Stuff?

A. The Work of God suffers when we don't

But why bother to pray for the big stuff?

I'll tell you why. For the sake of the work of God and fulfillment of the Great Commission. You see, when we pray small, the work of God comes up short.

-Missionaries have to come home because churches don't pray big enough. -Ministries can't reach into communities because churches don't ask for enough. -People go to Hell because churches don't pray for unbelievers enough. -And if we're honest, empty chairs are in this worship center because we don't dream BIG enough about filling them with new people.

What would happen if we prayed like we really believe Jeremiah 33:3 were really true?

How would CBC look if we really staked our lives on the fact that... ...If we call on God, He would answer us and tell us and show us great and unsearchable things that we don't yet know?

I don't know about you, but I want to find out!

B. Illustration: Logan County Kentucky

In the summer of 1797, in Logan County Kentucky, a group of 20 men who God wanted to give them Big things. So, they made a covenant together. Here's a portion of what they agreed to…

"When we consider the word and promises of a compassionate God, to the poor lost family of Adam, we find the strongest encouragement for Christians to pray in faith-and ask in the name of Jesus for the conversion of their fellow-men. No one ever went to Christ, when on earth, with the case of their friends, that were denied. And although the days of earthly ministry are ended, yet He has promised that when two or three are in agreement on earth, to ask in prayer believing, it shall be done. Again, the Bible says, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." With these promises before us we feel encouraged to unite our supplications to a prayer-hearing God, for the out-pouring of His spirit, that His people may be excited and comforted, and that our children, and sinners generally, may be converted."

Friends, what resulted from these twenty men, praying like this, was a revival took place like nothing they had ever imagined. After just one year, more than 20,000 people came to the Lord through conversion and rededication in that single county. And this was when the average town in that county was no more than 1,000 people. That's a pretty BIG answer from God!

IV. The Way We Tend to Pray

But I'm afraid most Christians, today haven't understood the concept of God is Great! God is Good! So, Pray Big!

We tend to be like the slave at the end of the Civil War.

Illustration: He had been the servant of a southern gentleman. But after his emancipation from slavery, his former master asked him to stay and take care of him, because the man was very sick. This former slave, out of his love for his former owner, agreed to stay. And he took care of his friend until his friend died.

After the master died, the former slave mowed lawns, chopped wood and ran errands to make a living. Eventually his legs grew stiff and his body became bent from old age. There came a time when he couldn't do enough work to buy even the poorest and simplest of groceries. He lived in an old shack and got his clothing out of people's garbage.

An old friend of his former master's family said to him one day, "Sam, you don't have to live this way. Your former master told me he deposited $5,000 in the bank for you. Go to the bank and get some money to buy what you need!" (Back in those days, a man would work a whole day for less than a dollar). After much persuasion the timid old former slave decided to go to the bank. Standing at the teller's window, turning his hat nervously in his hand, he inquired of the teller if any money had been left in the bank for him. The clerk told him, "Yes, the sum of $5,000 has been deposited in an account for you, and you can get as much of it as you would like to have at any time you want it.

So the former slave said, "Could I have as much as fifty cents to get me a sack of corn meal?" The teller responded that he could have as much as he wanted up to the $5,000. So the man asked for a fifty cent piece. With a trembling hand he made his mark beside his name on the withdrawal form. Then he took the bright and shiny fifty cent piece and went out the door of the bank to buy a sack of corn meal, and eat it in his poor little shack, in his rags, and his poverty-Leaving $4,999.50 in the bank, untouched.

V. Do We Really Believe God is Great and God is Good?

Friends, when you pray, are you merely praying, "God is Great! God is Good! Please just give me a little food?"

Folks, God has told us in His Word that ...gold and silver are His. ...That the cattle on a thousand hills are His. ...That He wants to give us great and unsearchable things. ..He tells us to open wide our mouths. ..And He wants to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

Friends, at the end of our first year together, and as we stand on the threshold of our future, let's start taking God at His Word.

Let's start dreaming and praying the kinds of visions and prayers that will allow God to do the Great and Mighty things He wants to do through the people of CBC. Let me give you two places to start praying:

1. Everyone of you knows a person in your circle of influence that doesn't know Jesus personally. Start praying that this coming year, 2004, would be the year that they would come to have a personal relationship with Jesus where He's the forgiver of their sins and the leader of their life.

2. All the studies and research that have been done over the past 50 years regarding church growth have said that the hardest barrier for any church to break through is the 200 attendance barrier in worship. That's where we are, folks. This church has been bumping its head at this threshold for a lot of years.

And God has been saying to me, and I've shared this with the folks in our Wednesday night Prayer Meeting, now is the time that this can happen. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. So pray that the year 2004 would be the year that we break through this most difficult of all growth barriers. So, at the close of 2003, and on the threshold of 2004, I'm going to ask that each one of you bow your heads and pray for these two things. Then after a few minutes, Rusty and the worship team will come back up and lead us in a song of praise. And then we'll take the offering and be dismissed.