When I sat down last June and started asking God about what we should be teaching into through the autumn I felt that God impressed on me two things – and they are related.
Firstly, prayer. I think God is calling us to a deeper commitment to prayer. I said this morning that praying Christians are positive Christians. Because their eyes look up every day to what God might do it changes the way they think and talk and even look. And just as praying Christians tend to be positive Christians, praying churches tend to be prevailing churches. When a church gets it together and seeks God’s face and prays heaven down things happen; people come to Christ, people get filled with the Holy Spirit, amazing miracles occur more frequently, ministries are raised up and the church moves forward. I’ve seen it time and again – the key is consistent, passionate, believing, prayer.
Many of you stood last week to commit yourselves to pray more like Jesus prayed. How are you doing one week on? My guess is that some of you got on well; it was a move in the right direction and God is already honouring your stand of obedience to him. Probably some of you found it really hard and now you are back to square one. It’s no wonder; we are in a ferocious unseen battle. Which brings me to the second thing that I believe God is speaking to us about with new intensity; spiritual warfare.
We were thrown into in pretty heavy fighting back in the spring. The troubles that came upon us at that time bore the unmistakable marks of spiritual warfare and I don’t think we’re finished yet. I think the Lord is opening our eyes to what is going on around us in the spiritual realm. Never forget, we have a spiritual enemy, Satan, who hates us, who is resilient, who is organised, who is committed to our destruction and who operates in subtle ways to divide us and distract us from our mission. And I want to say this: make no mistake, when the church wakes up and proclaims the Gospel and does the mighty works of the kingdom in Jesus’ name, the devil never sits back and says, “Oh, I just can’t be bothered with this.”
So expect trouble this term. Because this autumn, we are committed to proclaiming the kingdom and demonstrating its power; let me give you some examples of that. Healing on the streets is being extended into the autumn because people are being healed and we want to go with the momentum God has given us. The youth ministry is going to be opening its after-school drop-in this month. Back to Church Sunday on September 27th will give our morning congregations an opportunity to connect with people who have drifted away. Alpha begins in October and people are beginning to sign up. Town pastors are going to be on the streets of Stockton in early December. And there’s more. I hope you’re excited. I hope you’re motivated and up for it. The church is looking out, not in, and we are going to speak the words of the kingdom and do the works of the kingdom.
Battle Cry
The expression “Let God Arise” from our Psalm tonight is a battle cry of spiritual warfare. David, who wrote the psalm, got the whole of Israel to call it out. It’s a passionate shout of faith that God will suddenly manifest his power and put the enemy under his feet. “Let God Arise and let his enemies be scattered.”
But the battle cry “let God arise” did not originate with David. It was first spoken by Moses when he was leading his people out from Egypt into the Promised Land. So, in Numbers 10.35 Moses says, “Rise up, Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Whenever they broke camp and set out with the ark of God’s presence the whole nation roared those words. It’s the rallying call of a people on the move.
So for these Israelites, camping in the desert, waiting to enter the Promised Land, whenever they heard “Let God Arise" it signalled change. It was the signal of a new direction. It meant leaving familiar things behind, and moving forward into the unknown.
If human nature runs true to form (and it usually does), my guess is that not everyone in the camp of Israel was always anxious to move when the cloud of God’s glory moved. I bet when they heard the cry “Let God arise,” some thought “Oh no, here we go again, we were just getting comfortable here.” Most people like the security and sameness of routine in everyday life. But there comes a time to move on and make progress – and I believe we are in such a time here at All Saints’.
Praise and Testimony
In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul talks about “weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” and, as I read this battle psalm this week I found two weapons of righteousness; praise and testimony.
Praise is powerful in spiritual warfare. Some of Israel’s physical battles were won through praise alone. They demolished the stronghold of Jericho by marching and praising. Gideon defeated the Midianites with a tiny army who raised a shout and sounded the trumpet. Jehoshaphat’s army defeated a coalition of kings because he sent the worship leaders out in front. They routed the enemy without even drawing a sword.
So v3, after the battle cry “Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered,” comes this mighty weapon of praise.
"May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him - his name is the Lord.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing…"
One of the first books I read as a Christian was “Prison to Praise” by Merlin Carothers. It opened my mind to see how easily we allow ourselves to be defeated by discouragements and disappointments and how, simply by praising God in all circumstances, even the worst, we see God can transform situations unrecognisably. This is what happened to Paul and Silas in Acts 16. Finding themselves beaten up, in prison, chained up, under lock and key and miles from home – they praised God together at the top of their voices – and they saw God mightily deliver them. Praise is a mighty weapon.
Verse 19:
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour,
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
Verse 25 – this is talking about spiritual warfare when the enemies of God are scattered:
“In front are the singers, after them the musicians;
with them are the young women playing the timbrels.
Praise God in the great congregation;
praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel.”
And verse 32:
“Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord,
to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice.
Proclaim the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies.”
The second weapon of righteousness is testimony. The devil hates it when Christians speak up about what God has done. He hates it when God gets the glory because he wants it all himself. Every time we testify about God’s saving power, every time we stand up and give God the credit for his amazing works in our lives, it hits Satan below the belt. So, in the context of this great battle cry psalm, David speaks out the stories of God’s mighty acts.
So v7-11 say this:
“When you, God, went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
The Lord announced the word,
and great was the company of those who proclaimed it.”
And then v12-24 tell the story about how God scattered the enemy nations who delight in war and came to the defence of his people by giving them a great victory.
Ending
I’m going to end there, because I want to leave plenty of room tonight for praise and for our testimony. Revelation 12.11 says, “[Our brothers and sisters] triumphed over [their accuser who accuses them… day and night] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
So, before we worship again, I want to open up the floor for people to say what God has been doing in their lives over the summer. I believe each shout of praise, each testimony will be like a blow struck with the weapons of righteousness God has placed in our hands.
…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 6th September 2009
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