Again I had the privilege of speaking to our Wednesday night group at church while the pastor is out of town at a conference. I love teaching because it continually pushes me out of my comfort zone to where I have to depend on God. I’ve done it before on my own and it’s a pathetic site to say the least. Anyway as always I like to post my message notes online in case someone wanted to go back and get the verse references and I also like sharing the information I gathered while I was studying with everyone else. It gets a little lengthy, but kind of a huge subject and could have been MUCH longer and MUCH more in depth.

Also, as always, I like to share my resources for this study:

ESV Online Study Bible

Audio Messages from Matt Chandler: “The Art of Prayer” & “The Reign and Rule of God”

Book “Evangelism and The Sovereignty of God” by J.I. Packer

Prayer, Evangelism, & The Sovereignty of God

God’s sovereignty in prayer:

Eph 1:3-11 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Prov. 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Ps. 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Jer. 10:23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

Ps. 135:6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

• He is sovereign over ALL things! Proverbs elsewhere says even the roll of the die belongs to God.
• He predestines according to His council and will.
• IF THIS IS TRUE… WHY PRAY??

There are two answers to this question, one short, one long. Long answer first.

• All throughout the Bible God’s people are constantly asking Him for things… personally, for others, to change their circumstances, etc. AND… GOD LISTENS!
• Ex. 32:9 – The Lord tells Moses to get out of the way, He’s going to kill everyone and start all over with Moses. Moses begs and implores God to remember His promise and spare these people, and God relents.

James 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

• Does this passage not imply that if we would ask, we would have?

Lk. 11:9-10 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
2 Chron. 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• If God has already sovereignly decided what He will do, then these verses put us in a bit of a theological quandary don’t they?
• Is God truly sovereign over all things or can WE move Him by our prayers???.. YES! Back to this in just a minute.
• Since we’re asking questions, take a look at Eph 2:8-9
• Just a side note question while you’re looking that verse up: If you believe in the total free will of man, meaning that man’s choosing of Christ as Lord is all up to that person, then why pray and ask God to save them? If He answers your prayer, did He not violate the free will of the person He saved? Just something to think about.

Eph. 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

• If God is completely sovereign and only He can open the eyes of men and draw them to salvation and change their heart… Why preach? Why study to teach? Why share the gospel at all?

Rom. 10:14-17 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

• We preach, study, teach, and share because God has established, in His wisdom, that it is through the proclamation of the Word that He will open eyes, save souls, and change lives.
• The same is true with prayer… Why pray?

ANSWER #1 Prayer becomes the means by which the purposes of God are accomplished and that in that way, prayer changes things!

Two ditches to watch out for when dealing with this quandary of theology:

#1 Since God is sovereign over everything, prayer gets pushed back out of the way into some corner that we rarely visit and the intellect reigns and rules. Prayer becomes a very small part of our lives.
#2 God becomes a genie in a lamp that gives us whatever we ant as long as we rub the lamp just right.

ANSWER #2 Why pray? Simply… God has commanded that we pray!

God’s sovereignty in evangelism / missional living:

We’ve already answered the big question of why we preach or teach or share the Gospel with our friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, etc. Now we’ll talk a little more about how God’s sovereignty plays into us getting to be a part of the miracle of someone’s salvation.

• Share the story of how God orchestrated my salvation experience.
• The lady that shared her faith with me had it right. She set out to make a disciple of Christ and not just a convert. She gave up or devoted a season of her life to the goal of making me a disciple. She fulfilled the Text!
• Evangelism, especially in the South carries kind of a negative connotation because in the past it has been somewhat focused on converts and numbers. Missional living or living your life on mission is about the reign and rule of God, not just making converts.
• Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against evangelism, but it is NOT an event we do, it’s how we see the world.

Ps. 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

• God formed not only your physical make up and appearance, but also your unseen characteristics and traits.
• He did this on purpose. For us to take care of what He has for us.
• I’m not the most gifted teacher, by far, but it is no mistake that I am here right now talking to you about this, or that you are reading this blog.
• But WHY did He do this??

Acts 17:22-26 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

• God knit you together in the womb with passions, likes, dislikes, skills, gifts, abilities, etc… And He determined where and when you would live… And the number of your days… Again WHY?

Acts 17:27-28 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

• This means that your neighborhood, job, hobbies, the things you are drawn to… ALL of it is eternally significant!
• We see this at work here all the time at Cove Creek!
• Again, it means that evangelism isn’t just something we do, it’s the lens by which we see the whole world. Our whole lives are about the reign and rule of God.
• It also means that we are going to have to start opening our mouths and proclaiming the Gospel to those people we just hope are seeing our lives and will get saved just because we are trying to live a “good Christian life”.