======================================================================== APPEALING TO GOD by David Ford ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of appealing to the Judge of all the earth in prayer, drawing from Psalms 77 and other biblical references. It highlights the need to silence the accusations of the enemy by claiming the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus, allowing believers to stand before God with no hindrances. The message encourages believers to pray boldly, persistently, and in alignment with God's will, trusting in the confidence that God hears and grants the petitions of those who come before Him in faith. Topics: "The Power of Prayer", "Confidence in God's Justice" Scripture References: Psalms 77:1, 1 John 5:14, Zechariah 3:1, Isaiah 6:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of appealing to the Judge of all the earth in prayer, drawing from Psalms 77 and other biblical references. It highlights the need to silence the accusations of the enemy by claiming the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus, allowing believers to stand before God with no hindrances. The message encourages believers to pray boldly, persistently, and in alignment with God's will, trusting in the confidence that God hears and grants the petitions of those who come before Him in faith. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You've shown me something was greatly missing in my own prayer life. And this may be your situation as well. There's a word that our founding fathers and our fathers and the preachers of old used to use all the time. And it was a word that I rarely ever hear. And I wasn't hearing most of the time in the church of Jesus Christ. And, but the text that jumped out at me that transformed everything for me was from Psalm 77. You have a Bible, I'm gonna go there and then we're gonna get into this whole teaching tonight. It says in verse one of Psalm 77, I cry aloud to God, aloud to God and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord. In the night, my hand is stretched out without wearying. My soul refuses to be comforted. You ever been there before? When I remember God, I moan. When I meditate, my spirit faints. You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old, the years long ago. And I said, let me remember my song in the night. Let me meditate in my heart. Then my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord spurn forever? Will the Lord be favor and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion? Think about those questions. I wanna read those again. He said, let me remember my song in the night. Let me meditate in my heart. Then my spirit made a diligent search. Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? We pray for revival. Many of you have been praying for a long time. Those who are speaking this weekend have been praying for a long time for revival, for God to move. And we've seen mercy drops. He says, will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? Will we never see revival again? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion? Sheila, slow the music down. Stop right there. The musical term, music was underlying this. Think about it. Meditate upon it. Let's just pray those verses right now before we go. before I go any further. Let's just pray that. Can we do that together? I'm gonna, let's just pray. Father, Lord, we bow before your throne tonight, oh God. Lord, we pray that you've forgotten to be gracious, oh God. Lord, will you spurn us forever? Oh God, have you forgotten about this nation, other nations of the world? Lord, have you shut off your compassion forever, oh God? Lord, why is it we haven't seen a mighty Luther, the Holy Spirit, Lord, in so many years in this nation? We pray for revival like in the most revival, but oh God, where's the God of Evan Roberts? Where's the God of George Midfield? Where's the God up in the ground, Lord? Lord, where's the God of Christmas Evans? Where's the God of Freely Hilton? Where's the God of Charles Credence and Finney, oh God? Where's the God of Duncan Campbell, oh Lord? Where's the God of Duncan Campbell, oh God? Where's the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob? Where's the God of Elisha? Where's the God of Elisha? Where's the God of David? Where's the God of Daniel? Where's the God of Samuel, oh God? Lord, in the quietness of where I am in my home tonight, oh God, we humble our hearts and we bend our souls and we bend our necks. If you say, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Oh, I pray, Father, that would give us in a fresh way, in a fresh way manifest, even if you are in real tonight, the spirit of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit of God, that would stand and say, oh God, that you would ring the heavens and come down. Father, we've lost the O when I pray. We've become so intellectual when I pray. We've missed the fervor and the fire and the freshness and the fullness and the fragrance of the spirit of the living God. Lord, I pray in our churches that there's such a moving of the Holy Spirit that an unbeliever walks in and he falls on his face and he says, of a truth, God is in this place. He says, of a truth, God is in you. Lord, forgive us as a church, heavenly Father. Forgive us as a church, Lord Jesus, for being and walking about as if we have no hope in light of what's going on around us, Lord Jesus. You said your word, now sanctify Christ's word in your heart and be ready always to give an answer to everyone that asks you. A reason of a hope that's in you with meekness and fear. Lord Jesus, we should be the most hopeful on the face of this earth, the believer, the child of God, the Christian, the son of the living God. May that hope of ecstasy and that hope of certainty and that hope of stability, which hope we have as an anchor of a soul, both steadfast and sure. Dear God, we pray tonight that you would sow fineness of fresh, Lord, with the spirit of hope, oh God. Oh God, where is the spirit of hope in the church, Lord? Lord, I acknowledge you're working in a lot of places. I know a lot of godly ministers, a lot of godly people, but Father, all of us are crying out to you, oh God. Oh God, oh God, would you rip the heavens and come down. Lord, we're powerless. Lord, we're weak. Lord, we can't do anything in ourselves, oh God. Lord, unless we know a crucified life, a cold death, cold burial, and cold rexent, and cold seating with you in the heavenly, Lord, we will never pray with effective power. I pray tonight, Lord, and we pray tonight, bending our souls before you, Lord Jesus, we say, God, take these weak, frail frames, and Lord Jesus, fill us afresh. Fill us afresh, Lord. Forgive us for our powerlessness. Forgive us, Lord, for praying and not expecting a moving of your Holy Spirit. Forgive us, Lord, in our purpose in America for coming Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, Lord, and becoming complacent to the position of being willing to live without a divine movement of the Holy Spirit, a divine moment of almighty God. Forgive us, Lord, for standing in our purpose, and I stand in many, Lord, and many on here stand in public to cause deletion. Forgive us as preachers, Lord, for standing in our purpose and not expecting and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Forgive us of our pride and our arrogance and our self-sufficiency, and we think we know how to do it, but we know nothing. You said, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Lord, you pin that word with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If any man lacks, Lord, you showed us that it doesn't just mean that we're almost empty, that our gauge is low. It means we are absolutely destitute of anything of ourselves. That's why we don't see revival, Lord. I am too full of myself. Some of us are too full of ourselves, and we hinder the glory of God. Oh, God, forgive me. Forgive us and cleanse us, Lord Jesus. Forgive us for our sidelined idols that we think we're hiding from you, and we worship you on one day, but when we get somewhere, we have our little idols. We spend hours on the internet, hours on the internet, hours on Facebook, hours on other things that mean absolutely nothing in the final analysis. Lord, I pray with John Wesley that you will stamp eternity upon our eyes. Oh, God, that you'll stamp eternity upon our hearts, oh, God. We pray that just now the fires of revival would burn in our breasts, oh, God, in our souls, oh, God. Oh, God, that you'd let the heavens and come down on us when a mountain fire burns and causes the waters to boil, that the nations might tremble in your presence. Lord Jesus, I pray tonight that we, I, would tremble in your presence. Father, how can I pray for anybody else? Lord, it's not them that needs revival. God, it's me. Oh, Holy Spirit, burn afresh, oh, God. Burn out the dross of selfish desire. Burn out self-will. Burn out self-ethics. Burn out self-glory in Jesus' name. Lord, sanctify the whole, we pray tonight, oh, God. Lord, many that have gone before us have prayed in Christ. On the phone this week with Ted Rindle and Hester Rindle. Hester Rindle, Lord, who used to work with Duncan Campbell of the Hebrides. And, oh, Lord, there was such a sweetness in her spirit on the phone this week and her love for you, Jesus. So would Dr. Ted Rindle, Lord, my dear, dear friend, oh, God, what a blessing it is to have you here tonight. What a sweetness of spirit, oh, God. Lord, Stephen Alford's are gone. He was my daddy in the faith, Father. We were close for years, prayed many, many hours together, oh, God. Lord, Billy Graham's gone, Adrian Rogers is gone, oh, Jesus. These men of God are gone. Lord, but thy spirit is not gone. Lord, teach us to pray. As Dean Panton said, that prayer is God the spirit, talking to God the Father in the name of God the Son and the believer's heart is his prayer closet. So, Lord Jesus, we bow before you just now and we say, Lord, Lord, our hearts are your prayer closet. Holy Spirit, our hearts are your prayer closet. So all of us on this line tonight, we simply say to you, Jesus, Jesus, I come, cleanse, I pray, cleanse me by the blood of Calvary. Wash my spirit clean. Wash my soul clean. Wash my body clean by the blood, by the blood, by the blood of the Lamb of God, oh, God. Wash us all clean, Lord. Forgive me, nurse, for our gossipy tongues and our critical spirits, and, oh, God, I pray, wash each one of us clean. Because we all, we know we need it so badly, Lord Jesus. Lord, those demons in our lives that you've dealt with, we've picked them back up again. Oh, Lord, convict us afresh tonight. Father, make us as the men of God prayed. Make us as holy as a saved sinner can be. You spoke to my heart today, Lord. Pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And you reminded, oh, God, son, pursue holiness. Pursue holiness, pursue holiness, like them. Pursue holiness. Right now, across the world, we pursue you, the Holy One, for thy sins are high and lofty, Lord, the one that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with Him, also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Oh, may we be not critical, Lord, that quenches away the Holy Spirit. Dear God, as Bertha Smith would often say makes much of the blood of Jesus, every one of us on this line, Lord, tonight. Lord, we're really on the line with you. It is really an audience of one, and it's you, Lord Jesus. But, oh, God, we draw a circle around ourselves and we pray, dear God, revive everything inside of that circle. Burn up everything inside of that circle, oh, God. Revive everything inside of that circle. You said, Lord, so do yourselves in righteousness. Reap in mercy. Break up your fallowed ground, for it's time to seek the Lord until he comes and raise your righteousness upon you. Lord, I thank you, dear God. You have no girlfriends, only a bride. And we come to this Christy place with thee, oh, God, tonight longing to hear your voice, believing to hear your voice, believing, Lord, to receive the touch of thy Holy Spirit, oh, God. And, Lord, as Billy Graham used to be shut away in his hotel room when he and Dr. Holford used to pray together in New York City in 1957, and he cried out to you, God, I don't have the burden right now that I need to have with New York City that I remember to have. And, God, when he got on the school, broke his soul, and he wept over that city. He wept and he wept and he wept and he wept and he wept. Oh, God, we pray. God, God, God, give us the tears back to the Church of America. He said, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up in due time. He said, but he gives more grace, wherefore he says, God, resist the proud, but give grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and born, and weep. Be afflicted and mourn, and weep. Be afflicted and mourn, and weep. And, Lord Jesus, every command you give us, within the command, with every demand you give, is the dynamic to do what you demand of us. The Lord has been said, you're the source of your own activity. You're the origin of your own work. To worship you, all my soul rejoices. Will you sing that? To joy my King, in what you live. May happiness lead, sweet sound, in your ear. We bless you, Lord. We worship you, Lord Jesus. We come together tonight to pray, O God, and to seek your face, and to hear from your voice, through the word. Lord, you're Jehovah-tid can do our righteousness. We stand complete in you. Lord, you're Jehovah-im cadestra, the Lord that sanctifies. That the very God of peace sanctified you wholly. And I pray to God, your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless under the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it. Who also will do it. Lord, you're Jehovah-shalom, you're our peace. You've broken down the wall of petition, O God, in Jesus' name. You destroyed the authority that nails to chaos. You're our peace. Father, grant us the grace to walk in peace. For Lord, if we lose the sense of your peace, we'll lose the sense of your anointing. Let us not be frustrated or flustered, O God. The peace that surpasses all understanding, Lord Jesus. Peace. Lord, I pray peace right now on everyone listening on this line tonight. I pray, Lord, your eternal peace, that you'll bestow your peace upon everybody listening tonight. Wherever they sit, wherever they stand, either their home or their office, in their car. Father, wherever they are right now, I pray your peace in Jesus' name, in their families, in their ministries, in their relationships, in their marriages, with their children, with their parents. Jesus, you spoke to that troubled scene. You said, peace be still. And suddenly, there came a calm. Father, we've come this weekend, these two days, Lord, to seek your face. It's been a solemn assembly, and there's been confession. There's been brokenness. There's been getting honest about our sins. And Lord Jesus, we've come to the point where we said, now what? Now, what can I hold on to? Where do I go from here? What am I to do now? We're all praying, God, give us something to pray, to hold on, a truth, nuggets. Your wisdom, oh God. Lord, what is your spirit saying to the churches? Father, the word we need from you is found right here in the blessed word of the living God. You've already given us a word. With purpose in our hearts, oh God, we'll follow it. Lord, you're Jehovah. Our peace. Lord, you're Jehovah. Rafa, you're the Lord that heals. Lord, you're Jehovah. Jireh, the Lord that sees, the Lord that provides in Jesus' name. We thank you, Lord. Genesis 22, you provided yourself a lamb. That ram, oh God, God will provide himself. Lord, that's our prayer tonight. God will provide himself. Father, in the book of Judges, when they cried out to you because of their servitude, they cried out in lamentation and strong crying and tears. Jesus, even as you cried out to the guard with strong crying and tears, oh God, we heard that you feared. You heard the cry of your people, Lord Jesus. And you sent judges, oh God, among them. You sent judges, Lord Jesus, to meet with them and you met them, Lord, and you changed them and you transformed them, Lord. You brought a great moving amongst your people again. Father, just as those men of God in Charlotte, North Carolina, bound their hearts together and said, oh God, oh God, will you raise up from our community, Lord Jesus, somebody to take the gospel to the world? Simple men, simple men, Lord. Lord, they knew how to get ahold of the horns of the oxen. Lord, they knew how to pray. They knew how to appeal your throne. Attend my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll. Lord, if you're with someone wherever you are, if you're with someone, maybe join hands and pray together, would you do that? Find somebody and pray with somebody wherever you are. If you're by yourself, Lord, would you just bow your head and just pray right where you are? God, I claim the blood of Jesus over my soul. And I surrender my will to you. And I ask you, Jesus, to manifest in me and through me thy holy spirit of prayer. And the person of the holy spirit. He honors the blood. He honors humility. He loves when we come to him and say, oh God, I'm powerless to do anything in myself. Most never knew this, but Stephen Offord used to weep, he said every night, every day over New York City. He said, I'm madly in love with you. God would give him that city. Can we just pray, God, give us our city? God, give us our towns. God, do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask of you. For I have not seen, neither has e'er heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us even by his spirit. Yes. ♪ Is well with my soul ♪ ♪ It is well, it is well with my soul ♪ ♪ My soul ♪ Psalm 77 does not stop in verse nine. For verse 10, it says this. Then I said, I will appeal to this. Watch this. I will appeal to this, to the ears of the right hand of the most high. Maybe you're there right now. Maybe you're gonna get there soon. I have no doubt that some of you, because I know some of you, you're there right now. And you say, Lord Jesus, I'm there right now. The answer is in that one little word, verse 10. I will appeal to this, to the ears of the right hand of the most high. Mm, beloved, we can pray till we're black and blue in the face. We can fast as long as we can stand it. But we must learn, as you agreed, if we do not learn how to appeal the judge of all the earth, you often will have unanswered prayers. When this first God laid this on my heart, I thought, where have I been all my life? Why have I never seen this? Doug Small, speaking yesterday, he referred to Jacob Ducey, or however you say his name. It was his prayer at the first meeting of the First Continental Congress, September, 1774. Would you listen to his prayer? Oh, Lord, our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Now, what's he doing? He's declaring jurisdiction. I'll come back to that. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, who does from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon the earth. The earth is the Lord and the fullest thereof, the world may that dwell therein. He's declaring jurisdiction in the court of heaven. And reigned with power supreme and uncontrolled over all kingdoms, empires, and governments, look down in mercy, we beseech thee. Upon these American states who have fled for thee from the rod of the oppressor, and thrown themselves upon thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only upon thee. Now, listen to these words, would you listen to this? To thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause. To thee have they appealed, that's the word. That's the word in verse 10. To this I will appeal to the ears of the right hand of the most high. They said, to thee have they appealed, he said, he prayed, for the righteousness of their cause. To thee do they now look up for that countenance and support which thou alone canst give. Take them therefore, heavenly father, under thy nurturing care. Give them wisdom in counsel and valor in the field. Defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries. Convince them of the unrighteousness of their cause. And if they still persist in their sanguinary purpose, oh, let the voice of thine own unerring justice. It's a courtroom again. Of thine own unerring justice. He doesn't waver. Every word in this prayer is amazing. Shouting in their hearts, constrain them to drop their weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle. Be thou present, oh Lord of wisdom, and direct the counsel of the honorable assembly. Enable them to settle things upon the best and surest foundation that the scene of blood may speedily be closed. That order, harmony, and peace, there it is, may effectually be restored and truth and justice, religion and piety prevail and flourish among thy people. Preserve the health of their bodies, the vigor of their minds. Shower down upon them and the millions they here represent such temporal blessings as thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy son, our savior, amen. Patrick Henry, who was called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, give me liberty or give me death. But in current textbooks, the context of these words is deleted. Here's what he said, quote, an appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that has left us. We shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. Thomas Jefferson, July 4th, 1776, in the Declaration, he speaks of laws of nature and nature's God. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. The representatives of the United States of America appealing, there it is, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. We have mutually pledged to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Woodrow Wilson, the same thing. On and down, Calvin Coolidge, the same thing, 1936. We appeal. He says, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say, and I quote, the people seem to recognize this revolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven. No one can examine the record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles, the Declaration was the result of religious teachings of the preceding period, the profound philosophy which Jonathan Edwards applied to theology, the popular preaching of George Whitefield had aroused the thought and stirred the people of the colonies in preparation for this great event. But I take that, and the word of appealing to the judge of all the earth, is that's how we come to God. How do we lay hold of God to see a move of God again? By learning the ways of God and how to appeal to the judge of all the earth. Many that have heard this teaching of scripture, and I wanna get into it here, they've come up and they say, David, finally, the first time in my life, I see all the dots of my life connecting. I never knew why God didn't answer prayer here, why he didn't answer prayer there, what went wrong here, and why nothing ever happened there. They're saying, now I see all the dots connecting. And then they're also saying, what used to take three years or whatever to pray for something to happen, I'm seeing time collapse, and I'm watching God answer prayer like I've never seen in all of my life. Because we're learning, they're learning, and we're learning to appeal, to make an appeal to the judge of all the earth. The first thing we have to do is, and I mentioned it a while ago in the prayer, is declare jurisdiction. In that chapter 77, I cried aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me, he will give me a hearing. It isn't just that he will hear me, I'll get into more of that shortly, that he'll give me a hearing as well. On the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord. And I remember God, I moan, you hold my life, he's acknowledging the Lordship and the control of Almighty God. The psalmist said in chapter 24, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in its holy place? It begins with the earth as the Lord to the fullest thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. I live in Maricopa County in Arizona. Not here a whole lot except for this year, but you live in the county that you live in. If you took a lawsuit from your county and you came to a judge in the county here, Maricopa County, he would say, you have no jurisdiction. The judge has no jurisdiction over your case because your case took place somewhere else. And he would say, sir, you have no standing in my court. That's what recently happened with the state of Texas. Right or wrong, when the Supreme Court said about Texas, they had no standing before the Supreme Court. That is a legal term. And beloved, before you and I can ever see God at your prayer in profound and glorious ways, you and I must have standing in the presence of God. Let me encourage you tonight that everything and all of creation is under the jurisdiction of Almighty God, amen? And because you've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, you've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we've been born again and saved and declared a righteousness before Almighty God, that declaration is a declaration granting and giving to you and I standing in the presence of Almighty God. And it's given us all authority to pray with power and clarity and reason our cases before God. Beloved, I encourage you tonight, declare jurisdiction, acknowledge He's Lord of all and acknowledge that you have standing because of the jurisdictional working of the hand of God upon your soul and salvation. My, my, my, you're not seeing answers to prayer, it's always a legal reason. Any lack of the manifest presence of God among the church is always due to a legal reason in heaven. A lack of harmony in the church is due to a legal reason. Jim Cimbala said this, faith never denies reality, but leaves room for God to grant a new reality. Isn't that good? Faith never denies reality, but leaves room for God to grant a new reality. And I wanna add something to that, that the faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. There's two Greek words for the word to test. One is dokimazo, one is perazo. Now forget the pronunciation, doesn't matter. But here's the point, dokimazo, perazo. Dokimazo means to test, to prove that it will withstand the pressure. Perazo is used of the enemy, testing for the purpose to destroy. If you build a bridge and they wanna roll out a big semi-truck across that bridge, they're not testing it perazo to see if it's gonna collapse, they're testing it dokimazo to prove that it will withstand the pressure and the weight. That's the word scripture uses for the testing of the faith of the believer in Jesus Christ. God's testing of you and I and all of us is not to show that we're going to fail, it's to show the sufficiency of the undergirding of the grace and enablement and empowerment of the living Christ within us, living the life that he is. Isn't it wonderful, beloved, that everything is in Jesus and Jesus is everything? A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. Who is it? Well, who is God? We talked about the judge of all the earth, but who is he? I'm gonna go back to this in Hebrew word pictures. Back in the Hebrew was used, they used pictures for the Hebrew, not like we have today. The letters of today go back to actual pictures and how they were, so I'm going back before that into that. God is the first and strong controller. The divine name would translate it as Lord, signifying honor, majesty, and sovereignty. Lord is Adonai, the name for God, Adonai. It literally means the first judge. Whoever you make your first judge is your Lord. Whoever you and I make our first judge is our Lord. Whatever we turn to is our Lord. I heard of a church that they got to put upon the pastor's heart to build a prayer house. And what happened was, and no condemnation to the pastor of the people, but what happened was, they weren't getting too many to come to the regular prayer meeting, so they didn't build a prayer house, I was told. Listen, that isn't what God said to do. If God said build the prayer house, build the prayer house. Build it in faith, because you heard from God in the first place. That man's withered hand, well, we can have him come out and stand in the middle because his hand is withered. So why do that? His hand is withered. God delights in taking the impossible and speaking the supernatural into it. Stretch forth your hand, and it became whole as the other. What is God telling you to do that seems impossible? Well, beloved, in your strength and our strength, it is impossible. But if God's telling you to do it, God will undertake and undergird as you walk in obedience to him. Lord means the first judge. Judge means the door to life. That's a positive turn on the word judge. He's the judge of all the earth. But what does the word judge literally mean in Hebrew, going right back into Hebrew? It literally means the door to life. In the ancient times, the judge would sit at the gate of the city or the gate of the palace. The biblical role of a judge was as a protector and defender. The only one who needed to fear was the one who oppresses those that God protects. Beloved, your judge of all the earth is adjudicating in your favor. Is that not good news? That's what grace is. That's what unmerited favor is. He's judging in your favor, and he's doing it right now. Is he not the intercessor as well, Jesus, who's always living to intercede, to be the advocate, the go-between between you and I and God the Father? Oh, let's hurry. We got too much to cover. I mentioned a while ago the word for peace. Literally, it's four Hebrew letters. It may not be in the New Testament, Greek, but we have Shalom in the Old Testament. The first is a sheen. It looks like a W. It's a symbol for fire. The second one is the lamen, like a shepherd's cloak, which is a symbol for authority. The third one is the tab, like it looks like a T, which means to nail or to bind. The last letter's mem, and it looks like our M, the O one with a swish. Swish underneath it. I mean, right backwards. I can't do it, but anyway. It means water or chaos. Peace literally means to destroy the authority that binds to chaos. Do a study when Jesus would say, "'Peace be still. "'My peace I give unto you.' "'For as let not your heart be troubled, "'you believe in God, believe also in me.' "'Jesus said, in my Father's house are many mansions. "'If it were not so, I would have told you "'if I go and prepare a place for you. "'And if I go and prepare a place for you, "'I will come again and receive you unto myself "'that where I am, there you may be also.'" Look at the use of the word peace in the scripture. Jesus is our peace. The throne of God, the court of heaven. Daniel chapter seven, verse 10. "'A stream of fire came forth from before him. "'A thousand thousands ministered to him, "'and 10,000 times 10,000 rose up and stood before him. "'The judge was seated, the court was in session, "'and the books were opened.' Amplify version, Daniel seven, verse 10. "'Is that not a courtroom scene? "'I saw in the night visions, "'and behold, in the clouds of the heaven "'came one like the Son of Man, "'and he came to the ancient of days, "'and was presented before him. "'As I looked, this horn made war with the saints "'and prevailed over them. "'Until the ancient of days came, "'a judgment was given to the saints of the Most High God, "'and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.'" Now, I know the eschatological thrust of that, but let's take the practical applications of that. You feel like the devil's eating your lunch, like he's chewing you up and spitting you out. We feel like the devil's doing that in the nation and other nations of the world, and in churches across the nation. The Bible says, "'For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, "'that he might destroy the works of the devil. "'Jesus, who confessed in blood that he might destroy, "'to render inoperative a different word, "'powerless to neutralize him that had power over death, "'that is the devil.'" I know legally speaking, the devil's a defeated foe, but if Ephesians 4, "'If I live with anger and wrath and malice "'and unforgiveness and I've taken up offenses, "'I've given place to the devil to attack my life "'and to wreak havoc in my life "'because of my unrepentance before God.'" If you say the devil's always after me and everywhere I turn, the devil's always after me, you need to see if there's something against you in the court of heaven. There's somebody possibly you haven't forgiven that hurt you years ago, and they were wrong. Granted, they were wrong, but dearly beloved, that hurt and that unforgiveness and that resentment and that spirit of revenge will put you in a vacuum of defeat and it will last all of your life until you come to the cross and the church of all the earth and learn how to get it right. Some deacon hurt you 20 years ago, you're still hurting from that. Some chaos broke out in the church business meaning that your kids today won't go to church. And they're in their 30s and 40s and late 20s. There was a survey done of preacher's kids and my dad was a preacher, and they did a survey as to why they left church when they left home. 100% of the preacher's kids said this, I watched the way they treated my dad in a business meeting. And I said, I'll never go to church again. I'll never forget what a pastor years ago, he's home with the Lord now, Chapman, Tennessee. He called my oldest brother and he said, will you forgive me for not defending you back when you were a teenager? I was wrong. I was wrong. Is there an offense somewhere maybe in your past, maybe a deacon's wife said something to you, ma'am? Maybe someone got critical of your husband and you said, you may attack me all you want, but you go to my husband and I'll come at you like a cat. Can I lovingly ask you, have you gone to the cross with it yet? I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying it's right. And you're in your own prison. And you know you are. Please, what does forgive mean? It means to release. The priest would lay his hand on the head of the animal there in the Old Testament. It would release it into the desert to die, to send away. To not forgive someone would be like going to the back of Jesus if it were possible on that cross and laying a hold of those sins whereby they sinned against you. You pull them off of the back of Jesus and you go over and you throw them back on the person who sinned and you say, it'll be a cold day in the middle of Hades before I forgive you. That's dangerous, my friend. Probably many of us have had to go back on the phone to somebody in the past and say, will you forgive me? I was wrong. Never forget Revival, breaking out in the church. The first time in my life, when everyone went over the scheduled time frame. And on that Wednesday night, the pastor of the church, God broke loose. They're supposed to go four days. And that dear pastor stood before his people with tears streaming down his face. He said, my wife has told me for years that I'm an angry and bitter man and she's right because I am. But tonight, Jesus has set me free and the glory of God descended in that little auditorium. Brokenness swept through that place. Pastor, just be honest. That Revival broke out in four weeks, every single night. I think we finally took off Saturday night so they could rest. We would come and wait in the presence of God, would sit down in that place and he would take over the service. He came within a mile from that auditorium in Arlington, Arizona. And you could feel the manifest presence of God overtake that whole community. That led to another church. Will you come over here? I said, I can't promise revival. Only Jesus can revive. They said, we know that, but will you come? I went. The very first service, God sat down in that church. And he broke as in his manifest presence. And that went for four months in that church. People would come to the church, friends, and they would walk in the door before they began weeping as they walked in the door of the church. And they would go straight to the altars, many of them. Some of them, oftentimes it would begin before the time of church start began. They came from everywhere, 90 miles away to be involved in what God was doing. To tell story after story. I remember the night when there was such a moving of God reminded me of Duncan Campbell in the Lewis Awakening where the field next to the auditorium when they were out there on their knees and on their faces. There was such a deluge of the spirit of the living God that people were on their knees and on their faces crying out, is there mercy for me? Is there mercy for me? Even one night, they heard the angelic voices of heaven singing amongst them. Friends, when God comes and revival, he does the unusual. The acid test is can you find it in scripture anywhere? Not have I experienced it somewhere in my past, but is it in the word of God? Angels sang at the birth of Jesus. I'll never forget the night. Oh, there was such a humbleness in that crowd. God had already sat down upon us. I'd never preached the message. He laid on my heart one hour and the hand of God became heavy upon us. And we sat in the presence of God, adults, children, babies, everything for one son, whoever was there, one solid hour. At the one hour, I watched the second hand at the back of the church. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to lift a finger so as not to grieve away the Holy Spirit of God. And at one hour exactly, the presence of God lifted off of us and we thought we all came back alive again. There was a holy hush in the house and we began to sing and we knew it wasn't just us singing. Oh, the glory of God came down. What would happen in our churches? What would happen in our Zoom meetings? Because you and I both know the Holy Spirit is not confined to a building. He's not confined to my living room. He's not confined to my library upstairs. He's not confined. He's unlimited. What would happen if we pled the blood of the Lamb of Almighty God? If we went back to getting on our knees in prayer and staying there until God met us? I'll never forget the day he's living with Richard Owen Roberts in his home in Wheaton, Illinois. Five o'clock in the morning, I would hear his door, his bedroom door open and close. Every single morning, I would hear his door open and close. I'll never forget the times and maybe some of you were in some of those meetings. We had all day prayer meetings once a month and then I think every Thursday morning, there was an early morning men's prayer meeting. Living in his home, we fell asleep, we talked, we prayed. We discussed revival, a glorious time. I'll never forget those all day prayer meetings that sometimes God would keep you quiet, at least for me, except my other ones, he'd keep us quiet throughout most of the day because he was teaching his children to learn to wait upon the Holy Spirit and don't be impatient. And long about one or two o'clock in the afternoon, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit would say, pray. And it was as if all of heaven opened up and a deluge of the spirit and glory of God flooded that room and we all would collapse on our knees or built in our prostration of soul and tears would begin streaming down our eyes as we cried out to God to do it again. Do it again, Lord. Do it again in New York. Do it again in Los Angeles. Do it again, Lord, in China. Do it again, Lord, in India. Do it again, Lord, in Chicago. Do it again, Lord, in Nashville. Oh, do it again, Lord, in Georgia. Oh, God, come to Georgia. Oh, God. Oh, God. Not because we're so worthy, but because we need it so badly. Oh, God, we're a sinful nation. Lord Jesus, there showers of blessing. There's young people ablaze with the spirit of the living God. There's the individuals around the nation and there's those assemblies, God, that you have breathed upon. You've rested your hand upon. But, oh, God, breathe upon these slain. In every other place of this nation, Lord, turn up on the heavens, we pray tonight, and come down as a melting fire burns and causes the waters to boil. Oh, God, as you did in Wales in 1904. Oh, God, as you met Evan Roberts at 26 years old. Oh, God, as you met Flory Evans. Oh, God, as you said, I love Jesus with all my heart. Up there, Lord Jesus, in that beautiful little coastal town, Lord, and being in the very chapel where the young people gathered together, Lord Jesus. And you came with an entire huge garden. You met them, oh, God, do it again. God, as you met D.L. Moody walking down the streets of New York City, crying out to you, God, fill me, God, fill me, God, fill me, and agreed with those two elderly ladies in prayer, and God, you met D.L. Moody on the streets of New York. So much so, he had to go into an apartment room of his friends and get a loan and say, God, stay your head, God, stay your head, I will die. God, stay your head, Lord. And he went back and preached the same sermons, the same message, but there was a fresh fire. There was a fresh anointing upon the Lord. And we right now, all across the nation, we right now, we say, God, God, let the fires of blessing fall. We are waiting and expecting, oh, revive the hearts of all. Right now, Lord, Hosea said, return to the Lord and bring words with you. Can I encourage you on something tonight? As all of you have your place where you pray, no doubt. You spend all those hours in prayer with the Lord, no doubt. May we bring words with us when we pray. Friends, there's virtually zero silent prayer in Scripture. We are hard-pressed to find anywhere in Scripture where they prayed silently. Not that it's wrong, obviously, it's not. But what about Hannah? Maybe Hannah, but her lips were moving. Last time, I don't say this except for to illustrate. I talked to Leonard Ravenhill, his home in Texas. He talked about Hannah. And may we be prayer warriors like Hannah. Ravenhill's gone. Oh, someone listening, take up that mantle. Take that baton. Should God ask you, are you willing for revival? You may respond, Lord, I don't know if I'm willing, but I'm willing to be made willing. Should the Lord ask you, are you willing to take up the torch of a billy, of a Whitfield? Maybe we could just say, Lord, I don't know if I'm willing, but oh God, I'm willing to be made willing. You can go to Newburyport, to the Old South Presbyterian Church. You can go downstairs under the pulpit area where Whitfield is buried to this day. You can lay your hands on that slab of marble. It'll do nothing for you. It may encourage you to be there, yes. But beloved brother, preacher, friend, preacher, preacher, preacher, look at me for a second here. You know this, you have the same Holy Spirit that George Whitfield had. Don't be afraid to obey him. Don't be afraid of the burning bush of revival fire in your place of ministry. You say, what do you mean? You recall Moses saw the burning bush out there in the wilderness and he inquired to look at it. He knew it was different. And when he turned a step toward it, God spoke to him. Take off your shoes, remember that story. Your ministry, praise and worship leaders, team, whoever you are, your ministry, you're on the phone with a group of, your ministry. And you sense there's a truth or there's somebody in that audience, a woman over here that the spirit of God during the worship is just melting her heart and she's breaking down. That's your burning bush, don't miss it. You may wanna turn and say gently, hey, could some of you sisters over here, could you just gather around this dear lady right here? Just gather around her, love on her and just pray over her. Would you do that? Ladies, could some of you just come and pray over her? And all of a sudden you look over, there's a man over here on this side and he's breaking down and brokenness. And you say, could some of you men come over to this brother over here and just lay hands on him and just pray over that brother in Jesus' name. And before you know it, they're coming down the aisles, why? Because you saw the burning bush in one person in a service and you responded to the burning bush and the spirit of God told you what to do next. Whenever you respond to the Holy Spirit, he'll tell you what to do next. Just stay dead to self and aligned to the spirit of the living God and he'll prompt you as to what to do. And before you know it, the doors are open and you're going to 1.30 in the afternoon. Then almost every meeting God leads into by his grace and goodness, they go well beyond scheduled dates. Recently in the state of Georgia, it was scheduled for one day and it went eight days. I didn't even preach until Friday night, leading worship and then trying to preach, but God sat down in the house. Another church, God came, pastor tried to close it in a good way on Sunday morning, four different times and he couldn't do it. He looked at me and smiled and said, take it. That went on till about one or two, I think, I don't recall. And that church there, that was a Baptist church and I've also been in other churches. The other one, God's gone for many nights. It doesn't matter what the sign out front says. It doesn't matter what your denominational tie is. If you go off, it blows off. If you go down, it burns off. So let Jesus be your source. Let the word be your guide and let the word enkindle the flames of revival in our souls and watch God do what he promised he would do. I will pour water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. Let us go to our ecclesias, our assemblies and trust God to show up and to show out. One church, the youth were, one guy was climbing over the altar recently to get to the altar. The youth would come at the end of the service. There's no invitation given to do this. Service was already over. Altars had already been full of people. The youth would come and congregate over on the right-hand side waiting and they didn't know why. They just thought drawn to go congregate right over there. And their purpose was to get, they would look up at the screen. Their purpose was to worship. The presence of God was so heavy. Don't tell me young people don't want revival. They want the manifest presence of God. Maybe we need to take some of our sermons as it were and take them to the trash barrel and burn every single one of them because sometimes we get in the way of the moving of the spirit of God. Come on somebody, shout amen. I remember watching Stephen Offred, how he handled services. Those of you that have read about Evan Roberts, how sometimes he went to one place and he sat there for two or three hours while they were singing in prayer. The flames of prayer, the flame, the spontaneous flame of worship, the flame of quietness, the flame of the glorious, angelic hallelujahs. And sometimes Evan would go and he would sit in the presence of God for two hours until the Holy Spirit said, now take over the service. And he would stand up and take it over. And God would descend upon the place again in the fires of revival. And he may only speak for 15 minutes and he would sit down again because God had come. Bill McCloud said as much on the phone conversation years ago he remembers when God showed him himself in a casket in front of the auditorium in one of the big buildings they had to move to in the Canadian revival. He said, Lord, what are you trying to show me with this? He said, God spoke to my heart, Bill, if you'll stay dead, I'll show you what I can do. Now Fred, you and I, all human, we're not prone to accepting death to this afterlife. We're prone to have to do something. But when you and I, when you get sick and tired of not seeing a move of God, you will gladly embrace the sentence of death upon the self-life. In Galatians 2, 20, will come alive as never before. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live, in the flesh I live, by the faith of the Son of God. Not in the Son of God. The Greek is not in the Son of God. It's the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Why is that crucial? Because it's the faith of Jesus who kept covenant on the cross of Calvary with God the Father. It's his faith in the Father to fulfill into you and I the promise of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant administration of the Spirit of the living God. And we're an heir of God that joined with Christ in that faith, believing. You say, well, I need to pray three hours. Oh, no, no, no, friend. Let's just die to self and say, Holy Spirit, fill me and lead me in the place of prayer. Isn't it wonderful that everything is in Jesus and Jesus is everything? Isn't it wonderful that he knows all about us and loves us too? Aren't you thankful that Jesus isn't, God isn't looking for someone talented enough to use and there's nothing wrong with talent. Bill McLeod said in the Canadian Revival that it seemed like the weaker the person was, the more God did with him. The issue is that we're not strong enough. The issue is that we're not weak enough. But then when he crowns your weakness with his power and his presence, don't be afraid to step into the moving of the Spirit of God because you've died to self and your ears are tuned to the prompting and the presence of the Spirit of the living God. We've all seen the picture of George Whitefield with his hands out like this over his preaching. The lady down below, my dear friend, Dr. Ernest Johnson, we researched together in New England. He wrote the two volume on George Whitefield. He said, David's believed that that was his wife. One time George Whitefield was being heckled and beloved you and I are being heckled in this nation as I speak. I'm like, I can't finish what I began. It's all right. There's nine things to do in how to appeal to the judge of all the earth. George Whitefield was being heckled and while George Whitefield was being heckled, his wife looked up at him and she said, George, step into God's anointing. Step into God's anointing. Out of weakness, beloved, God grant us the grace to step into the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God, which abides within you. I'll never forget praying. Lord Jesus, I feel like I've wasted many years. Dear God, will you restore the years that the locusts have eaten? I forgot about that prayer. The next four weeks I saw over 4,000 people come to faith in Jesus Christ in meetings. Heading back home at the end of that, the Holy Spirit reminded me, remember the prayer you prayed? Oh Lord, I forgot about it. Son, you seem more saved in one month. Beloved, God can restore the years that the locusts has eaten. Even to your old age, he says, I will carry you. I cannot how old you are, what age you are. God's not done with you. Duncan Campbell was 51 when the revival broke out in Lewis. He said, but God only uses young people in the revival. No, he often uses young people in the revival, mostly he does. Yes, we know that. I think it's just God's willing to use anyone who's willing to pay the price of prayer and repentance and brokenness before his throne. May we lay hold of the altar of God. All I'll say is this, in Psalm 77, I will appeal to this, to the years, to the right hand of the most high. Then he says, I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, oh God, is in the sanctuary. What God is greater God like our God. You are the God who works wonders. You have made known your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. When the water saw you, oh God, when the water saw you, they were afraid. Indeed, the deep trembled. And he goes on to the clouds poured out water, the skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. What he's doing, beloved, he's giving his case law in his appeal to what God has done in the past. A man came to me in Georgia and he said, do you know what case law is? I said, well, yeah, I do, but tell me again. He said, when you go to court and you put on the docket, there are other cases just like the one you're asking the judge to see right now. And it shows how the other judges in the past have adjudicated in favor that you're seeking. He said, judges don't like to go against precedents. He said, my son is an appeals court lawyer and he's never lost a case in the state of Georgia. I said, how? He said, because he knew how to appeal. And all he did was he went back and found other cases just like his case that was part of his appeal. That's exactly in Psalm 77, what the psalmist is doing. He's going back and finding what God has done in the past and he's arguing his case before the judge of all the earth of what God is doing. I've got about seven minutes. I just wanna shoot to the chase here. There's so much I didn't do. Contact me if you want notes or whatever. First John five is a verse we often use. It says, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions, courtroom terminology, that we desire of him. Powerful words. And this is, is ongoing present tense, the confidence that we are having in him, that if we ask, that means to make a request or demand something from somebody, the confidence is boldness. He hears us, that is a present active indicative. It means to hear with intention to grant a hearing. God is not deaf. God, when he says, I will give you a hearing, he's not saying I'm deaf and I can't hear you. It's a legal term saying, I will grant you a hearing. The word says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. It does not mean he's deaf and doesn't hear. It means he will not grant me a hearing. Though I'm his child, I'm his son. If there's sin in my life in the way, it hinders my absolute openness to the throne of almighty God. That's why you must silence the devil before you appeal to the judge of all the earth. Zechariah three, you remember there, Joshua was dirty and Satan was there accusing. And the man of God said, cleanse him, make him clean. And he did. And from that point on, Satan is never mentioned. Friend, to have an open heaven in prayer, you must stand before God with no accusation. The devil has desired to sit you as wheat. He desired you, that's a legal term, wanting to bring you into the court of heaven in accusation. That when you and I confess our sins, we claim the blood of Calvary, baby, you clear the decks. Now you can pray. So pray when you feel like it. Pray when you don't feel like it. And pray until you do feel like it. Because this is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, excuse me, isn't the word, isn't will a legal term? It's not just the will of will, it's a legal term as well. He says, I will hear you, I'll give you a hearing. And if I give you a hearing, I'll give you what you're asking for. Oh, beloved friends, silence the enemy by claiming the blood of Calvary. Oh, claiming that stream that flows. The beloved word, the blood of Jesus cleanses the spirit of God anoints. There is a stream, a river, that which makes glad the city of God. Recall the Old Testament. Recall the Old Testament. Recall there where the priest went, blood on the right ear lobe, the ear of perception. Blood on the right thumb, the thumb of occupation. Blood on the right toe, the toe of my direction. Beloved, let's claim right now the cleansing blood of Jesus over our perception that we might hear. Oh, oh, when did Isaiah hear the voice of God in Isaiah six? After he confessed and said, I am undone, for I am unabundant in your lips. After the angel took a coal, a live coal from off the altar with tongs and came and touched his lips and said, behold, your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. Then he heard the voice of God who will go for us. When did he hear? After the cleansing, cleansed to hear, cleansed to obey, cleansed in our direction with almighty God. The application of that is simply this. On that blood, as you recall from the word, on that blood, they would take oil and apply it to the blood on the ear lobe, on the thumb, and on the toe. And here's the wonderful, wonderful truth. Dan, if you wanna come back on or bring my brother, Doug, on, however you wanna do it. Here's the wonderful truth. Is that where the blood of Jesus cleanses the spirit of God. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/yjt-n4Qc1lc.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-ford/appealing-to-god/ ========================================================================