Praying In Praise.

Pr Edi Giudetti

28-11-2021

The fourth instalment in the series on Prayer is that of praise, an element often neglected, but grows all the more wonderful as we read his word. It is through prayer we become joyful witnesses of the Lord, and what a joy it is to love him.

In my first sermon on the topic of Prayer I mentioned four categories of how prayer blesses those whose petitions are heard of the Lord, I said;

“that prayer is vital for our Confidence, our Faith, our Joy and our Witness.”

Praise is a form of prayer that has its hand in all four of these categories. 

It renders to the Lord that which is due him and in turn it brings to us a revival of all four of those blessings noted above.

Confidence:

It inspires confidence in the Lord; as we praise the Lord it returns to us the knowledge that he is worthy of all our praise, that he is all that we worship him for, and that through him there is life in abundance.

Faith:

It wonderfully increases our faith, because again our soul is reminded of all he is and does and will do. We see him through his word and we trust his word is sure and in that we praise him for all his wonderful works.

Joy:

How can the increase of our confidence and the increase of our faith in the Lord not lead to a natural increase in joy? It is through these things that James can state with all certainly “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:2-4).

When it comes to temptations or trials, James uses the word “When” and that is not by accident, the trials we currently endure are to bring about patience and faith. 

Witness:

To praise God when you are going through trials, to praise him trusting he is in control, to praise him knowing his will will be done and you have nothing but joy through it, to praise him as you stand apart from this world and know he is watching and blessing you, beloved, this cannot be BUT witnessed by the world.

You will personally experience this as true when those who are in the world, struggling with the direction of the world, look to you and “asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Pet 3:15)

 Today, as we witness the world form into that final kingdom, what an opportunity to set ourselves apart and show to the world the wonderful joy of the Lord and all that he blesses us in and through. 

What an opportunity to praise him as his word comes alive before our eyes.

Now, beloved, there are SO MANY examples of praise in the Bible that we could spend decades going through them all. The Psalms are essentially Songs that are identified in a diverse number of categories, we have already looked at a number of them when going through the Treasury of David;

We looked at:

The Messianic PsalmsThe Penitential Psalms (Psalms of Repentance)The Imprecatory PsalmsThe Apocalyptic Psalms

But there are also The Praise Psalms, or Psalms of Thanksgiving, as you read them it’s impossible not to be able to identify them, and as you climb from Psalm 100 through to 150, they seem to stand out all the more.

Those Praise Psalms however are broken up into two distinct Categories, National and Personal.

We do see very clearly national and personal praises to the Lord found in the Psalms, but as I said, Praise is a form of prayer and so we will find individuals in the Bible praying praise to the Lord.

This morning I will demonstrate two of them, one can be considered the first national Prayer or Praise, the other is the first personal prayer of praise. 

One by Moses, the other by Hannah, the mother of the prophet/priest Samuel

In giving consideration to these two individuals, we will also find direct correlation to that which we see in the Psalms of Praise.

My aim this morning will be

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Who can tell whether God will be gracious to us

There is an item very close to prayer that I would like to address to you in the sermon today. It is a doctrine that comes directly out of the pages of the Bible,  and its concept is at times difficult to understand. 

We don’t understand how it works, most importantly, we don’t understand why it works, but we do understand that it does make a difference and we do understand that there is a right and a wrong way to attend to it. 

I am speaking of the doctrine of prayer AND Fasting.

The doctrine is spoken of many times in the Bible and it contains within it many characteristics, only a handful we will deal with in todays message.

The first thing I would like to touch on is what Fasting is NOT.

Fasting is not abstaining from cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, television, music etc.

Ridding yourself of any of those things is a GOOD thing…except coffee maybe. 

Either way the Bible says nothing about the abstinence of single elements of a lifestyle in the hope that it will be considered a Fast before God. 

In short, fasting simply refers to not eating of food for a given period of time. Sometimes it includes both food and water. Simple.

There are some other elements that we will take a look at, but for now that is the simplest form of the doctrine.

Today we will take a look at several ideas presented in the Bible and pray the Lord encourages further into its consideration.

Fasting Committed To The Will of The Lord

2 Sam 12:15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. 17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

The first thing we notice in the account in Samuel is that it is the Lord who struck the childthat was the product of the adultery of David. It was a direct judgement upon David that Nathan had told him would occur in the previous verse. 

If we turn back only a couple of verses we see both David’s repentance but also Nathan’s proclamation concerning the outcome of David’s sin;

13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

Even though David knew this would be the outcome, he set himself to pray and to fast for the life of the Child.

16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth

But it was in verse 22 that we see David’s heart was fully committed unto the will of the Lord.

As the account continues we discover that the child died, but when David discovered the truth of the matter he got up, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, worshipped the Lord and set himself to eat.

He went back to life as usual in peace.

Beloved this attitude stems from trusting that you have done all you can do and the outcome was Gods will.

When your heart’s desire is ONLY Committed to the Will of the Lord, the outcome of your fervent prayer is NEVER that you did not get what you wanted, but that the Lords will was done and we rest in the comfort of it.

If there is one thing that I desire you might learn from this passage, it is that. 

Our desire is for the Glory of God, and if that means God has a better plan for our outcome other than that which our limited understanding can see, then trust him and rest.

The Victorian Pandemic Management Bill

Let me give you a very present understanding.

I am going to encourage you all to Fast and Pray this week against the bill that will have its final debate and vote this comi

The post The Christian Life appeared first on Hope Baptist Church.

Be Ye Separate 

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”  2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Introduction:

Good afternoon,

It is always an honour and privilege to have the opportunity to preach; but particularly on my birthday. Today is significant for two other reasons; today is also Halloween and Reformation Sunday. 

Our reading today illustrates what inevitably happens when the church…when Christians fail to adhere to the sound doctrine of biblical separation. 

The historical context particularly deals with the separation of church and state and the separation of believers from the pagan world. 

And so today we will go on a bit of a journey [at least in the introduction] and look at some of the history surrounding the two events [Halloween and the Reformation]. We will also briefly look at the heresies connected with these events and the attempt to harmonize two diametrically opposed philosophies or belief systems. 

The history behind Halloween is quite broad but derives from a Celtic [Druid] pagan festival called Samhain (pronounced Sow-in).  Time doesn’t permit to go fully into the many observances connected to Samhain (sow-in), suffice to say that it was a harvest festival and was celebrated by various practices including the burning of sacrifices. It was also believed that on the night of Samhain (Sow-in), the boundary between the spirit world and the physical world opened, allowing the spirits to enter and wreak havoc upon the earth and particularly the harvest. 

The history behind the name change is another interesting point. The re-naming of Samhain to Halloween occurred in the 8th Century as Ireland became increasingly Catholic. In an attempt to merge the pagan with the Christian, All Saints [Hallowed] Day was moved from May to November to coincide with Samhain (Sow-in) which then became “All Hallows’ Eve” or  “Halloween”. 

Halloween is still a major celebration in Ireland, with many of the customs still being observed in one form or another and which reflect its pagan origins. 

The event has steadily become popular in Australia also; though I dare say many have no idea about its dark history. And yet casual observation should tell you that dressing up as skeletons, monsters and witches is contrary to the command of scripture to abstain from every appearance of evil. Those who hate godly wisdom do indeed love death; and it is reflected in the ghoulish costumes. 

I struggle to believe that it is harmless fun; at the very least it does nothing to glorify God; especially knowing that the day is held in high reverence by Satanists and Wiccans.  

The celebration of Halloween wouldn’t have happened, of course, but for another chapter in “church” history. I refer to the merger of Church and State.

We are well familiar with the Christian persecution in ancient Rome. The first step in the easing of persecution came in 313AD when Emperor Constantine pronounced an edict of toleration. It is supposed to have occurred as a result of winning the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312AD.  Prior to the battle he is reported as having a vision of the cross and underneath the words “In this sign, conquer”. As the story goes, Constantine painted the cross on his army’s shields and they consequently won. The Christianization of Rome was further extended in AD380, when Emperor Theo

The post Lord, Teach Us To Pray appeared first on Hope Baptist Church.

Prayer pt 1:

Careful For Nothing

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Phil 4:4-6

My daughter Natalie had said to me in the first few months after we began the Church in Sunbury that I ought to do a sermon series on the topic of prayer. It was something she loved and so did I and it was always my intention to undertake this incredible study.

I’m not sure why it was that I had not undertaken it until now. 

The sermon series of the book of Romans that I began before leaving Faith Baptist Church in Fawkner in 2016 and re-started in January 2019, together with The Bible Survey Series undertaken from 2017 to 2018, had indeed helped lay the foundation of the Church and now, seeing the end in sight for the close of the book of Romans, and in light of the current affairs of our world, it seems a deep dive into the topic of prayer is vital for our Confidence, our Faith, our Joy and our Witness.

I don’t yet know how many sermons I will undertake in this series on Prayer, nor do I know how much of each sermon is going to overlap as the topic of prayer is expensive, but I do know that those four overall categories will house the different values of prayer directly. 

CONFIDENCE

FAITH

JOY

WITNESS

Confidence is that which assuages fears and anxieties. It quiets concern, it alleviates our worries, it provides that assurance we need to not only to get through life but to excel in life. Confidence underpins the foundation of everything we desire to build upon it, and yet it is merely one of the side benefits to prayer.

Faith is that trusting element based on what we have seen and experienced in trusting God at his word. “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness” says the apostle (Rom 4:3). In this we see Faith as that very element through which salvation is gained. We trusted, having not seen nor witnessed, but having confidence that God cannot lie and it gained to us eternal life. This can ONLY grow when prayer becomes a constant state of the heart.

JOY has its fountain within; unlike happiness it is NOT based on that which occurs without. Joy does not stem from the ‘happenings’ in or around our life, it is a well springing up from within our hearts and spirit, that can only be gained when such constant communication with the Living God becomes the staple of our life. We “rejoice in the Lord alway” (Phil 4:4) and uncommonly do so even in tribulation (Ja 1:2) and especially as we witness that our redemption draweth nigh (Lk 21:28). 

That “Witness” is to be understated as all the elements above come togetherdemonstrating a manner of life that is otherworldly. A life to which all people enquire as to the HOPE they see so evident within us (1 Pet 3:15). 

But more so, it is a witness of Christ working in the lives of those we pray for testifying it was our intercession for them that God heard and answered.

So we will come to see that prayer is not INCIDENTAL to the Christian life, on the contrary, it is INSTRUMENTAL.

Dr Martin Loyd Jones wrote of prayer saying;

Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God”

It was J. Oswald Sanders that wrote of “Effective Prayer” in 1969 saying

No spiritual exercise is such a blending of complexity and simplicity. It is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try, yet the sublimest strains that reach the Majesty on high. It is as appropriate to the aged philosopher as to the little child. It is the expression of a moment and the attitude of a lifetime. … It is an agony and an ecstasy. It is submissive and yet importunate. In the one moment it lays hold of God and binds the devil. It can be focused on a

An Ambassador In Bonds

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:18-20

A Time to Choose

Presence of An Evil KingCarrying A Misplaced AffectionWitnessing An Evident ConfirmationNow Is A Time To Choose

AMBASSADORS

Is From Another NationIs a MessengerCarries a Message of WarningCarries a Message of Salvation

An Ambassador In Bonds

Bound For The Gospels Sake v20

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:18-20

What we witness in verse 20 is the state of the first century church exampled in the apostle Paul. He wrote this epistle from prison, “an ambassador in bonds” is how he titles himself.

A man who has suffered the confiscation of freedom for the sake of telling the world of the way for everlasting life, the way in which they could remove themselves from the eternal condemnation of hell.

Paul saw this as his is most committed vocation. 

Paul saw this as the greatest of responsibility, 

Paul saw this as his highest calling in life.

Now Paul was bound in a prison cell for the privilege of bringing this message to all people, and notice if you will that this change of environment does not remove from him that callto which he has been charged to undertake, he petitions prayer for the persistence of the work;

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Paul continues to preach the gospel and the way of everlasting life even while bound.

More so, he trusts that this BONDAGE furthered the work for Christ.

Turn to Philippians 1:12-18

This letter was also written from a Prison cell in ROME. Consider Paul’s view related to the circumstances in which he finds himself.

12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 

Paul does not consider prison to be a setback, on the contrary, he sees it as the Lords will and preaches with the same fervency there as he does when free.

But Paul was not the only disciple in prison.

Turn to Colossians 4:7- 11. 

This, his salutation in yet another letter written from prison in ROME.

Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians are known as “The Prison Epistles” to which we might add 2 Timothy.

In his good-bye to the Colossian Church he writes;

7 All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: 8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; 9 With Onesimus, a faithful and

AMBASSADORS

Pr Edi Giudetti

16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespassesunto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Cor 5:16-21

The Title of the message this morning is simply AMBASSADORS. 

It is a sermon that is based on the text that we have before us and it is one that brings to us an understanding of WHO we are in Christ and WHAT our place is in the world!

Last week was a message that should have convicted the heart and also should have brought us BACK to reality respecting where it is we are to gain our hope. We have made this world a graven image, we have fallen down before it and we have pleaded with the world to deliver us from the trials in the world that were created by the world.

We are mocked by the very false gods we have worshiped, we have cried to it and there was no answer, we have doubled our efforts is doing all we can to placate the world, even offering ourselves up to it in the hope that the world might hear our plea, might try our case, might listen to our cry but “there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded”. 

That was what the 450 Prophets of Baal discovered, and that is what we discover, and if the choice was not made before last week, then last week we were charged to choose, it was a Time to Choose….

We hear even today the cry of Elijah, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21)

If you are born again, if you are saved through the blood of Christ by your faith in him, then you made that choice already long ago, you made the choice already to be a people of “an holy nation” says the apostle Peter. 

You are the very ones that the Bible says “desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:” (Heb 11:16)

You, who made that Choice are officially Citizens of Heaven whom Peter said;

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

1 Pet 2:9

This is NOT your HOME, But far too many whom long ago made such a choice to obtain this heavenly citizenship have too long desired to make THIS WORLD HOME.

Being called by God to be an AMBASSADOR to this world to bring the news of Salvation to a lost world, they act as if DEFECTION is an option! 

Last week it was put to you that it was again time to choose.

If you are born again you cannot defect.If you are saved by Christ, defection is not possible, while you are here in this world you have at best, a Dual Citizenship, but one in which you are to make the choice of service.

Start living “for the hope which is laid up for you I heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col 1:3) 

You are an Ambassador For Christ and the time of your sojourning here is coming to a close. 

But what is an Ambassador? What is the role of the work that we might fulfill it with joy?

Through the scriptures we will answer this question. It appears 12 times in 12 verses and so we have gain for ourselves a wonderful understanding of both its meaning and its purpose.

(Josh 9:36)

3 And wh

A Time To Choose

Introduction.

I have decided to take another short excursion away from the book of Romans for the next two weeks. My decision follows what was to me the witnessing of what can only be described as the lowest point in the history of this state respecting the freedom of its people.

This sermon is going to take a journey from where we are to where the Lord would have us be.

It’s a journey that is designed for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to make a choice. It is a Time to Choose, to choose between dedicating our lives toward a hope in this life, or dedicating our lives for the purpose to which we were created, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph 2:10

We are going to look at the politics of today in one point and one point only. I am going to briefly talk about the King of Victoria and you will be able to tell from the beginning that the assessment of him won’t be a positive one.

I am going to be speaking of our misplaced affections, though we are the children of God, I am going to be pointing out that if our affections are toward this world, they are misplaced.

I will be confirming That God is God, and that it is HIM we are to have as our trust and hope not man.

Lastly, I will give you an opportunity to choose this day who you will serve.

The focus of the message will relate to the desires of your heart and where they are placed, are you setting your treasures heaven bound or are all your investments in this world? Todays sermon will help you obtain the proper perspective that you might commit to the choice the Lord would have make, today is A Time To Choose.

1 Kings 18:21-40

SET THE SCENE

Before we read of the passage that is to be considered for our sermon this morning it is important to set the scene for you. Turn to 1 Kings 17:1-4

1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. 2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

So we see that historically this portion of the text is during the reign of Ahab, the king of Israel, the husband of the infamous Jezebel. Elijah was the prophet of the Lord and is one of the most famous prophets in the Old testament.

Ahab the King was evil, as were all the kings of Israel (19), but this one stood out from all that went before him. Ahab did not worship the Lord but fell to the worship of Baal, the god of his wife Jezebel. As a result the people of Israel suffered under the false worship of its head, but much of the people also accepted his government, and that is evident by the 450 prophets of Baal that were sustained by the people.

God had pronounced a curse upon the land, no rain would fall for the evil of Ahab. But god would provide for Elijah, God would sustain him and instructed him where he was to go. 

An Note on Baal worship.

Baal was the god of the Canaanites, he is known as the ‘storm god and the bringer of rain’, Of the pantheon of gods worshiped by the Canaanites, Baal was the chief. 

The people traditionally behaved within a range of sexual debauchery in the name of Baal, believing their multitude of perverse acts would increase the sexual skill of Baal, and result in increasing fertility for the land.

In short, their hope was in a false comfort, their AFFECTIONS was Misplaced.

Interestingly, the Lord here pronounces a very curse upon that same god and removes the hope the people trusted in. 

Now, in the eighteenth chapter, in the third year of the drought, it was A Time to Choose,  God sends Elijah the Tishbite to Ah