Prayer Summit - Part 5 by Gerhard Dutoit — Gerhard Du Toit

Churches Full of People Who Are Full of God

This morning we want to thank you that the longing and the burden of our hearts is not to have churches full of people but, oh God, to have churches that will be full of people that will be full of God.

And we recognize today that we don't long for something that's a mile wide and an inch deep. And there is a sense in which it's maybe awful to say to you this morning that I'm not sure if we really need more Christians, we maybe just need better ones.

Learning the Language of Prayer

But dear God, we are so thankful that we have a morning like this that has been set aside because the yearning and the longing in our hearts is the cry of the disciple of old when he saw you praying at a certain place and your word said to us that he came up to you and said, Lord will you teach us to pray?

And dear God, we confess to you today I'm so thankful to be allowed to identify with this incredible group of men and women this morning because the absolute reality is that none of us would ever get to the place where we know how to pray.

But that prayer will bring us to the place where he gets to know us so that we can understand that you are the initiator of prayer. And father that it's not the time that we spend with you, but it's the time that you come to spend with us.

We're so grateful this morning that we are your responsibility and someone once said that my responsibility is simply my response to the incredible ability of God. And I'm so thankful that we can say with a hymn writer of old when it comes to the concept of developing intimacy with you and learning the language of prayer that really what we can say is nothing in our hands do we bring but simply to the cross do we cling.

Father God you need to teach us this thing. We can't try and manufacture or bring the spirit of God down or try to stir something up. This is something that is coming out to the sanctity and the majesty and the supremacy and the sovereignty and the unbelievable understanding of the righteousness and the holiness of God that flow from the throne of God when you are collecting the brokenness that came from the hearts of people who have an understanding that observation affects intercession and that the prophet in the old testament virtually said my eyes has affected my heart.

Father we are reminded that Jesus said the harvest is white the fields are ready and then suddenly he stopped and he said look up and we know that when we look through the eyes of God that we would see things the way that God sees them and that as we said to one another that he that often speaks to God about people will probably often speak to people about God and we know in our hearts that you don't want us to have worldly friends that dragged us away from the depths of the intimacy of the life of Christ but oh God you want us to have friends in the world where we carry with us an atmosphere and a fragrance and a saturation of being immersed in the beauty of the presence of God that creates a hunger and a thirst after righteousness.

The Holy Man of God and the Atmosphere of Holiness

Lord I thank you for this passage that has been burning in my heart these days again about the Elijah and the old testament and how the woman and her husband passed the house or how Elijah passed the house to this woman and her husband and somehow it seems that there were very little interaction with a prophet and yet one day as as as she passed the house she suddenly turned to her husband and she said I behold that this man is a holy man of God and we are conscious that he carried with him an atmosphere that demanded the supernatural explanation.

Father I don't know about my brothers and sisters here this morning but you know the inadequacy of my own heart you know that this morning in my heart I yearn that there will be a moment when you open the heavens above and come down because we know in 20 minutes of an outpouring of the spirit of God we will experience probably more than that which we have tried to accomplish the last 20 years and when the prophet of the old testament came and he said oh that thou would revive us again so that thy people might rejoice in you do we sense the depth of the yearning of the God who said to us in the old testament I will pour water upon him that he's thirsty and and floods upon the dry ground.

God we confess this morning in your presence that if there is no hunger there is no life and if there is no thirst there is no life. And I said last night to the young people that Duncan Campbell used to say if you fall to the spirit of God you can't be full of anything else and so I pray as we spend this morning together Lord I didn't come into this community because I have nothing to do.

I've simply come because we want to meet with God and we can't do this and so we pray that as we communicate these try to communicate these great concepts that we will be like those two disciples on the way to Emmaus that when Christ came alongside them and asked him what they were talking about after the resurrection and now they turned to him and said have you not heard of Jesus of Nazareth the one who was crucified and now the rumors is going that he's been risen from the dead and they have no idea that it was Christ that was walking with them.

And Father how you came and you began to explain to them in the life of Christ about the law and the prophets and the writings and the fulfilling of the reality of the Messiah not knowing their hearts that this was actually the risen Christ that somehow that there was a moment when when you departed out of their presence and your word came and your word said to us they stopped and they turned to one another and they recognized that they just encountered the the risen Christ.

And your word said that they turned to one another and they said did not our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us in the way oh God I don't want to miss it. I don't want to be like the dog of the blacksmith that was sleeping under the table and the sparks was flying and the noise was unreal.

And the man walked into his shop and said what's going on with this dog. Is he dead. Is he blind. How is it that he's lying under the table with the noise and the sparks and the heat. And now the blacksmith turned to him and laughed and said you don't understand this is my dog.

The first day I could not get him close to the shop but every day he came closer and closer. And now he's sleeping under the table while the sparks are flying. And he laughed and said he got used to the sparks.

I pray oh God don't let us ever become to the greatness of the sanctity and the transparency and the brokenness and the manifestation of the consciousness of God that will crush every aspect in our intimacies with you and give us a vision of the risen life of Christ.

The Authority and Transforming Power of Scripture

Thank you for this time we come to your word dear father. Augustinus used to say that when the scripture speaks that's when God speaks. You said to us in your word is my word not like a hammer that breaker the rock.

Is my word not like a fire. You said to us in your word that my word is sharper than any two-edged sword and cutting through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit bones and marrow. You said to us heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall abide forever.

Paul said to us let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. He said to Timothy study to show yourself approved unto God. A word may not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. He said to us all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

It is profitable for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness. And so we pray this morning that as we contemplate the greatness of scripture oh that it would advance upon our souls that it will grab us by the throats that it will stand in front of us and that it will scream at the top of the voice of the sanctity of the spirit of God.

And said let me in so that I could work in your relationship with me. Bless us. We pray in Jesus name and God. I pray as we come together this evening and probably going to open up this leadership session tonight.

For whoever is here this morning and as we go into tomorrow I long for you to come to church and as we go through those three sessions and come together for our prayer summit tomorrow evening and want to climb underneath the burden of God in prayer.

And ask you to systematically help us to dissect it and pray things through and pray in the realm of the will of God and the spirit of God. And somehow that we would be conscious that the God that we are serving is the one that answers prayer.

Not because we are praying but oh because he's a covenant-keeping God. Thank you father in Jesus name. Amen. Could you take your seat and interview with me in your bible.

You doing what beautiful that's your hair so I want you to.

Take your seat and turn around and I want you to open your bible. We've been this morning at the new testimony. Oh these chairs are so noisy. So what I want you to do is to open your bible. If you don't have your bible with you would you please say may God have mercy on my word and soul.

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11

But if you have your bible with you turn passages in the new testimony so Matthew chapter 6 if you will. And then Luke chapter 11. You want me to look. What was that again. Matthew chapter 6. Are you telling me you can't understand my accent.

Or are you kidding me. Oh welcome to humanity. Matthew chapter 6. And let's turn to chapter 11. Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11. You should have some notes there before you that you're welcome to take home as we begin to glance through these truths.

Matthew chapter 6. And let's read say from verse number 6. And then we're going to read also Luke chapter 11. Matthew chapter 6. We're going to go on for about 45 minutes or so. And then we're going to give you a little break.

Um so let's do that. Matthew chapter 6. Verse number 6. Jesus said. Now when you will learn the language of prayer I'm just going to give you my own translation from the way I understand it from the Greek language.

When you learn the language of prayer I want you to enter into your inner chamber. And once you've entered into your inner chamber I want you to shut the door of your inner chamber. And I want you to pray to your father which is in that secret place.

And your father who's the one that is able to see in that secret place. Here's the one that will be able to reward you. Opening. Now when you pray I don't want you to use a consistent repetition. Uh as the pagans do because what they think is that they will be hurt because they're not speaking.

Be not therefore like unto them. For your father know what you need even before you're asking. We should have time to explain that statement because it's so precious. Verse number nine. This is the way that I want you to learn the language of prayer.

I want you to say our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from that which is evil.

For yours is the power and the kingdom and the glory forever. Now if you forgive men their trespasses your your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you have not learned the spirit of forgiveness neither will your father be able to forgive you.

Now look chapter 11. Verse number one. The bible says. And it came to pass that as jesus was praying in a certain place that when he came to the end of his prayer that one of his disciples came to him and asked him or said to him lord teach us to pray as john also taught his disciples.

Now jesus said to them now when you pray and you repeat to us what we would consider as the lord's prayer. Let's jump into verse number five. And jesus said to them which of you shall have a friend. And he will go to him in the middle of the night.

And he will say to him my friend i want you to lend me three loaves of bread for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me. And i have nothing to say before him. Now he from within will answer and say i don't want you to trouble me now because the door is already closed my children are with me in bed.

I'm not able to rise and give it to you. Jesus said i say unto you although we will not rise and give it to him but because of his friendship and because of his shameless persistence he will rise and he will give him as many as he need.

I say unto you ask. And it shall be given unto you seeking. You shall find not. And it shall be open unto you. For everyone that asks receive. And to him that seek find and to him that not it shall be open.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father will he give unto him a stone. Or if he shall ask for a fish for what he for a fish give unto him a serpent. Or if he shall ask for an egg will he offer to him a scorpion.

If you then who are evil can i should explain this. This evil in the greek language it doesn't mean there's no hope for us. Uh it's a word it's a it's a context of the word that relates to romans chapter 8.

When paul said the spirit of god helped our infirmities he said we do not know what to pray or how to pray. But the holy spirit comes and intercede for us according to the will of god. It's the same concept that we find in hebrews 4 when he said we do not have an high priest that cannot be identified with the feeling of our infirmities and our weaknesses but one who was tempted in all coins like us we are and yet without sin.

So we need to see the context of that. And then jesus made this statement. If you then who are evil know how to give good peace unto your children how much more in this present imperative mood. How much more shall your heavenly father keep on giving the holy spirit to those that ask him.

Matthew’s Gospel and the Ministry of Christ

Let me just lay a little bit of foundation to you before we get into this passage. You know uh the gospel of matthew is quite unique because you will discover that matthew's gospel said about christ he said in chapter 4 after these things jesus departed into galilee.

And there is a degree in which it is possible for us to contemplate the reality that from chapter 4 right at the end to chapter 18 from matthew's perspective christ spent most of his times in galilee.

Now why do i say that. Because chapter 4 said after these things jesus departed into galilee. And chapter 19 verse 1 said uh after these things jesus departed out of galilee. So then what we need to ask ourselves just from a biblical perspective is what did christ do.

And you come across three aspects of his ministry. That which and dr silo back still has an excellent concept of this he said in matthew 5 to 7 we're dealing with what that which jesus taught from matthew 8 to chapter 10 we're dealing with that which jesus wrought in other words 10 miracles.

And from chapter 11 to chapter 18 that which jesus thought how people reacted when the son of god spoke. Because you see here was the problem. The bible says no man ever spoke like this man. I don't know if you are conscious of this but no word that came from the life of christ ever neutralized people.

Not amazing. I knew exactly where they stood again. So what happened here in matthew chapter 5 6 and 7 we are dealing with the teachings of christ. And here's the picture. The classical greek gives us a wonderful illustration of some pictures.

And here's the picture in chapter 4 or chapter 5 verse 1 when the bible says when jesus saw the multitude he went up into a mountain and he called his disciples to him and he began to teach them. The understanding is almost that when he saw these multitudes of people that he recognized that the only possible way that he's going to reach them is going to be through the lives of his disciples.

You see and he began to teach his disciples. So that's what you're dealing with. So in the sixth chapter that we've read here three predominant things happen. He spoke about giving. He spoke about fasting.

And then he spoke about prayer or learning the language of prayer. And the fascinating thing is that when he spoke about learning the language of prayer my brother my sister what really took place is that the most of the emphasis that he put upon was learning this language of prayer.

Studying Prayer Across the New Testament

Now let me just try to explain what we are looking at because we're going to focus on the new testament today and probably tomorrow when you and i come to the new testament there are two things that i want to mention to you and i've been going through the new testament at the moment in a fascinating way.

You say how are you doing it. I'm taking the whole thing apart. You know. And you say oh how dare you do that. Well you know it's great. If you've been trying to live in it you know it begins to live in you.

And so you say how do you take it apart. I studied the gospel of matthew and i said to the young people i was there are 7951 verses in the new testament. And so i grabbed the gospel of matthew. There's 1071 verses in matthew's gospel and i put it aside.

And then i take the sermon in the mount or rather the epistle of james and i bring it into the gospel of matthew said why would you do that. Because the sermon in the mount and the and the uh little epistle of james have between 40 and 50 corresponding concepts.

You see jesus said i didn't come to destroy the law but i came to fulfill it. James came when he spoke about the perfect law of liberty. And if you really go into the depth of it there are these great concepts.

So i've been studying this together. And then i take the gospel of mark. Now the gospel of mark. Theologically speaking we have been told that the one that probably dictated to john mark uh was the apostle peter.

I mean the key word the mark's gospel is the word uses in the greek language which is the word immediately. So i take those 7678 verses of mark's gospel. And i take first and second peter which was written by peter.

And then i took the take the first 12 chapters of the book of actions. Did you know why would you do that. Because peter was the dominant leader. And the first 12 chapters of acts. And i brought all of that together.

And i said to myself so what is this saying to me about prayer. So he said then what do you do. I take the gospel of luke and the acts of the apostles in the early history of the church. It was really two parts of one volume.

And i bring them together and i study them. And say to myself what is this saying about prayer. And so he said then what is left the writings to the apostle john. The gospel of john. Uh 879 versions. I'm so glad janice is not with me.

She can't stand these statistics. And i love it. And uh 879 versions. My cell phone is not recording. Great. She can't hear me. So here we are. Uh and then the book of revelation first second and third john.

And you bring it together. You say what is it saying to me about prayer. And so you see what is left. The writings of the apostle paul. And a few general epistles. You say what are you doing with hebrews.

Ah i tell her what i do. Let me give you a piece of my mind that i can't afford to lose. I threw it in with the gospel of luke and the acts of the apostles. You say where do you get the right from that.

Nowhere. You say why is it important. There are beautiful concepts of the interpretation of the greek text in the new testament that are using vocabulary that connected these two. You know when i was a student one of our professors used to say go and find out who wrote the epistle to the hebrews.

And i was a zealous student. I had 50 reasons and arguments why i believe it was paul. And i would never i would never. Uh forget the morning when we had to give the answers. And our professor got up.

And he said so who wrote the epistle to the hebrews. And i jumped up as a student. And i said i know exactly who wrote it. And he said he was it. I said i've got 50 arguments. It was the apostle paul.

And i will never forget. You just pointed out a message. You're totally wrong. You know i said so who wrote it. The holy spirit. I still think it was paul. So you see what's left. So anyway we're not going to talk about that.

We find out one day in heaven. Right. So and we all would be surprised. You know what spurgeon said. The greatest surprise in heaven one day is that the people that we expect to be there are not going to be there.

But the ones that we don't expect to be there. So you're going to watch it. So you said what is left. Here comes the apostle paul. Oh my word 2033 verses. Out of those incredible epistles have you ever tried to memorize the epistles to the ephesians.

I mean it's incredible. He started. You know that in ephesians chapter 1 verse 1 to 14 it's one sentence in the greek language. Students say to me so tell us what happened. It's one sentence. And 14 verses.

They say tell us what happened. I said i'll tell you what happened. He started. He couldn't stop. Why do i say this to you. Listen. Three people in the new testament were responsible for almost 80 percent of new testament material.

Paul the apostle john and luke. This physician. You say what is it saying to us about prayer. Man it's incredible. You see luke gives us the humanity of christ in prayer. Do you know. He gives us about 60 percent more prayer information than matthew and mark in his gospel together.

He was a physician. You see. And he brought in the humanity of christ in prayer. It is unreal. So you see what happened to the apostle paul. Ah you remember he was a pharisee studied sat at the feet of camalio one of the greatest teachers of those days.

And he was gloriously converted. And so when paul began to write about prayer brother and sister you know what the apostle paul did. He gave us the fulfillment of the old testament understanding as it relates to the developing of intimacy with god.

It is it is absolutely absolutely precious. Ah he said. But you said to the apostle john what does john do. Ah you remember john was the disciple whom jesus loved. So when john came at the end of the first century and he looked back over a life of intimacy with god a life of walking with christ.

And and the spirit of god. I mean how do we get the scriptures. The bible says holy men prophesied as they were moved by the holy spirit and john as he as god gave us the gospel of john. And he reflect back.

And he said that which we have seen that which we have heard that which we have looked upon that which our hands have handled of the word of life. And the life was manifested. And we have seen it. And we declare unto you that eternal life which was for the father and which was for the son.

And so when he came you said gerard what did he do. He gave us the deity of christ in prayer. And he present us with a manifestation of intimacy with god. Imagine what it must have been to be a disciple of jesus christ.

Here i get these stupid students saying to me it must have been wonderful to be a disciple of jesus christ. And i staggered i said can you imagine sitting at someone's feet who know you before you were born.

That's why the apostle paul when he wrote to the ephesians and he said paul an apostle of jesus christ to the church which the the which are in ephesus the faithful the christians the believers in ephesus and the faithful in christ jesus.

And when he said uh blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places. And then he made this incredible statement. And he said we have chosen us to be blameless before the foundation of the world.

Peter’s Denial and Christ’s Understanding of Human Weakness

Oh my word to be a follower of christ. Yeah. Sit at his feet looking into the eyes of the apostle peter when he said i will never deny you. And said before the rooster is going to crow. He said you're going to deny me three times that you even know me.

And there he melted around a little fire when a little girl turned to him and said you were one of those. Weren't you your speech. And he cursed in the greek language. And and suddenly the rooster. He heard the rooster and the moment when he heard that god broke his heart and he looked up and jesus was looking at him.

No condemnation. Peter i understand you. Great thing to know that god's understands us. Amen. You can trust the man who died for you. It's one that stickers closer than a brother. There's nowhere where you can go.

Learning to Die as a Christian

But jesus christ has not been. I think of keith price out there in british columbia this amazing man of god discovered that he had cancer and he was going to die. And got his whole family together and said to them uh there's no cure for my cancer.

And he said i don't have long to live i'm going to die. And he turned to him. And he said for 38 years. He said it was the passion of my heart to explain to you how a christian. And he said that's what i tried to do.

And he said now i'm dying. And i'm going to explain to you how to die as a christian. Yeah. So what happened. Well let me tell you what happened in the new history. We don't have time for this. But let me give it to you.

The Twenty-Four Words of Prayer

24 words came to the surface about prayer. You see where do you find them. They're right there right there in the depth of history. You say what do you do with those 24 words. I've tried for 40 years to try and understand him.

I've never been able to understand him. But they've been understanding me. You say what's your comprehension of him. I've discovered this new system and tabernacles of prayer. You said gerard how does it look.

Six of those 24 words have become to me in the pillars. You said why did they become the pillars. My brother and sister. They've become the pillars because they are the words that i found the most in the new testimony.

12 of those words to me have become the roof of this tabernacle. You say why did it become the roof of the tabernacle. Because there are the 12 words in the new testimony that we found.