"Call on the Lord" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

and I'm gonna preach tonight not very long I don't think but I want to preach about prayer and I don't want to preach on prayer in a vacuum and I want to preach on prayer in an atmosphere of prayer so if you take another moment I know you're still standing but if you lift up your hands and this beautiful and powerful atmosphere and if you would not necessarily worship but pray just pray ask God for something tell God something talk to Jesus for a moment if that's strange to you that's why this message is gonna happen to them but would you just talk to Jesus for a moment out loud with your voice lifted hi we're all together in this we all need to talk to him we all need to call on him we all need to ask him for something Jesus I pray that you would stir us up you put your gift in us the Holy Ghost stir up the gift that you put in us tonight stir it up and everyone start with the pastor start with the staff start with the music team and the worship team but God every saint and every pew every guest every visitor every one who's struggling everyone who's in bondage God stir it up stir it up stir it up when your spirit moves anything can happen when your people pray you hear from heaven when we call on your name demons tremble and hell moves out of the way though of Sheikh Sabah Coretta [Music] that chains fall tonight let chains be broken tonight let the yoke be destroyed because of the anointing tonight in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus you may be seated it was a seemingly normal day just an average day just any other day but that one day that one moment frozen in time has had everlasting effects on our planet and on human history and even on the eternal world to come it happened early on in the opening pages of the history of the human race things were already a disaster there had already been a fracture in a family there'd already been a murder there had already been sin but the bible says in genesis 4 verse 25 and Adam knew his wife again and she bare a son and called his name Seth for God said she has appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew and to Seth to him also there was born a son and he called his name eNOS then began men to call upon the name of the Lord and there it is that's the moment it changed everything that would follow life was going on as usual and then at that point for some reason men and women everywhere began to call out to God and that has had a more profound impact and influence on our world than anything else you could imagine it's not technology it's not electricity it's not the Internet it's it's not air travel it's not modern conveniences prayer has had more of an impact on our world than anything else you could possibly think of Cain and his descendants had become wicked and self-sufficient they had become independent of God and the tragedy was that that ungodly seed was about ready to dominate Abel he'd been killed there's only wickedness left there's only Cain and his seed left but God raised up a godly descendant in Seth and he had a son named eNOS and then without any of the tools or the methods or the techniques or the music or the services or the resources that we currently use to get in touch with God people simply got a revelation that God was not just their Creator somehow through that period of trouble we don't know exactly what happened but they figured it out that if you are in trouble and if you will call on the Lord he will answer you somebody figured it out and men began to call on the name of the Lord and from that day to this God will intervene if you call on him but the only way he will do it is if you call on him prayer starts at that point and it's a theme that runs through the Bible calling on God begins at that moment and it's a theme that traverses the entire length and breadth of the scripture the word for call means to cry out to entreat to call out to to beseech to beg to plead to call out with all of your heart later that very same word developed a secondary meaning to praise to worship to extol with your voice to exalt to honor and to celebrate and eventually the word developed a third sense and it was to tell abroad to call out and communicate with another person or to tell somebody else here's what I came to tell us tonight the first people in the Bible who were called God's people were not called Pentecostals they were not called apostolic s-- they were not called Chris they were not called Jews the first people who ever belonged to God were simply those who call on the name of the Lord that was the original the origin and the root of everything we've done in these services on this Sunday in this building began right here with people primitive simple people if you want but they called on God and then as God responded they began to praise him with all of their heart and then they began to go to other people and say have you heard about the God who will answer when you call well we believe there's a creator no it's more than a creator well we believe there's a divine power it's more than that we believe there's a supreme deity no it's more than that the Creator the divine power the supreme deity is actually a God who can really hear you when you call on him and he can do something about your situation then began men to call on the name of the Lord there's a little almost unknown guy in first chronicles chapter 4 verse 10 and until Bruce Wilkinson the author got ahold of him and made it into the prayer of Jabez and started doing mugs coffee cups journals I don't know there's probably prayer of Jabez underwear somewhere but until then nobody knew about this guy he was just buried in first Chronicles and jay-bez called on the God of Israel saying oh that that would bless me indeed and enlarge my coast and that thine hand might be with me and thou that thou wouldest keep me from evil that it may not grieve me and God granted him that which he requested with all respect to dr. Wilkinson and his great little book with all respect to the prayer of Jabez little thing that's that's all wonderful but if you simplify it and boil it down it's much more simple than four or five steps it's simply that jay-bez this unknown guy in first Chronicles called on God and God heard him and God answered him and God met him and God gave him what he called on God for so the message is not going to be profound tonight the message is not going to wow you with some kind of theology that you've never heard or some shadow or shade of meaning or some great illustration or a wonderful heart-tugging story the message is going to be way more simple than that and here's the message it doesn't matter what your situation is it doesn't matter how dysfunctional your family is it doesn't matter how bound or addicted you are it doesn't matter how life has treated you it doesn't matter what your history is here's the deal throughout the Bible God continually says you call on me and I will answer you he's in treating us to entreat him he's calling on us to call on him so every once in a while we pretty much need to forget North American Canadian Christianity every once in a while we need to erase the religion we were raised in and what we've learned by hanging around a Pentecostal church because what we learned by hanging around is that we're going to come in we're gonna open with prayer we're gonna sing a couple songs and then we're gonna go to prayer and when we go to prayer it'll take maybe three or four minutes unless the leader gets a little ramped up or unless they invite Curtis Scott to come pray and he always gets ramped up and that might take seven or eight minutes but then they'll calm down and we'll go on with the service and we'll do the announcements and the offering and then then they'll sing another song and then pastor will get up and he'll preach and then at the end he'll kind of get more and more ramped up the further he goes and then at the end it'll kind of be like a freight train and you better do something or he'll just keep preaching and so then we'll respond and come to the altar and that's what we think of as church and that's what we think of sometimes as prayer but we've got to remember that although there's a lot of meat in how we do church there's some bones in there too because we've learned some Pentecostal traditions and we know exactly what's going to happen here's what changes the rules when somebody busts out breaks out decides they can't take it any longer and they just began to call on the name of the Lord and it doesn't all happen in this building it happens on Monday morning when they're desperate and Tuesday afternoon when their hopes are dashed and Wednesday evening when they got the phone call late at night and Thursday morning when they got some bad news from a family member of Friday morning when there was an accident where somebody went to the hospital and here's what happens when people just decide I can't take this anymore I'm desperate I need something that I can't do and pastor can't do and church service can't do I need God to intervene that's when we call on the name of the Lord and God promised if you'll call on me I'll answer you that's the benchmark the plumb line that's the pattern for a relationship with God you talked to me and you'll hear from me when you don't know what to do I'll show you what to do when you're ready to throw up your hands throw them up to me and worship me and I'll show up when you want to fall down fall on your face and ask me to intervene in your life you look at the patriarchs in the Old Testament Abraham built an altar and called on the name of the Lord Genesis 12 Isaac built an altar and called on the name of the Lord Genesis 26 Jacob built an altar and called on the name of the Lord Genesis 35 long before Moses was ever given the pattern for the tabernacle or the Ten Commandments or the law or the Old Testament pattern of worship men and women long before Moses were already calling on the name of the Lord when Abraham messed up made a mistake took a wrong turn and he went down to Egypt unwisely and got in some trouble Abraham ran back to the altar where he first called on the name of the Lord and that's the way it is if there's somebody here and you're not where you used to be spiritually that's called backsliding we a backsliding such a horrible word that nobody thinks they've back slid anymore but you've backs then when you're not where you used to be with God you don't have to slide clear out into the street to do that you can backside in your heart you can backslide in your prayer life you can backside in living a holy life for God and when you backslide here's what you do you get back to the altar where you first called on the name of the Lord not a physical place a spiritual posture and when you go back to the place where you call on the name of the Lord he'll hear you when you call again and this is the distinguishing mark of God's people long before theirs Pentecostals apostolic long before theirs Christians Jews long before there's any of that this is the distinguishing mark of God's people not that they sing not that they listen to preachers not that they attend services in a building the distinguishing mark of God's people is that they call on the name of the Lord that's why Moses in his great sermon in the book of Deuteronomy said this for what nation is there so great who hath God so near unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for let me tell you what our claim to fame is it's not that we've got wonderful music and we do it's not that we've got dedicated pastors and we do it's not that we have faithful Saints and we do it's not that we can organize a service or an event or a conference or a crusade and we do all of that our claim to fame in the spiritual realm is that this is a group of people who know how when the chips are down to go to God and Paul on the name of the Lord that's our claim to fame in heaven nothing else matters in heaven your money doesn't matter because heaven doesn't need it your skills don't matter because heaven can bypass them your popularity that certainly doesn't matter because heaven doesn't believe in celebrity so all that matters in the currency of heaven is where are the people who know the God is strong and they're gonna call on him until he answers and that's all heaven cares about other nations might have had better weapons of war but they didn't have Israel secret weapon they had a God who heard them when they called and that's why if you read the Psalms everywhere you look it sounds like this I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised that's how I will be saved from my enemies in my distress I called upon the Lord and I cried unto my god he heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him even unto his ears as for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me for thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and your plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee in the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me because he has inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I lived I called upon the Lord in distress my god answered me and he sent me in a large place so the question for the precious people of God tonight is simply this are you old fashioned enough are you simple in faith enough are you confident in God enough to discover the principle God draws near when you call upon him not when you hang around with people that talk to him but when you call upon him not when you come into a building where other people know how to pray but when you decide to pray God said if you will call on me I will answer you you may be in the worst trouble of your life you may have messed up so badly you may have Backson you may be in bondage but the minute you call on God God promised I will answer you I will hear you if you'll call on me out of a sincere heart heaven doesn't have any shortages heaven doesn't have any blockages heaven doesn't have any problems I will answer you the Bible says the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Isaiah the prophet said seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near if there was any benefit to come into church it would be this when you get in company with a bunch of people that know the Lord and they begin to pray and they begin to sing and they begin to worship and they begin to submit their heart to the Word of God and they begin to walk to an altar they begin to lift their hands they begin to shed tears do you know what happens God said he would be in the midst of his people his presence would dwell among us where even two or three were gathered together so you get two or three hundred and the devil is trembling he's afraid he's having a panic attack when this many people do that and God draws near so there's no question that God is near tonight he's right here and the Bible says you need to call on him while he is near don't waste your time coming to church as a spectator when you come to church make up your mind I can hardly wait to get there because it's my opportunity to call on the name of the Lord while he's moving among his people he's near so you want to believe I'm gonna call on him no wondering this is Satan's entire strategy for 6,000 years of human history don't call don't cry out be clever be organized be cool plan a lot depend on your talent depend on technology depend on your friends but whatever you do don't call on the name of the Lord the devil's not the least bit afraid of how cool you are how together you are how wealthy you are house Bart you are he's not scared of any of that he's not scared of any of our human efforts at all but what he really gets scared off is when we lift up our hands and lift up our voices and we call on the name of the Lord the old little statement is true Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Saint upon their knees there is something about the people that know how to call on their God they don't have to be the best the biggest the classiest the smartest they don't have to be the wealthiest or the most politically connected they've got a secret weapon and the weapon is we know how to call on a God who will answer us no wonder the devil doesn't want you to pray no wonder the devil wants you to sit and not lift your hands and worship no wonder the devil wants you to kind of just be a spectator in your faith it has always been the sign of God's people that they call on God and he answers that's always been from ancient times but all bets are off if we don't call there's not one promise in the Bible that works if we don't call on the name of the Lord you can't even be saved without calling on the name of the Lord and that was the way the Old Testament prophets operated you remember Elijah remember the prophets of the false God Bale what proved that God was God well here's what happened first Kings 18 you call on the name of your gods I'll call on the name of the Lord and the God that answereth by fire let him be God that was the deal do you know what the the the the the proof was the proof was which God is going to answer and that's still the proof today which God can deliver which God can set free which God can do miracles which God can change lives and hearts and homes David was a man way ahead of his time I've said often about him he's one of my favorite Bible characters it's like his heart was in the New Testament but his body was stuck in the Old Testament he was a man after God's own heart and here's what David said but know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself I'm not perfect David said I've not gone through life without making a lot of big mistakes but I cry out to God all the time when I mess up I get back to the altar when I fall down I get back to prayer when I sin I get in God's presence and I ask him for forgiveness that's why the Bible twice refers to David as a man after God's own hurt but look what David said he said the reason is I don't have a whole lot of confidence in me I've messed up I've made mistakes I've sinned my sin was public in the eyes of the entire nation of Israel so I'm not perfect I'm no pattern but here's what I've got going for me I have this unshakeable confidence and here it is the Lord will hear when I call unto Him that was David's secret weapon who are godly people who are Christian people who are Christians in the biblical sense of the word there are those who call on the name of the Lord David said you can do anything you want to me you can talk about me you can persecute me you can fight me but when I call on my God you better look out because I have a God who hears me when I call so that's who godly people are people who call on the name of the Lord and the very definition of evildoers of ungodly people in the Bible is those who don't call on the name of the Lord they may be the best citizen in your neighborhood they might be the nicest neighbor on your block but if they don't call on the name of the Lord the Bible defines them as evil doers Psalm 14 have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord that's the definition of an evildoer we're not Christians because we're smarter than everybody else we're Christians because we found a God that we can call on and we know that he answers that's what sets us apart Isaiah spoke in 64 he said we all are as an unclean thing all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags we all fade as a leaf no young people think they're fading as a leaf but you get a little older you'll figure out you're fading fast our iniquities like the wind have taken us away and there is none look at this this is how idea define people who were workers of iniquity there is none that calleth upon his name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities may I just do a flip on that verse if that's what causes the problem that's nobody's calling on the name of the Lord and nobody stirring himself up to take hold of God then I would suggest that a good remedy for all of us to keep in mind is we better keep calling on the name of the Lord and we better keep stirring ourselves up to get ahold of God I know there's an automatic lethargy that comes in against every single one of us pastors Saints everybody and it makes us want to settle down and sit back and Coast it's the spirit of the age religion is just a little too harsh it's just a little too excitable it's just for those that are not really mentally all there anybody that would trust in God anybody that would pray one of the hosts on that program of you Joy Behar I think her name was took a crack at the vice-president in the States the other week and she mocked him for praying to God and she said I think if he gets an answer that's probably mental illness if somebody answers back I beg to differ there have been times when I is about ready to walk in a wrong direction down a wrong road and I've never heard the audible voice of God I think that would probably scare me to death but I've heard the voice of God in a thousand ways I've heard such a strong impression in my heart that has stopped me in my tracks and I found out later that God had intervened I've sat in a service and heard a preacher preach and the word from the word here's a man of God it arrested me before I could mess up my life and I thank God for hearing the Word of God but there have been times that the gifts of the Spirit have operated in our mess you don't understand we're a people with a secret weapon we get to hear from God because we call on the name of the Lord yes we do hear back from God yes God does speak to us he speaks to his word he speaks to his people he speaks to his gifts and he speaks by his holy spirit that is in our life so yeah I do hear for instance about only one sitting at breakfast the other week in the Philippines brother Gordon Mallory brother Wayne Huntley just some other Brethren were there and we were just kind of swapping stories and I'd forgotten this story I'd forgotten they're from New Brunswick and they've been missionaries and and but Dawn David Hanscom who now pastors in North Carolina he was just a little boy and he was on the mission field with his parents in Pakistan and he was I think two years old just a toddler and they were working on the Bible school I believe building a building and that little boy he fell and it's just everything cement and raw steel pastor Jack's been in Pakistan with me and the building the way they build things is just it's it's just really there's there's not all the safety protocols and this little boy fell and I can't remember exactly how he fell or where he fell but he fell on his head on cement and his head was misshapen and this is kind of grotesque and gory but it gives glory to God brain matter was actually leaking out his ear and brother Hanscom they rushed him to the hospital and of course he they immediately did everything they could do and they bandaged she said but it was very obvious that nothing was going to work and here's brother Hanscom pacing the hallway the quarter of a hospital in the middle of the night his little boy laying in a bed with his head all bandaged up and them trying to keep the brain matter contained it was just one of the worst injuries you could ever have one of the worst traumas you could ever have to a little boy's head and he's pacing the floor and he's saying God he was calling on the name of the Lord God we came here as missionaries this is my only son God we're here we're trying to do your will I don't want to lose my boy I'll do whatever you want but I don't want to lose my boy God you got to help me God you got to intervene and in the middle of the night in that hospital a tall man walked down the hall toward the emergency intensive care unit there in the hospital and this tall Pakistani man walked up and said to brother Hanscom without any introduction said I want to pray for your son he didn't know him he'd never seen him before and this man brother Hanscom took him in through the double doors into that intensive care ward and that man laid his hands both hands on the sides of little Don David hands comes head and prayed for him in Jesus name and then without any ado or any farewell turned and walked out and just as he walked out brother Hanscom was totally distracted because that little boy sat up and said daddy I'm so sorry I didn't mean to go near the edge of the roof and brother Hanscom he's hugging his boy he's overjoyed and then it hits him I gotta find this man who prayed this powerful prayer and he poured out of that room ran down the hall to the nurse's station and said where did that man go I gotta find that tall man that just walked in here he prayed for my boy and the nurse said this is the only way into that ward and nobody's been here all night you're the only person in here an answer to a call from one of his kids God sent an angel to pray for that little boy and Dawn David is fine he's pastoring a church in North Carolina today I'm here tonight to tell you that if we'll call God will answer we're a people who have a secret weapon it's treacherous out there that Devils on a rampage he knows his time is short and the world is trembling and convulsing but we have a secret weapon we're a people who know how to call on the name of a God who will answer us when we call I wish you lift up your voice and call [Applause] [Music] by definition of the word you can't call quiet you can't call silent you can't call without using your voice and using your words but if we humble ourselves and we call on his name he's a God who hears and he's a God who answers [Applause] hear us hear us god [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay let's stay in sermons over let's stand let's stand let's stand don't stop praying don't stop calling that's our heritage they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers the early church didn't have a prayer meeting the early church was a prayer meeting and if we're going to see what we hope to see what we want to see what our heart desires to see we've got to get refreshed we've got to get revived we got to go back to calling on the name of the Lord don't just talk about your problems to your friend pray about your problems to God he's the one who hears he's the one who answers he's the one who can break every chain he'll every heard he's the one who can cure every disease he's the one that can break every bondage bolo Cola can rabbi yes yes [Applause] Beliveau forever yes yes so Davos [Applause] you say that's noisy yeah we're calling on the name of the Lord that's a little chaotic yes we're calling on the name of the only one who can do anything about our respective situations you say that's a little unnerving probably so it makes the devil really nervous he doesn't care if we have Church and go to sleep he doesn't care if we have Church and listen to a lecture he doesn't care if we have church and sing a few songs what he's terrified of is if we use our secret weapon and the people that know their God becomes strong and do exploits he's terrified that you might break out of your mold break out of your shell break out of your comfort zone and just call on the name of the Lord so defy hell and call on the name of the Lord get past yourself get over yourself and call on the name of the Lord humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he'll exalt you in due time God is still looking for a people who will call on his name [Applause] [Music] it's not selfish to call even if it's your need it's not selfish to call but it's stupid not to call when you serve a God who can do anything he can do exceeding abundantly above all the ask or think [Applause] altars are open some mom with a backslidden kids some dad with a backslidden kid some grandpa grandma you want to see them come back to God we'll call but I called yesterday call again somebody need a healing in your body somebody need deliverance in your mind somebody need an addiction broken in your life the best thing you can do is call on the name of the Lord somebody needs a miracle in your home well the best thing you can do is call on the name of the Lord so I'm not trying to chase you or chastise you I'm not trying to rebuke you I'm trying to encourage you but if you lift up your voice and call on the name of the Lord unashamedly without inhibitions if you talk to a counselor for hours about it then you can call on Jesus for five minutes about it and he can do more that your counselor can do name it claim it say it pray it God save them God heal me God break that shackle God deliver me from that bondage say it pray it inaudible oh yeah Sabah Soto Ludo Rob ahead take a Sesa de Laval osseous analogous Arbortech Asia man : de la barra da lagoa said so trabaja detail attire [Music] [Music] if it feels strange to pray then you really need to pray if it feels strange to talk to Jesus then you really need to talk to Jesus God cannot and he will not answer prayers that have never been prayed but if you'll pray he said I'll hear you and I'll answer [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so they're a volatile Akasha Saba yes call on me I'll hear you call on me I'll answer you call on me I'll deliver you call on me

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 11,038

Rating: 4.8801498 out of 5

Keywords: pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, sermon, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, pentecost, call, on, the, lord

Id: p7gv2kRL24U

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 12 2018