Why Did People Begin to Call Upon The Name of The Lord?

If you will turn there, we've been working our way through the book of Genesis, just beginning actually, but notice beginning in verse 16, it says, Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, that is the land of wandering, East of Eden, Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch, and he built a city. He called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of the son. Now, the Enoch was born, I read, and I read, became the father of Mahoojael. Mahoojael became the father of Muthushel, and Muthushel became the father of Lamek. Lamek took to himself two wives, the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other was Zilla. Ada gave birth to Jabel, he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

His brother's name was Jubal, he was the father of all those who play the liar and the pipe. As for Zilla, she also gave birth to Tubalcane, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron, and the sister of Tubalcane was Nema. Lamek said to his wives, Ada and Zilla, listen to my voice, you wives of Lamek, give heed to my speech, cry of killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. If Cain is of in sevenfold and Lamek's seventy-sevenfold. Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, God is appointed for me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. To Seth, to him also, a son was born, and he called his name Inosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Here we have Cain's city characterized by advanced agriculture and music, and craftsmen and law, but all lived at a distance from God, apart from God, in this land of wandering. Now it's true God was there. Acts 17 tells us, for example, when Paul preaches on Mars Hill, it's recorded for us in Acts 17, and Paul says, he made God made from every man, from one man rather, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. Having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for him, and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. And then Jesus, in the sermon on the Mount of Matthew chapter 5, says that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us so that we will be like our father in heaven, for he says, for he, the father, causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sins reign on the righteous and the unrighteous.

So in this dark picture of man moving away from God, came the seed of the serpent, and his descendants moving further and further away from God. They are not approaching God, they are not calling upon God, they are advancing their culture and their art and their technology without God. But then in the last two verses of this chapter, we have this glimmer of grace. Romans chapter 5 is a commentary on the fall that we have recorded here in Genesis, and in Romans chapter 5, as Paul describes, has described the fallenness of man, and then in the midst of chapter 5, beginning to talk about the implications of it, and they are so dark. But he ends the chapter with these words, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

We have grace here in these last two verses as this description of this child that is given by God to replace able who was slain by his brother, came. It is true that sin certainly did abound in the line of came, but the chapter in Genesis ends with this glimmer of hope, because God pours out his grace. You see, even hope that salvation was going to come through Cain, and of course it couldn't. And then she hoped that perhaps God would spend another, and finally he has. Through Cain's sons, there is great prosperity on the earth in this culture that is developed in independence of God, but then we have this word that God is still working through Adam and Eve, and he gives them a son named Abel, our brother named Seth, in place of Abel.

The woman called him Seth, there is a play on words here, because the word that is translated here, God has granted me another child as a word Shaath, and his name is Shaath or Seth. In other words, he is one that has been granted to her by God. She understands that the promise is still available. Have you stopped and think about it until this time, in any way in the way that it's recorded for us, you could imagine the despair and the doubt, but now hope arises in their hearts. And there is a pattern established here that we see throughout the book of Genesis, that instead of God choosing the primogenitor, that is the eldest son, the most likely one to carry on the line he instead makes his own choice, not based upon the normal pattern, and throughout the book of Genesis, we see him passing over the firstborn and choosing another.

And so now he has chosen Seth. And then it says that Seth has a son named Inosh, and in most amazing phrase, at that time In In, begin to call upon the name of the Lord. Right in the midst of this perverse and crooked generation, there was a believing remnant that began to express their trust in the living God and his promise of a deliverer who would come from the sea to the woman and crush the head of the serpent. And so he describes him as those who call upon the name of the Lord. The word call here is a word that is very much like our word call in English. It even sounds like it. And it has this idea of invoking or summoning or proclaiming or appealing to someone in a verbal way. It kind of has the implications of shouting so that you will be heard and responded to.

You've ever been in one of those situations where you were trying to get somebody's attention. It was very important. And you kept raising your voice and calling out to them because you wanted them to hear you and to answer your call. It's a wonderful song. I don't know the title of it. I keep trying to get my son to sing it. But it has a line in it that says, I have a father. He knows my name. And he answers me when I call. He answers me when I call. See, that's a description of this God. And now these covenant people begin to call upon the name of the Lord. As we saw in the early chapters of Genesis, this particular name, Yahweh, the Lord, is his covenant keeping name. And he has made covenant with them.

He has told them that it's due to the seed of the woman that the one is going to come who's going to crush the head of the serpent and bring salvation and deliverance and restoration. So the idea of this word calling upon the name of the Lord is that men begin to express with their voices their desire for God to hear their cry, to fulfill his promise. Of the 47 times, 47 times, the 89 times this word appears in the Psalms, it refers to calling on God, calling out to God in all kinds of ways. It's used in context where it's thanksgiving or praise or lament that primarily a call for help, to cry out for help. And especially when it is used with these following words to call upon the name of the Lord, it is a technical expression for worship and corporate worship at that.

I mean, think of this at this point in history, the description is that men begin to gather and call upon the name of the Lord together. It's a cry of help from Jehovah. And in context where it has to do with worship, it has to do, it emphasizes the fact that when we call out on his name as his people, we glorify his name, corporate prayer and worship. What an amazing thing right here in this one little verse in the flow of this history of mankind moving away from God in this darkness, abandonment of God, independence of God, and life goes on, culture moves ahead, and yet then men begin to call upon the name of the Lord. Now there are profound implications for us in this because as this expression is used from here on out through Scripture, it is a description of the people of God.

What happens here in this verse is really more profound in the history of mankind than the any invention that you can think of, the development of any technology, the arrangement of life and any culture. This is more important than men begin to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the first designation of the people of God. You know, the Scriptures are filled really with all kinds of titles and designations of the people of God. We are called Christians because of our identification with Christ. But here is the first designation of the people of God who come together to worship the living God and to call upon his name for help. They are the people who call upon his name. Jeremiah 33 has this incredible statement.

God says to Jeremiah, concerning his people, call to me, and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know. That's a definition of revelation. The God, when we call upon him, he says he will come and he will unveil the truth to us. He will reveal himself to us, to those who call upon his name. So here is the first mark of the people of God in a fallen world. The people of God in a fallen world. Don't be surprised that we are in a fallen world. Don't spend all your time clucking your tongue about how bad things are getting. Don't you expect the world to be worldly and sinners to sin? Isn't that to be expected? Can you imagine the Apostle Paul reigning his hands and saying, you know, we've got to get a political movement together here against Caligula.

You know, he's a transvestite and he dresses up like women. You think Paul was concerned about that? See, what Paul was concerned about was the Church of Jesus Christ calling upon the name of the Lord. Let Caligula, Nero, do what they want to do. If God is working in and among his people and through his people, God's work will be accomplished on the face of the earth. And it will have eternal benefits. Sometimes we can get so caught up in other things and abandon the primary thing that we were called for. Our gym symbol of preach on this passage and he talked about the embarrassment he felt when he heard about Christian leaders trying to work towards getting prayer into the schools. He says, don't you get embarrassed by that?

That here we are trying to get prayer back into schools and we don't pray in the church. That you can't get people to come to a prayer meeting. You can get them to go to a rally, a political rally to get prayer back into schools, but you can't get them to come to a prayer meeting. Doesn't that embarrass you? It should. You see, we are the people who call upon the name of the Lord. That is our primary designation here in this text. You know, the day when you read the literature, there's so much literature out there in the church growth movement about what the marks of a successful church are. This past week somebody was telling me he had read an article by a church leader who said, if we're really going to make advancements, if the church is going to be able to even exist in the modern day, we have to stop teaching this thing about a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But you go back to the Bible and you see that the people of God were those who call upon the name of the Lord. That's the mark of the church. That's the mark of the people of God. They are those who call upon the name of the Lord. And we see it throughout the book of Genesis, the patriarchs, Abraham called upon the name of the Lord. He built an offer, alter, and called upon the name of the Lord. Isaac is son, did the same thing. And Jacob, even before Moses gave all of the instructions about how they were to worship these men were calling upon the name of the Lord. In fact, if you remember in Abraham's life, when he went down into Egypt and Genesis chapter 12 and all, he makes a fool of himself.

He's so afraid for his own safety. He's gives his wife to be in the harem of the king. And when God stops that process and saves him from from ruin, he goes back, it says, he runs back to the place of the altar, which he had made there formally and there, Abram called on the name of the Lord. You know, when you wander from your walk with the Lord, when you get off the path, you know where you need to go, is back to that place where you call upon the name of the Lord, because that's who we are. Primarily, that is the mark of the church. Moses in his sermon and Deuteronomy has last great sermon that's recorded for us when he is about ready to hand over the leadership to Joshua. And he's preparing the people to go into the land for them to be the people of God in a hostile land.

And he begins to give them instructions. And he says to them, they need to know this. He says, for what great nation is there that has had a God so near to it as is the Lord, our God, whenever we call upon him, whenever we call upon him. Now, that's a wonderful promise. That promise says that when we call upon the Lord, he is near to us. Has he ever felt like he's a million miles away to you and your Christian walk? If you had those days when it seemed like the Lord was a long ways off, what should you do? Call upon the name of the Lord. It's an amazing thing how many techniques that we develop in the church for doing the simple things that God's called us to do. He's called us to call upon the name of the Lord.

And yet we have to teach seven or eight steps to effective prayer. It's amazing, isn't it? It seems so simple. It seems like in Scripture that prayer is so simple, you call out to the Lord. What do you need? Call on the name of the Lord. Perhaps what it is is that we have those times when we just don't have any needs. We are so well fed and well clothed. We have all the accoutrements of life and we feel no desperate need to call upon the Lord. But it isn't, isn't it amazing when you get in trouble how easy it is to call upon the name of the Lord? When you get into trouble, when you say something as bigger than you, this church, one of the great moments in the life of this young church, five years old, it was when Venus Flesher was dying.

Blood was flowing out of her body faster than they could pour it in. She lost more blood than your body can hold. And I sat next to Steve as those doctors came in and out and both of us were aware of the fact that they were scared and they thought they were going to lose her. And as I sat next to him and as more and more people from the church came and they put us in a little chapel there to pray and people begin to call upon the name of the Lord. That's what happened. People begin to call upon the name of the Lord. And according to those doctors, there's no other explanation for her being alive today that God intervened. And that's his promise, isn't it? He says, call upon me and I will hear you.

No nation has a God that is so close to them when they call upon him. And notice that his closeness is going to be manifest when we call upon him, when we call upon him. Moses saying that the greatest thing about this nation isn't it's chariots or it's army or it's leader, it is the fact that it has a God who is very near when they call upon him. The greatest thing about God's church. Listen to these words of the Apostle Paul when he writes to the Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 2, listen to the description of what the church is. He says to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours.

See that's a title of the church. The church are those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now Yahweh we discover is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the primary mark of the church. That we are the people on the face of the earth who call upon the name of the Lord. And he is a God who comes very close. And Satan doesn't like this. In fact if you notice in your own life, Satan's strategy is to get you not to call upon the name of the Lord. To increase your own ability and your capacity. It's amazing how you can, it's easy to get people to come to a how to series of teachings on how to live the Christian life or even how to pray. But it's so difficult to get people to be sustained in prayer.

Isn't it true? Why is that? Why is it so difficult for us to call upon the name of the Lord? It's because Satan doesn't want us to call upon the name of the Lord. And so what God does is he arranges special moments in your life where you have to call upon the name of the Lord. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, of what happened to me in Asia Minor, how we were tested beyond our ability to bear we even despaired of life. He says in order that we would no longer trust in ourselves, but in the one who raises the dead. Do you have any needs in your life where the only one who could meet the need is the God who raises the dead. If you haven't, you will.

You will. And he is a God who hears us when we call. One thing that Satan does not want us to do is as the covenant people of God to call upon the name of the Lord. Elijah calls upon the name of the Lord this incredible story. And in 1 Kings chapter 16, 17, and 18, you have this battle going on between Ahab the prophet of God, rather of Elijah the prophet of God, and Ahab the the faithless king who marries a pagan woman named Jezebel who is a worshiper of Bale. And you know the story about finally comes to a head in this great conflict between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Bale. And Elijah makes this astounding statement. Let's test our gods. The God who answers those who call upon him is the true God that we should worship.

Now all the other prophets are in hiding. And the man in control of the nation Ahab is a worshiper of Bale himself under the influence of his wife. But Elijah has enough faith in God that he believes that when he calls upon God, God will answer. Now he had a lot of history. He lived down by this little stream called Kirath during a drought and God gave him water to drink every day and he gave him food every day. The food came through the ravens. You've heard of ravenous appetites and so you don't expect ravens to bring any food and leave it off for you. And yet because he trusted in the living God, he called upon the Lord and the Lord answered. He called upon the Lord and the Lord caused it to stop raining and bring drought in the land so that the judgment of God would come upon them because of their worshipping of Bale.

And now he has this confrontation with the 450 prophets of Bale and you know the story, they build their altars and the prophets of Bale begin to call upon Bale and it says they begin to scream and yell and cut themselves and they were so animated and loud calling upon their God to bring fire to consume the sacrifice. And Elijah stood there and taunted them and he says well you better maybe he should yell a little louder maybe your God is hard of hearing or maybe he's off on a trip. He even said maybe he's in the restroom and nothing happened and then Elijah says poor the water on the wood of this altar of Yahweh and so they poured water on the wood. The sacrifice was laid on top of that wood and it was drenched all around and he began to call upon the name of the Lord and the Lord answered and brought fire and consumed that offering.

See that's what God promises that he will answer us when we call and you know what is imperative that we believe that. If we don't believe that then we cannot do the will of God because we can only do the will of God if we have the presence of God and God says I am very near to those who call upon me. This evening we're going to meet to pray instead of doing a Bible study we're going to pray for our missionaries and we're going to spend some time just calling out to God because we have men and women that we are in partnership with in the gospel and in your bulletin if you look in your bulletin there's a letter there from Miriam and if you read that letter please don't do it now but a little bit later read that letter and hear what's going on in their life and those of you who know her well know that this is nothing short of the spirit of the living God to work in her life.

This past week and she asked us to pray for her because she's on a trip that's about a day's journey away to go up and to work in the church has been planted up there by a venencia which we've been who we've been praying for it's in a burned out area it's in an area that is in shambles the people are naked and there is there is so little there and yet this pastor asked her to come up and to disciple some women who just come to faith in Christ and to speak in a prison and I thought you know what if we were to say today in church listen I've got a great ministry assignment any of you'd like to go we've got this prison up north here it's about a day's journey on a bus it's all dirt roads and when you get there you'll be able to speak to these prisoners and stay there a week I wonder how many takers I would get but what I'm saying is that we need she asks us to pray for her for her safety and for more than that that God would energize her and equip her to be able to speak the words that these ladies need to hear and these prisoners need to hear this is a reason to call upon the Lord if we just look around us and that's who we are the people who call upon the name of the Lord it's always a sign that God hears you when he answers when the fire falls and consumes the sacrifice it was proof that the God of Elijah heard his prayer there are all these studies that go on you know from time to time about the effect of prayer with certain kinds of diseases does it really help there's silly studies as far as I'm concerned because what they're looking at is what is the effect on people when they know they're being prayed for what's the effect of people on people when they take a sugar pill and they they have been told that this will help you about the same effect as prayer the real test of prayer is does God answer prayer does he answer when we call does he fulfill his promises when we call upon him David describe the godly as those in Psalm chapter four as those who call upon the Lord and in chapter 14 he describes the wicked as those who do not call upon the Lord and he is the one to whom God said call upon me in the day of trouble I shall rescue you and you will honor me you want to honor God he says call upon me and I will bless you and you will honor me by your life God had said I want to praise you God and God says I will allow you to praise me if you'll call upon me isn't it true in your life that when you are forced to call upon the Lord and he answers your prayer that you find it at delight to bring glory to the living God who answers your prayer that you realize that Jesus Christ came into this world all the way down to where we are took on our humanity and in our humanity in the likeness of sinful flesh he lived the life on this earth of communion with the living God and he has brought us into that same communion and we can call upon him and he hears us as he heard his own son the church is the ultimate example I really want us to think about this morning the church Paul describes the church as we saw in 1 Corinthians one as those who call on the name of the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ that's the characteristic of the people of God it isn't Baptist Presbyterian assemblies of God it is those who call upon the name of the Lord one of the most wonderful phenomena that happens on the mission field all around the world is it doesn't matter what denomination sent you there when you get there and you feel the desperation to call upon the name of the Lord you have no problem getting together with other people who call upon the name of the Lord even if they have a different denominational name because they're calling upon the same Lord that's what the church is think about this the church in Acts 2 was born in a in a prayer meeting wasn't it they gathered to pray as Jesus told them to do you carry there and in that prayer meeting the church was born isn't it strange that we have a problem having prayer meetings when the church was born in a prayer meeting and we have a hard time getting together to pray isn't that amazing to you it's amazing to me it's amazing to me it's convicted to me it literally is like this tinton weight on my shoulders it drives me into the ground that I have to cry out to God why do I have such a hard time pray why is it so hard to maintain an attitude where I'm calling upon the name of the Lord until God sends trouble amazing how it's easy to pray when you're in the midst of trouble when God ordains trouble in your life next time somebody comes you and say why isn't that God is allowing this to happen to me why don't you just have the guts to say to them because he wants you to learn to call upon him he wants you to call upon him he wants us to call upon him what does this say about us when we can't even have a prayer meeting in the church it really is easier to get Christians to meet about something else that it is to say let's get together and call upon the name of the Lord there are needs not only in this flock but there are needs in the lives of those that we support around the world and the work of the gospel the fact that the world is worldly shouldn't surprise us shouldn't concern us it shouldn't take up all of our time trying to get the world not to be worldly the fact that sinners are sinful and sin and they sin in new ways all the time is exactly what the book of Romans says will happen the effect of sin is more sin but we live in the context the same context that they lived in the first century we have a gospel that is able to penetrate into a sinful culture and a sinful society and to extract people from that condemned humanity and bring them into the kingdom of God the mark of the churches we are those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ there's a lot of other things we have to do it'd be wonderful if we're able to build a church building and if we can have all kinds of wonderful technologies and guys the other day we're talking about what they want to do is wiring for sound and video and all these things and I'm thinking man that's great love to have all that technology wouldn't you but if we don't call upon the name of the Lord it is futile it has absolutely no effect whatsoever if we are not people who call upon the name of the Lord what we ought to really be worrying about is not how bad the world's getting it is why aren't we calling upon the name of the Lord together as the people of God think about this first Peter chapter verse 15 Peter says but sanctify Christ's Lord in your hearts always being ready to make a defense or rather in the idea is to give an explanation to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you get with gentleness and reverence did you notice something about that verse that we are to be prepared to give a defense of those who ask us ask us what how do you account for the hope that characterizes you as a group in other words the the implication is why would people ask why would they ask is because they can see the hope in our hearts they see a people who are experiencing answered prayer they see a people who've been calling upon the name of the Lord and God has been answering their prayer our biggest challenge in the church today in our world is not secular humanism of the new age movement or demonic activity the ACLU or any kind of anti-Christian organization or authority we don't need to be shocked by what's going on in the world Jesus told us it would be like this but we should be concerned about our own prayerlessness as a people of God Charles and Spurgeon said the condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings so is the prayer meeting a graceometer and from it we may judge the amount of divine working among a people if God be near a church it must pray and if he be not there one of the first tokens of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer and your bonar Scottish preacher and writer said in 1853 God likes to see his people shut up to this that there is hope but in prayer what he means by that is it is a good thing for the people of God to be in a situation where they finally come to see there is no other hope except a call upon the name of the Lord we have no doubt you know the severest judgment that David ever experienced you know what it was for it wasn't for murder it wasn't for adultery which he committed both those sins this is the most severe judgment that God brought into his life was because he counted the people why was God so upset about that because he was taken inventory he was trying to measure how much strength they had as a people that is so tempting to do you know as I talk to people about this whole building process and as we begin to think about how are we going to how are we going to come up with the kind of money we need to build this building it's it's as we're trying to be as frugal as we can possibly be but the cost of building are just monumental they're beyond this and so when I talk to guys they tell me well you know you got to figure out how many giving units do you have in the church and I thought giving units what are giving units well that's you you're a giving unit if you give how many giving units do you do what's the average giving of each giving unit and then multiply that time three and all these formulas how to figure out what you can actually afford an amazing thing David got severely chastened for that kind of mentality because God said to David if you call upon me I'll hear you when you call we need nothing short in the things that we face the building is the really the smallest it's the biggest financially bit it's the smallest challenge we have the great challenges that we have in a church are much much greater than that do we want God to act do we really want God to act do we want him to use us do we want to see real revival in the church of Jesus Christ so that Christ is revealed among us I've heard this is the truth over the last year I have heard five people tell me it's the strangest thing I have somebody tell me this the other day and after a class a great school theology I've had five people tell me the experience they had when Christ was drawing them to himself when they were pagans unsafe had no relationship with God and for some reason they found themselves in a church meeting like this and what happened was simply being around Christians who were worshiping God broke them up emotionally and they couldn't figure out what was going on this one woman was telling me she said I broke down and began just a ball and I thought what in the world is wrong with me she had no clue what was wrong with her what was wrong with her the spirit of the living God was at work among those people and she was smacked dab in the middle of them and it affected her do we want God to manifest His presence in our midst that would touch the hearts of people to bring them to repentance to break the pride of proud hearts and cause people to come through true repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ do we want to see the hard cases saved we want to see people turn to Christ and have their lives changed become a part of the family of God the children of God we want to see the gospel come in power and see many lives transformed by the gospel you want to see God in power is to do the work of the gospel here as as well as support the work of the gospel all around the world this past week one of the most wonderful things happened there's been a mention a couple times about Miriam as she writes these letters she always has some new project for us and every time she mentions a project I think oh here we go again and I simply mentioned that as a joke you never know what she's going to ask for and I mentioned two of those things and last week the money came in we've the money came in to buy a piece of property for this young church so they can build a church it's not amazing you see God is able to empower us to do his work here and everywhere he calls us every challenge he puts before us every challenge that he places before us and says here's an opportunity an open door that we can do the work of the ministry the work of the gospel here in this way the only way we're going to see that happen as if we are calling upon the name of the Lord you want to see God working your families to bring revival in your families to save your children to really save your children look I could convert any five-year-old just about but do you want to see him really saved do you want to see young people so turned around by the power of God that you don't have to coax them you don't have to you know arrange all kinds of fun and games in order to get them to enjoy Christianity and think well yeah Christianity is fun Christianity is hard and Christianity is painful but you know what God can do a work in a young person's life so that they are willing to lay down their lives for Jesus Christ and nobody but God can do it right nobody but God can do it I can't do it I know that but the living God can the living God can take and reach into a person's heart into their chest and take that heart heart and break it and they will be broken before the living God in repentance and faith but only God can do that only God can do that it's only as the spirit of God comes in our meetings and brings conviction to the hearts of people as we proclaim and share the gospel both from this pulpit in our conversations it's only as the spirit of God comes in power that people are going to turn to Christ and be saved greatest delight in my life so look out over this group and see people here who have come to faith in Christ through the testimony and witness of this local church the greatest thrill in all of life what more important thing than we possibly do we're going to build a building but it's just going to be a building it's no monument it's nothing if we get it done it's going to be there for many many years but it's just a building but when people come to faith in Christ for all eternity they are going to read down to the glory of Jesus Christ imagine what it's going to be like to stand at the bama seat of Christ while these all these people who come to faith in Christ through the witness of this church are going to be standing there before Jesus Christ and our hearts are going to be full of Paul said you are my crown of rejoicing what I am looking for in that day is when I stand before Christ is presenting you to Christ as those who come to believe this gospel that he sent me to preach and you know that's only going to happen at the spirit of God comes in power it's not going to happen by us arranging things a certain way it's not by us getting better at all kinds of things which we ought to get better at it is through nothing less than the power of the living God I always get amused and somebody comes to me and it doesn't happen very often I got admitted to you I'm really spoiled but once in a while somebody comes to me and lets me know about my deficiencies and the thing is that they know so few of them I mean I could load them up you know if they just give me an opportunity I could tell them about some of the things they're not aware of but that is absolutely insignificant if the spirit of the living God is working in our midst and touching lives changing lives redeeming and restoring and healing and making whole what can save a family in this world what can save a marriage in this world nothing short of the power of the Holy Spirit applying the gospel to the lives of people nothing less than that the only way we're going to see these things the only way we're going to see God do the impossible in us and through us is if we call upon the name of the Lord John Calvin believed that too by the way do we need to be bold witnesses you want to be a bold witness for Jesus Christ listen to Psalm 105 oh give thanks to the Lord call upon his name and then make known his deeds among the people he is only people who in contact with God who talk about God people who you know people who don't want to call upon the name of the Lord who don't want to be in the context of other people calling upon the name of the Lord they're going to be really uncomfortable in heaven aren't they I mean think about what it's going to be like in heaven unrestrained calling upon the name of the Lord in worship and adoration of Jesus Christ because God has revealed Himself in His Son I think sometimes we're so worried about the method and the technique of prayer people are all tied up in knots and pretty soon we have all these different techniques to try to encourage people to pray you know we in pretty soon we've got it narrowed down to what don't say more than five words everybody pray but don't say more than five words you're going to intimidate somebody oh don't cry don't we don't call upon the name of the Lord don't get on your face before God you're going to scare him to death I wonder a guy uh Dick Williford is his name he came to faith in Christ on a Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon at five we would have a men's prayer meeting before the service we pray for now and we had this bar it was an old bar in the back of the church it was a really ornate thing and we would stand around this bar with our foot up on the thing you know and pray and so we're back there praying I didn't think anything about it and here's Dick Williford and we're praying around and everybody's really calling up on the Lord because these guys really prayed and very expressive and it comes to Dick and he said hello God my name's Dick Williford you know that didn't offend God at all I don't you know you don't have to be a a seasoned prayer warrior to pray just call upon the name of the Lord his name is Lord Jesus Christ he died for you he was raised for you he lives in fellowship with his father for you as right hand he has access to all power all authority in heaven and upon earth and when you call upon his name he will answer you when you call so call upon him don't be embarrassed to pray you don't have to know a lot of fancy words and theological terms just call him Lord and ask him what you want to ask him telling what you need and telling you love him don't be afraid to say that in front of people do we need God's help in our troubles listen to this call upon me in the day of trouble I shall rescue you and you will honor me I will rescue you and you will honor me I'll tell you when God when God rescues you from the peril of death it's amazing how you want to honor him it marks your life doesn't it when he rescues you maybe you're here today you need to be saved maybe you've never experienced salvation and you still your heart has never turned to God in faith and embrace Jesus Christ by faith bowed your knee and stopped acting arrogant before God as though you could live life without him maybe you've never done that listen to the words of Paul whoever will call him the name of the Lord will be saved now how many of you here have experienced that how many you say amen that's the way we're doing search amen see there's there's a bunch of people here who've experienced that they simply called upon the name of the Lord and the Lord saved them he forgave their sins he brought them into relationship with them he made them a child of God and they began to live a life of fellowship and intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ what's what will mark those upon him the wrath of God is going to fall in the last day listen to this this is amazing what is the characteristic of those who are going to suffer the wrath of God Psalm 79 6 is pour out your wrath upon the nations which do not know you and upon the kingdoms which do not call upon your name the judgment of God is going to fall upon this world on those who do not call upon the name of the Lord today is the day you can call upon the name of the Lord you have breath in your lungs I slept three hours last night I am so tired woke up at two o'clock I couldn't sleep my allergies and I got up and I feel like a walking zombie but I'm alive and I have breath in my lungs and I can call upon the name of the Lord you hear this morning without Christ without him residing in you without him being your Lord and Savior all you have to do is call upon him and he will save you what do you need from God today what do you need from God today do you need to call upon him first thing that we should call upon the Lord for is this Zephaniah 39 for then I will give to the people's purified lips that all of them may call in the name of the Lord to serve him shoulder to shoulder you know what we need in this church we need God to purify our lives because our lips are a manifestation of our hearts and our hearts have to be purified it's an ongoing process you never reach a plateau you say I don't need you to purify my lips anymore the reason it's hard to get people to attend prayer meetings and attend a sunny night service for example is TV you're sucking it in you glued to it and it's robbing your life of power your heart gets defiled because your eyes are looking on things that are defiling your mind is thinking thoughts that are defiling your mouth begins to manifest that defilement Zephaniah he said if you calling me I'll purify your lips so you can pray with a pure heart a pure heart God wants you to call upon him today he wants to accomplish his work through the prayers of his people he's a sovereign God he doesn't need us but in a sovereign purpose he wants to use us when we call upon him the effect of the world on our minds and lips is horrifying but he can purify them he can purify them you have to ask for it Miriam and all these other missionaries talk to I've talked to all of them this past week either email or on the phone they all need us to pray for them they're in situations where they need prayer no nilo and minden am going there in another month and teaching for a week he isn't right in the midst of the Islamic stronghold of the Philippines trying to do the work of the gospel doing the work of the gospel God's saving people he needs to pray for him for his safety and for his fruitfulness in this gospel ministry and for the protection of his family they put their boy in a college right in the heart of this Islamic part of minden now so that he could begin to build a bible study in that university and have a Christian witness there we need to pray for his safety they're all kinds of needs Tony Rurella I talked him on the phone yesterday he's been under severe trial and he needs us to pray Miriam asked us to pray this week because she's in a dangerous situation and she's over her head and she wants God to empower to do this work that he's called her to and you read his letters it just it breaks your heart and fills your heart with joy we need to pray and there are many of you are facing things and your family's facing things we need to pray for they have a family in the church to have a baby as a baby coming and the baby has some severe problems unless God intervenes we need to pray for them we need to call out to God for them tonight we're going to meet to pray over in the uh staff lounge next door and I invite you to come and pray with us we're going to come to the Lord's table in a minute and we're going to worship this God upon whom we call the Lord Jesus Christ we're going to we're going to fulfill his instructions to us to come to this fellowship table Jesus instituted this supper in the midst of the Passover supper the Passover supper was a meal that the Jews took in commemoration of God's deliverance from Egypt and they would slay a lamb and as you know that lamb that they slid its throat and the blood ran out and they would consume that lamb at this meal as a picture not only of the deliverance they experienced in Egypt but the deliverance that was coming in the future when Jesus Christ came to the world a lamb of God who hung on a cross and took my place and suffered the penalty for every one of my sins and so they would commemorate they would look forward to this ultimate sacrifice which they didn't understand in this fullness but when Jesus instituted the Lord's supper on the night he was going to be arrested and go to the cross the next day instead of a bloody sacrifice instead of a lamb whose throat was cut he gave them a loaf of bread and he says this loaf represents my body but you don't have to have a bloody sacrifice because I'm going to shed blood and never again is there going to be a sacrifice offered a bloody sacrifice offered because the one who died for us has already died and been raised in the dead and so we come to this table not only looking back and remembering what Jesus did on the cross but looking forward to the day when we're going to sup with him at a table like this because this is a fellowship table the astounding thing is that what Jesus did on the cross has brought us into intimate fellowship and the most intimate fellowship you could experience in the ancient world was to sit at a table with someone and break bread with him when you sat at a fellowship table and broke bread with someone there was a bond and a commitment to each other that held you God has invited us to his table Jesus has invited this table us to this table to commune with him and that's what we're going to do this morning so as we sing this next song could pair your heart could pair your heart think about what were you doing think about this sacrifice that we commemorate that Jesus shed his blood for you that he purchased you that you're a purchased possession therefore glorify God in your body so as we come to this table we want to come with hearts that are prepared hearts that are ready to call upon the name of the Lord and he said if you will call upon me I will answer you so let's prepare our hearts as we sing and then we'll come around the