Transcript
Praise to you in peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. Come, let us worship God.
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Hear now the word of God as it is read from the Acts of the Apostles, the 10th chapter beginning at the first verse. At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms and food to the poor. He gave alms liberally to the people and prayed constantly to God. About the ninth hour
of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a
vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon
who is called Peter. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house
is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by
the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. The heavens opened and something descending like a great sheet The heavens opened and something descending like a great sheet Let down by four corners upon the earth. Let down by four corners upon the earth. Let down by four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and
reptiles and birds of the air. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, No Lord, But Peter said, No Lord, For I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. For I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the
voice came to him again a second time. And the voice came to him again a second time. What God has cleansed, you must not call common. You must not call common. This happened three times This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. And the thing was taken up at once to heaven. let us pray. Let the good news come now our
Father, not only in word but in power, in the Holy Spirit with full assurance through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In his play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams points up the importance of communication in relationships. The story focuses upon the conflicts between Big Daddy, a dying man, and his favorite son, Brick. Each loves the other, but each evades the other. In a moving scene from the second act we hear Brick say to his
father, I never lied to you Big Daddy. Did I ever lie to you, his father asks? No sir. Then there is at least two people that never lied to each other. To which Brick replies, but we've never talked to each other. Relationships require communication and communication is a two-way street. It as well as talking. Now faith in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is also a relationship. It is a relationship that requires
communication if it is to be loving and intimate and meaningful. Prayer is the form this communication takes in the life of faith and as a form of communication prayer also involves listening as well as talking. That needs to be emphasized because prayer is too often merely a monologue. As practiced by so many people prayer is a one-way conversation in which we do the talking and God does the listening. Genuine prayer I believe is a dialogue.
It is a conversation in which God is given an opportunity to have his say. The story of Cornelius and Peter in the Acts of the Apostles I think makes this clear. Luke reports that both were engaged in praying to God and in their respective prayers God spoke to them. Many Christians have claimed that God spoke to them audibly while in prayer and I do not doubt that. What I do doubt is the ability of most of
us to handle that kind of communication. Like the story of a little boy who went into the Catholic Church one hot summer day to cool off and while sitting there silently in the back pew of the darkened sanctuary he saw a man come in and kneel before the altar and he heard the man pray, Oh Lord answer me. And from above the altar a deep voice replied, Yes my son what is it? At that the little
boy jumped up and ran to the rectory next door and in utter amazement he told the priest what he had seen and heard. My son said the father you have just witnessed a miracle tell me where is that man now? The little boy said passed out cold in front of the altar. Yes some may hear God speak audibly but most will hear God speak through that still small voice that is audible in our silence. Bryant Kirkland
tells this story of a young English actress in London. Standing one day near Trafalgar Square she fingered her last coin. It was all she had in the world just enough to get her home on the tube and yet in her heart a voice was saying go buy yourself a cup of tea. And she thought how foolish Lord what do you want me to spend my car fare for a cup of tea? But she listened to the
voice and went to the actress's club to buy herself that cup of tea and as she sat drinking in lonely desperation a friend came bustling into the room. Does anybody want work tonight? she asked. A publicity firm down the street has a large mailing and they want people who are willing to work all night at double wages. Without finishing her tea the young actress responded to the call and all through the night she folded and stuffed
next to this older actress and they became acquainted and the older woman said I'm going for an interview tomorrow why don't you come along with me maybe there'll be something for you and so she did and it led to a good secondary role in a television production and from her earnings she was able to pay all of her debts. Too simple you say perhaps but you will never know for sure unless you learn to listen. Now
you do have to learn to listen. Some years ago my wife and I were at a conference on church renewal congregational renewal held at of all places the Vatican. Our leader was Dr. Howard Blake the older brother of Eugene Carson Blake. During our morning worship one day he spoke to the group on the of listening for God's guidance. You must learn to listen he said for only by listening can you hear what God has to say
to you. Later that week my wife and I had dinner with Howard and his wife Peggy and over an incredible Italian meal I pressed him on this matter of listening for God's guidance. How can you discern the difference between the voice of God within and the voice of your own fears the voice of your own desires I asked. Only by practice he replied. If you practice listening every day you will develop a sensitivity for the voice
of the Lord and then he went on to explain how he and Peggy begin each morning with the time of private prayer and devotion. He said I keep a pad of paper and a pencil at my side and as I pray I write down the people and the concerns that come to my mind and then I follow up on each one of them that day. Usually it's very clear to me what I'm to do in every
instance and when it's not I ask God for more guidance and the more I practice the art of listening the clearer the difference between my desires and God's will becomes. Well for me that was a new insight into prayer. Prayer is not only asking God to answer my request, prayer is also asking God what I can do to answer God's requests. Since then I heard of a woman who kept an envelope full of money under her
mattress. When her children learned about it they asked her why in the world she followed such an archaic custom. She said it's my burden money. It's an amount that I save beyond my tithe and when I feel a burden for a missionary or for someone else as I pray I send some of that money to that person with the note and I tell them that I had felt their need while at prayer and I am sending
this to them as a gift of love and it's been a wonderful blessing to me over the years. Well her daughter understandably was skeptical but one day in her own middle years she remembered this custom of her mother and she decided that she would practice it herself and soon she had the money saved but did not know any missionaries. One evening as she was preparing supper she received an inner message and that night she wrote this
note to an old and dear friend. It may seem peculiar to you but I am carrying on my mother's custom. Here is a gift with my love as well as my own tribute to this sense of God's Spirit working upon me. A few weeks later she received this reply. How grateful I am for your kindness but even more important was the fact that you reached me when my own faith was low. Despite the fact that I
am a professing Christian I did not know whether I could still believe in God or not. You see that is the answering prayer and how the answering prayer works. If there is an asking prayer and I believe there is there is also an answering prayer. The prayer in which we answer to God's communication to us. In serving our first church in Southern California we met a young man and his wife who became and have remained very
close friends over the years. Gary is what you would call a man's man. He is warm, personable, bright and strong as an ox. In high school he was an all-state fullback in California. By confession he is a Christian. By profession he is an educator. When we first knew him he was a junior high school principal and when he spoke no dogs barked. Later he moved up into the higher echelons of the Garden Grove Unified School
District. He had a fine position. For several years the little college, little Christian college from which he had graduated had been after him to join their administrative staff as the Dean. But because it meant and meant a 40% decrease in salary, Gary had steadfastly refused the invitation on every occasion. And then one fall day he suddenly resigned from his position in public education and he began his new duties as the Dean of the college. On
a visit to us in Burlingame he explained how this vocational change had come about. He said driving home from work that afternoon he had a tremendous sense of the presence of God with him in the car. It was so strong he said that he was afraid to turn around and look in the back seat. And immediately the voice within spoke of the college and of the deanship. Now no invitation had been extended to him for over
a year and yet he knew exactly what God was telling him. And he turned that car around and drove straight across town to his alma mater. Gary said the present as he walked into his office, what are you doing here? We've been trying to reach you all afternoon by phone. The board met last night and once again has invited you to become the Dean of the college. Gary accepted the invitation on the spot. Now you can
believe it or not as you please but I know this man and I believe his story is true. If you have never had an experience like that it may be that you've never listened. It may be that you have been doing all of the talking in your prayers. Do you remember the Old Testament story of Samuel? How was the boy Samuel heard his name called in the middle of the night? Three times it happened and each
time Samuel thought it was old Eli the priest calling him. Finally it dawned on Eli that it was the Lord calling the boy so he told Samuel to go back and lie down and if he heard the voice again he was to say speak Lord for thy servant hears. The scripture records that Samuel went and lay down in his place and the Lord came and stood forth calling as at other times Samuel. Samuel and Samuel said
speak for thy servant hears. Make that a part of your prayer life. Say to the Lord God speak for thy servant hears and in that moment your prayers will move beyond the boredom of a monologue to the excitement of a dialogue with God. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen.
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