Plead, Pray, Petition

If you have your Bible, we're going to be in the book of

Daniel, Daniel Chapter 9 during the week.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

I was thinking about last week Sunday and the the best way I

could describe it was surreal. I don't know how many of you

were here last week Sunday, you were here.

Thanks, Seth. But it was it was pretty

unprecedented, you know, And before we started, Rory actually

showed like we did now, showed a clip and some photos of what was

going on in, in our cube and in our foyer area.

And I thought, well, maybe I should show it again.

But if you want to see what's what's going on, you can

literally just stick your head out there.

Car park is full, the auditorium is full.

There's people sitting on the stairs and surreal, right?

We've even got wine with us. But I was wondering during the

week, I wondered what what happened last week and maybe

this morning as well. And I was wondering like where

our life group leaders going like, oh, we'll be new people.

I'm going to invite you, going to befriend you.

You're going to be in my home pretty soon.

I was wondering if our volunteers noticed the influx of

of new people and visitors and came in because our volunteers

were here 1st and they get all the good seats.

I was wondering if the volunteers came in last week,

sort of took their jerseys and blankets out and decided now I'm

going to sit in the cube so that our visitors can be in here.

I was wondering if some of our elders were thinking, Lord, is

it time for me to plant? No Amen from you, Eugene.

I was wondering of those who, you know, come in early and save

their seats and they sit there all the time, gave up those

seats so that our visitors wouldn't have to sit on the

stairs and said we sat on the stairs.

I was wondering if it was just an inconvenience.

You know how long it took to get in here and I didn't get coffee

because by the time my coffee was made, I was already inside.

It was like 9:10. Although the kids men

registration really Did she not bring her card or phone or and

I'm going to stand in this queue and I'm missing the good stuff

happening in the auditorium and you know how hot it is in the

cube. You know what I was thinking

after last week Sunday, it's not going to last.

But then during the week I was really challenged.

I was reminded of a prophetic word that I had preached on

Sunday and we had a pastor was visiting from not only out of

town, but out of the country. He'd come to South Africa for

some other reason and at the end of the meeting came up to me and

said, hey, listen, I've just got a real sense of what God is

wanting to do. And he laid it out.

But one of the things that he said was he said, and this was a

few years ago, he said, I really feel like God is going to bring

the city to the doors of three CR and I'm saying probably won't

last. And then I was sitting and

thinking back on the weekend and I suddenly realized, you know,

I've been, we've been in three CR nearly 25 of the 30 years

that it's existed. And I have never felt the

leaning in of God the way I'm feeling it right now.

And I began to wonder, Lord, what is it that you're up to?

I don't know if you know the name Reinard Bunker.

He's an evangelist. I went on those websites.

He's subsequently passed away, but I went on his website and

they say that there were 86 million documented salvations

through his his ministry. There were times and you can see

the photos where there are 1.6 million people in the audience

as he preaches the gospel. And This is why I tell you about

Ronald Bonkers because he often used to remind his team that

they weren't God's first choice. He tells a story of how when God

began to lean in over him and, and his ministry and what he was

doing, it kind of caught in fear and trepidation.

One sense of like, yes, Lord, you can do anything.

Absolutely. And then also it's like, and I

think you've come to the right guy.

And he felt God say as clear as day, you weren't my first

choice, not even my second or third or fourth, but he felt God

say that. He had been to a few ministers

and a few ministries, and they were so preoccupied with profile

and programs that he went looking elsewhere.

And I wonder if God hasn't come to us, not as his first choice.

I wonder if God hasn't been going through our city, going

from church to church, door to door, minister to minister, home

to home. I wonder if God hasn't been

going through our city. Greater things are yet to come.

Greater things are still to be done in the city.

Can I do it through you? And they've been profiled and

programs and busy schedule. Sorry, I can't help you.

And he's moved on to the next. What if God is here and he's

saying like it says in Ezekiel 22.

I looked for someone who would stand in the gap for me on

behalf of the land, but I couldn't find anyone.

Yesterday morning I went cycling and about 5:45, half past five,

quarter to six, I rode past the NHS church in the Lardis Park,

and the parking lot was full and there was this little outside

room that was full and people were praying for our city, for

greater things down the streets. And I passed the lady who was

walking and praying, but she had headphones in and I was

wondering if she wasn't maybe walking down the street praying

for her neighborhood. But she's on the phone with a

friend who's walking down her St. praying for her

neighborhood. The greater things would come

that God would do what he'd done in days of old again in and

through us. And then I got to the very top

of Copicorp and there was this ring of burly men and they

leather jackets and their motorbikes parked, and they were

praying for you and for our city.

The greater things would happen that God would move in our

midst. So with all of this sort of

dribbling through my mind and troubling my heart and my lovely

it's not going to last comment, I decided to turn to Daniel

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9 and say, Lord, is there something here that we

need to see? And I want to bring it to you

this morning In Daniel Chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

It begins in verse one in the first year of Darius son of

Xerxes. A Mede by descent was made ruler

over the Babylonian Kingdom in the first year of his reign.

I, Daniel, understood from the scriptures, according to the

word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the

desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years.

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and

petitioning, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

I just want to pause there and unpack just those 3 verses so

you know what's going on. It begins by saying in the first

year of Darius son of Xerxes. So Daniel gives us a date and I

went and looked it up and you can you can actually Google it.

On that date, Daniel and the nation of Israel had been in

exile for 67 years. Verse two, in the first year of

his reign, after 60-7 years in exile, I understood from the

scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to

Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would

last 70 years. So they've been there 67 years

and he sees this prophetic word given by Jeremiah that they

would only be there for 70 years.

And then take a look at his response.

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in pray and

petitioning. I don't know if I would have put

those peas in there if I've been in exile for 67 years under the

harsh rulership of the Babylonian Kingdom and the

Persians and God said three more years.

The the piece I would use is is definitely praise, maybe even

parte. You know, it's like here we go

baby. But instead it says so I turned

to the Lord God and pleaded with him in pray and petitioning.

And just to make sure that I was understanding it correctly.

I looked it up. These words to plead, to pray,

to petition. It means to cry out, to call

aloud, to shout with deep desire.

It conveys a sense of urgency, strong emotion, deep desperation

to the point of demand. And I say that with all

reverence to the point of demanding of God that He

fulfilled His promise. And that comes from Isaiah 62

that says give God no rest when you pray for your city.

That is not what I was expecting from Daniel when he gets his

beautiful promise. Three more years and you're out

of here. You imagine you spend the whole

of January looking for a job and God says three more months and

you've got a job. I don't think I would have

turned to pleading and praying and petitioning, but take a look

at what he says here. Verse 17 says now our God, hear

the prayers and petitions of your servants for your sake,

Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary.

Give ear our God and here open your eyes.

I mean, this is the God that gave the promise, but he's

saying open your eyes. See the desolation of the city

that bears your name. We do not make requests of You

because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.

Lord, listen, Lord, forgive. Lord, hear and act for your

sake. My God, do not delay because

your city and your people bear your name.

Do not delay. Oh, I pray that this grace would

come upon us as three CR. But we look and see God is doing

something. Now I don't claim to be a

prophet. That's not my gifting.

I don't leave this church. I'm just a member like you, but

every now and then I get to preach.

So I'm not claiming some ownership of the God has spoken.

But I look at this and I look at you and I look at the images of

the cube out there and I FOIA this overflowing and the parking

and it's down the street and into the neighboring estates.

And I'm saying if there's a ghost of a shadow of a whisper

of a possibility that God is wanting to use us to bring about

revival in our city, then surely our response should be like

David respond Daniel responsive to plead to pray and petition.

Surely we shouldn't go. You know, kids, men, there was

such a drag getting my children out of.

Surely our immediate response shouldn't be the problem with

parking and how long it got us to get through the four way

stop. Instead, I want to call you to

plead, to pray, to petition. Greater things are yet to come.

Greater things are still to be done in our city.

I can hear the mountains tremble.

So I want to put some bones to this, paint a picture for you so

you can get a better handle on what Daniel was on about.

And, and now there's two portions of scripture that I

just want to sink your teeth into.

The 1st is in Psalm 132. Welcome to turn there.

This is an account written of of David and he had been king just

for a couple months. And the first thing that David

wanted to do was David wanted to bring the ark of the covenants,

the presence of God back to the city.

So this is what's on his heart and this is what is written in

Psalm 132. Verse 3 says I will not enter my

house or go to my bed. David said I will allow no sleep

to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids till I find a place for

the Lord, a dwelling for the mighty one of Jacob.

And he hear his heart. There's a pleading, there's a

prayer, there's a petitioning. He's longing for the presence of

God to come to his city. I don't know if you know the

name John Tyson. He's a preacher in New York in

the US and he had the same yearning and he talks about it

in one of the sermons where he did, He called it a revival

tour. So he went all across the world

to places where there had been revivals or great awakenings.

And he thought like, I need to find what's the secret sauce?

New York needs Jesus. He was longing for the presence

of God like David did. And he came back with this after

all the Voyager miles he clocked up and all the money he spends

and all the questions he asked, he came up with this.

He simply said God comes where he is wanted.

That comes where he is wanted. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 4,

it says you will seek me and you will find me when you seek me

with all your heart. And this is what David is doing,

this longing in David's heart. Essentially he's saying it's not

OK that I live my comfortable, carefree life until revival

comes in my city. And he's longing on this side.

And God is longing on this side too.

God is longing for David's and Daniel's to awaken, to bang on

his door, to plead, to pray, to petition.

Say, Father, our city needs you. Lord, my family needs you.

The campus that I study on needs you.

The people I work with need you. Praying, petitioning, pleading,

calling out, crying out, shouting aloud with a deep sense

of urgency and desperation. Lord, it's not OK for me to live

a safe and comfortable life until you dwell fully in

Ireland, in Rio, in Cairo, in Pretoria, in the Lardis Park.

I don't know if you know, but I write.

People often ask me, is that a new tattoo?

No, it's just a list of people that I pray for by name every

single day. I put it there because I come

from the bluff and I forget things very quickly.

And unless I have a constant reminder, days go by and I

haven't thought of what if you put a name on your hand.

If I had to say plead, pray, petition, is there a name that

comes to mind? That name might be Tux.

It might be the estate you stay in, might be your father's name.

But you know, the problem is, it's wonderful.

We have a lot of faith for Lisbon and Cairo and Pretoria,

but for Pitt, oh, that's a whole new story.

Because Pitt's got issues, and Pitt is prickly and Pitt has a

past. I put his name, I'm like, oh,

Lord, I don't know if you can. Have you met Pitt?

Pretoria. Yes, absolutely.

Great. So things are yet to come.

But Peter, do you know the name Francis Chan?

OK, Minister in the US. Amazing guy.

Actually, we had the privilege of sitting under his ministry a

while back. Francis Chan tells his story.

I didn't know this, but his mother died giving birth to him.

And because of that, the family hated this newborn child.

His dad thought, you know what? Because of what you did to my

wife, I don't want you either. Get him up for adoption.

One of the aunts found out and she said, no, no, no, not

adoption, not in this city. We've got to send him to his

grandmother in Hong Kong, get this problem away from us.

And he's he was basically raised by his grandmother in Hong Kong

until she couldn't anymore. And she said, no, you know it.

I don't want him either. Send him back home to dad.

So he arrives back with his father, who doesn't want him,

who's angry at him. And his father's had another

child. So now he's got another little

precious. Now you're more than an

inconvenience. And he tells at the moment where

he was tied to a tree and his dad had broken off a bronze and

was just beating him, just beating him for existing.

And he said once his father had eventually given up and and he

had lost his voice from screaming and crying and no one

else says how he sat there in the dark tied to a tree

wondering like, what do I do now?

Is it OK to to wriggle out of this?

Can I go back into the house and I'll tell you that story to

reveal a heart. Because he says this, you tell

me how you reach that young boy's heart with the good news

of the gospel. How do you convince him that God

is good? How do you convince him that God

has a purpose and a plan for his life?

And he says something had to happen in that space, just like

something has to happen with Pete and with Pretoria.

And then he turns to Romans 5, verse 5, which says hope does

Romans 5:5

not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out

into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

That is our only hope when we're praying for Pretoria, that God

will pour out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Because when he does, he gets behind those defenses and behind

those offenses and behind that rejection and that darkness and

that cynicism, and he grabs a hold of young Francis Chan's

heart at 15. He pours out his love into his

heart through the Holy Spirit, and that same love is beating in

his chest now at the age of 57. So I want to call you through CR

to pray, to plead, to petition for your city, for your

departments, for your business, for your family, for your

children or your parents, and ask God, would you pour your

love out into their hearts through your Holy Spirit.

This is our only hope, but it's all we need.

And that is what we find David doing.

If I can just get the presence of God into the city, it'll

change. So that's the first portion of

Scripture. Here's the second, Luke 11.

So in Luke 11, that's Jesus has just answered the age-old

question that the disciples have asked, teach us to pray.

And so he gives them the Lord's Prayer.

I'm sure you know it's our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be your name. We used to back in the day, we

used to pray it in school assembly.

Father, your name hallowed be your name, but it gives him the

prayer, and then he gives these little footnotes that we often

overlook because this Lord's Prayer is so captivating.

But he adds, it's almost as if he gives his own commentary on

that portion of Scripture. And this is Luke 11, verse 5.

Luke 11:5

Then Jesus said to them, suppose you have a friend, and you go to

him at midnight and say, friend, lend ME3 loaves of bread.

A friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have no

food to offer him. And suppose the one inside

answers don't bother me. The door's already locked and my

children are now in bed. I can't get up and give you

anything. I tell you, even though he'll

not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet

remember, he's talking about prayer.

Because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up

and give you as much as you need.

And then the biggest so in the order of scripture.

So in other words, he's spoken about shameless audacity, and

now he's saying so do likewise. Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you'll find knock and the door will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds them.

To the one who knocks. The door will be opened.

The door to the city will be opened.

The door to their hearts will be open.

But he says he calls of us for shameless audacity.

Now, when you look that up in the Bible dictionary, it sort of

gives one or two very anemic definitions.

I'd rather prefer to offer my own interpretation of that.

It's like you look at the city, you look at your family, you

look at your business, you look at your campus.

Shameless audacity is to plead, to pray, to petition, to call

out loud. With deep desire and deep

dissatisfaction with the situation before you.

But the God who can answer that prayer, The God who can bring

his love and get it behind the defenses and behind the

darkness, behind the disappointment.

Shameless audacity. It actually, it's in the when it

says ask and you'll receive. It's in the present continuous

tense, which means ask and keep on asking.

Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking.

Greater things are yet to come. Greater things are still to be

done in our city. But what if it's through you?

What if he's waiting for you simply to take that name and

bring it into his presence? Done.

If you know Duncan Campbell, he's a man who lived about 100

years ago. Duncan Campbell was one of those

young men. Deep darkness.

He was so wild that we dropped out of school and he played bag

puffs in a bar doc scandal. No family wants a son who plays

bag puffs in a bar, but he didn't want his family either.

You know, I've got it. I'm good.

And he tells in his biography how he's playing bag puffs in a

bar one night and right in the middle of a set, the Spirit of

God comes upon him and he doesn't know what to do.

He is so weighed down this conviction and it's it's creepy

because like, I'm in a bar, you know, God, you shouldn't be

here, that he actually asks one of the guys if he can just go

get some air. So he steps out and he goes

walking down the street. He's like, I don't know what to

do with this. That's late at night because you

only play bag puffs in the bar late at night.

And he's walking through the city and he goes past the church

that he remembers going to as a young, young boy.

And the lights are still on. So he walks up to the window,

but he can't quite see anything, goes around the side and, and he

looks through the keyhole and inside there's a couple of men

praying. And the one that he sees first

is his father. And he can hear from outside of

the door his dad pleading and praying and petitioning our

Heavenly Father for his son's salvation.

And he's so shaken by it. He opens the door, walks in so

it's right down next to his dad. And his dad just keeps on

carrying, praying. And he looks to his son and he

says, as if he expected me to be there.

Look to his son. Good to have you here.

My boy carried on praying for other people's children.

Fast forward a few years and Duncan's now on the battlefield.

It's World War One and he gets fatally wounded.

They're basically dragging him off to the medic center to die.

And while that's happening in sort of semi comatose state, he

cries out to God. He says, surely this, this isn't

it. I'm still a young man.

You know, you did all of that to now end like this.

And right there, apparently on the back of a horse, you know,

like you see in the cowboy movies, right there, the Spirit

of God comes on in in such power.

Not only does he survive, but he was lying in his hospital bed

praying and random strangers would come up to him and ask

him, tell us how to be saved. I don't know what it is, but

while you're singing in Gaelic and while you're praying in I'm

Canadian, I don't even know what you're saying, but I do know

that you have the answers. I want to know how to be saved

and that power on him stayed with him.

He would share his testimony at church and it was like the

Spirit of God would come in such power.

People were getting healed, radically saved.

It was like almost they couldn't get off their chairs.

But he Fast forward a few years and he settles down and he gets

married and the fire in his heart also settles.

Then one morning he's waking up on his way to work and his

daughter's 15 year old daughter has been having a quiet time.

She comes out of her room. She says the following, says,

Daddy, when you were young you saw revival.

How is it, Daddy, that you're not seeing revival now?

Three CR when you were young you saw revival.

How is it that you're not seeing revival now?

Many are joining the church, she says.

But Daddy, when last did you kneel beside a person and lead

him to Jesus? At the same time, in the land

far, far away place called the Hebrides, there's two elderly

ladies, Peggy and Christine Smith, the one's 82, the other

84 sisters. And they've been praying for the

Hebrides because the Hebrides was a very affluent area.

Everyone was well educated, skilled in their craft, but

godless, kind of like LA. And they're saying, Father, this

church needs revival. The young people don't want

anything to do with church. We're all getting old.

We're all about to die. And that's going to be an empty

building. And while they're praying, God

gave them this verse. Isaiah 44 three says, for I will

pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.

I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing

on your descendants. And they're like God has spoken.

And so they started praying this verse over and over again.

Not only that, meets twice a week from 8:00 PM to like 3:00

AM and just pray. And the pastor got 1 of this.

And so he gathered a couple men together and they started

praying as well. And then there was a moment

where one of the sisters felt like God dropped a name or face

and she described this person to the pastor, said, listen, I

don't know if you know anyone, if there's anyone in the city or

neighboring cities. And he's like, that sounds just

like Duncan Campbell. And so they invited him.

So what do you come and minister?

We've been praying and we feel you're the guy.

Would you come now, Austin? Three times before he came.

Maybe it was his comment from his daughter that eventually got

him over there. And so Duncan comes and he

arrives at the the harbour and they go and they fetch him.

They say, listen, Supper's ready.

It's 8:00 at night. Your room is ready if you want

to go unpack. But there's actually a few

people waiting in the church already.

There's about 200 people in the church because they've heard

he's coming. So he's like, hmm, let me,

let's, let's go to church. I'd love to meet them.

And he goes there and he ministers until about 11:00 at

night, but nothing happens. He's hungry for a long journey.

All day long, he's sort of thinking, OK.

And he's busy winding down. Thank you for coming.

You know, don't forget to fetch your children and free coffee in

the foyer. And one of the men who had been

praying with the pastors gets on his knees and he begins to pray.

Lord, you said you would pour water on the thirsty land and

streams on dry ground. You said you would pour out your

spirits on your offspring and your blessing on your

descendants. Father, we plead, we pray, we

petition you to do this. And suddenly the back doors

burst open. Apparently a blacksmith comes

storming in the city. Blacksmith comes storming and

saying God has done it, God has done it, God has done it and

behind him there are two or three hundred people coming to

the church. God had woken them up in their

sleep. The presence of God was so heavy

on that area. They had woken up and they

didn't know what else to do but just like Duncan maybe try

church and they come peeling in and so he just invites them all

in and said, OK, we start from the beginning again so as to

pray and so as to minister and so as to preach and the Spirit

of God comes on that place with a cannot get off the ground and

it's 1:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning and around 3:00

in the morning, this guy comes through the the door on the side

there makes his way over people who prostate before God waves

through the presence of God up to Duncan Campbell says, listen,

I'm the chief of police. I need your help.

People have surrounded the police station.

They're on their knees telling us and confessing their sins,

telling us all the things that they've done.

They they're so convicted. It's like, I just now need to,

so please, will you come? There are 400 people around the

police station on their knees as the presence of Godfell.

And I tell you all of that to tell you this, there's one line

in this story that has gotten behind all my defenses.

It says this. It says the next three.

Over the course of the next three years, there wasn't a

single household in the Hebrides that was unaffected by the

revival. Over the next three years,

there's also accounts of these family members having family

overseas. And at the same time the God is

pouring out his presence and people are surrounding the

police station in the UK and and Ireland tells of family just

walking down the street. And like, I've got to, I've got

to get right with God pulling aside into an alley, getting on

their knees. They have accounts of fishermen

just off the Hebridean coast. The presence of God hit them and

they come to shore. These are rough, raw, tattooed

beasts of men on their knees saying, father, I need to ask

your forgiveness. Because the next Over the next

three years, there wasn't a single household in the Hebrides

that was unaffected by the revival.

What if God wants to do this in our city over the next three

years? We've got nothing to offer.

It's not because our climate control is just right and where

everyone else has HD screens, hours of 4K, it has to be by the

grace of God. It has to be that God is

whispering something to you and I and along with it a call to

respond. And so this is the prayer that

I've been praying over the last while.

It's in Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

It says this, Lord, we have heard of your fame.

We stand in awe of your deeds now, Lord, repeat them in our

day, in our time. Make them known.

And I want to pray this as we close.

Lord, we've heard of your fame, Father.

We've heard of great awakenings in the US, the UK.

We've heard how you swept across Europe and how you planted your

feet in the Hebrides. We stand in awe of your deeds,

Father. We stand in awe of the fact that

we can look across this room and it is filled to capacity and

then some. We stand in awe that you have

considered us and allowed hearts to be turned to you in this

space. But this morning, Father, my

cry, Lord, repeat them in our day.

Repeat them in our day. Father, repeat them in our day.

Lord God, we ask that you would move upon our city.

Lord, I pray that in three years time that it will be written.

Now, the next. Over those three years there

wasn't a single household in the Hebrides.

There wasn't a single household in Pretoria.

It was in a single household that was unaffected by the

revival and that there won't be a single household, not a not a

heart, not a home father that is not affected but what you do in

and through US. Lord, I don't know what you

require of us, but we want to say yes and Amen to it.

I don't know what you want of us to give and and how you're

calling us to open our homes or what it is you're wanting to do

in the workplace as we petition and cry out to you.

But we ask Heavenly Father, repeat them in our day, in our

time. Make them known.

Speak to every single one of us here, from those in the

auditorium to those in the overflow, to those in reception

and the foyer, to those in Milky Lane and Smallville.

Lord Jesus, take a hold of the hearts of our children.

Take a hold of the hearts of each home.

Father, what could you do through a community that opens

themselves up to you over the next three years as best as we

know how? Father, we say yes and Amen.

Here we are. Father use us Jesus name.