It’s Like This

Learning to Push
December 1, 2024
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch

Luke 18:1 (NIV)
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Psalm 90:4 (NIV)
A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by … .

Luke 18:2-8 (NIV)
He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Luke 18:4-7 (NIV)
“‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”

Luke 18:8 (ESV)
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

P.U.S.H
Pray until something happens.

Luke 18:9-12 (NIV)
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all that I get.’”

Luke 18:13-14 (NIV)
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Luke 18:16 (NIV)
“… Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Luke 18:17 (NIV)
“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Takeaways

• In what area or matter are you prepared to P.U.S.H.?

George Mueller Quote
In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remain unconverted.

But I hope in God, I pray on, and look for the answer.

• In what area do you need to confess, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”?