Sermon - Amen and Amen - Littleby Baptist Church - February 17, 2019

Last week we took a break from our series on the Life and Ministry of Jesus due to the weather, this morning we are going to continue that break.

Friday morning as I was driving to work, ‘Say Amen’ by Finding Favor was playing on the radio. Some of the lyrics go:

“If there’s anybody here who’s found Him faithful. Anybody here who knows He’s able, Say Amen. If there’s anybody here who’s seen His power. Anybody here brought through the fire, Say Amen. Anybody here found joy in the middle of sorrow, Just Say Amen!”

The Holy Spirit spoke to me during this song. As soon as parked my car, I jotted down these questions.

When we pray and say Amen, what are we saying? What does it mean for our addictions, our sickness, our fear, our depression, and our anxiety?

If we have found God to be faithful to His promises. If we have found Him to be able to take care of our needs. If we have seen His power in our lives and the lives of others. If God has brought us through the fire. If He has filled us with His joy in our darkest hour. When we pray and say Amen, what do we mean?

What do we mean when we say Amen? It is it just some word to signify we are done praying or that something someone says resonates with us, or does it have a deeper meaning?

The rest of what we will cover this morning is what I found as I dug deeper into what it means when we say, Amen.

In Numbers chapter 5 we find a priestly ritual that is to be used if it is believed that a wife is unfaithful to her husband. It is a ritual given by Moses for a way to prove one way or another if she has committed adultery or not.

Numbers 5:16-22

“¹⁶ “The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord. ¹⁷ Then the priest is to take holy water in a clay bowl, take some of the dust from the tabernacle floor, and put it in the water. ¹⁸ After the priest has the woman stand before the Lord, he is to let down her hair and place in her hands the grain offering for remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’— ²¹ at this point the priest will make the woman take the oath with the sworn curse, and he is to say to her—‘May the Lord make you into an object of your people’s cursing and swearing when he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell. ²² May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your womb to shrivel.’ “And the woman will reply, ‘Amen, Amen.’”

By saying Amen, Amen, the wife is declaring that she accepts the outcome of drinking the bitter water. If she is guilty, she will suffer greatly, if she is innocent, she will be just fine.

Deuteronomy 27:15-16 (26)

“¹⁵ ‘The person who makes a carved idol or cast image, which is detestable to the Lord, the work of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret is cursed.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁶ ‘The one who dishonors his father or mother is cursed.’ And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’”

If you keep reading you will see 12 curses and the people said Amen 12 times. They were stating that if we do these things. If we worship an idol, dishonor our parents, steal from our neighbors, kill someone, and more… we will be cursed.

By saying Amen, they were saying they understood what was being said, they understood their part, and accepted that they would be punished if they did these things.

Both examples show us that the use of Amen is a declaration of accepting the outcome regardless of the results. When we approach God with a need, pray about it, and end by saying Amen… we are saying that, ‘God ‘this is in your hands and we accept your decision, we accept whatever the outcome is, we trust in you.’

1 Corinthians 14:13-19

“¹³ Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he can interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. ¹⁵ What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding. ¹⁶ Otherwise, if you praise with the spirit, how will the outsider say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up. ¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you; ¹⁹ yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.”

Normally when these verses are looked at the focus is on the person speaking in tongues. What I want to point out is in verse 16 it is telling us that a person cannot say amen, they cannot agree with what is being said, they cannot accept the outcome, if they do not know what is being said.

When we say Amen at the end of a prayer, we are stating that we are in complete agreement with what was said.

When we say Amen we are accepting the outcome, good or bad.

When we say Amen we are thanking God for all that He does in our lives and what He is doing for the things prayed for.

2 Corinthians 1:20

“²⁰ For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in him. Therefore, through him we also say “Amen” to the glory of God.”

The only proper response to God’s message, is Amen. If we are reading the Bible, if we are listening to the Holy Spirit, if we are feeling God move in us. The only response we should have is to say Amen, as a sign that we are willingly submitting to His will.

As the Lord’s Prayer says, “Your kingdom come. You will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Saying Amen is agreeing with what was said, submitting to the Lord’s will, and accepting the outcome. Agreeing is not real hard, but the submitting and accepting parts can be a real struggle. It is hard to let go and depend on God. To often we lay it down on the cross and pick it back up and try to fix it on our own. If we truly mean Amen, we need to lay it down and let God have it.

2 Corinthians 1:21

“²¹ Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us.”

If we say Amen to God, if we say let it be done according to the Lord’s will, if we submit to Him we will receive the strength we need through our faith in Christ.

While sitting here at church this morning it might be easy to say Amen at the end of the prayer agreeing with what has been said. After that it gets harder. If we are saying Amen, we are saying we truly submit to God in every aspect of our life. That can be really hard, especially with some of the things we face in this life. Then there is the whole accepting part. It can be hard to say Amen knowing that with that single word you are declaring that you accept the outcome regardless of what it is. There are a lot of outcomes we do not like, and this can be one of the hardest things for us to do. But we need to trust in Our God, and truly let go.

Thankfully Scripture shows us that we do not need to do it all on our own.

2 Corinthians 1:22

“²² He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.”

If you have put your faith in Jesus, you have been marked as a child of God.

Matthew 7:9-11

“⁹ Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.”

If we are a children of God and we come to our Father in heaven and ask Him to help us with our addictions, sickness, fear, depression, anxiety, or anything else we are struggling with we need to trust that He has our best interest at heart. The Father’s Love is perfect, His power is limitless, and we need to have faith that He will do what is best for us.

I am not saying it is easy, but if we truly believe what we say we believe. If we truly have faith in what the Bible tells us, we need to submit to His perfect will and accept the outcome knowing that our heavenly Father loves us and wants what is best for us.

2 Corinthians 1:22

“²² He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.”

The second half of this verse is a reminder that we do not have to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit is at work in us. He is a down payment of all that is to come.

Philippians 1:6

“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We can be confident in the FACT that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in us, from the moment of salvation until we meet our Savior face to face. He will help us go from the point of unbelief, to the point where we know we can count on our Father in heaven to take care of us. The Spirit will help us love when we need to love, will give us joy when we are feeling down, give us peace when we are troubled, patience when we are anxious, He will give us kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as it is needed.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we will reach a point where we truly mean it when we say Amen.

When praying for addictions, sickness, fear, depression, anxiety, provision, peace, and so much more… we need to remember that God is in control and our desire should be for His will to be done.

When we say Amen, we are stating that we agree with what is being said. When we say Amen, we submitting to the Father’s perfect will for our lives. When we say Amen, we are accepting whatever the outcome is.

I encourage each of you to remember who God is and lay all of your troubles at the foot of the cross, and then say, ‘Amen and Amen’.   


God Bless,

Robert