# Changing God’s Mind

Key Passage: Exodus 32
Date: June 22, 2025

Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32. We’re going to be a fanatic for something. Be a fanatic for Jesus. By the way, I felt to mention other guests that’s been with us for a bit: Miss Melissa’s sister, Teresa, and her daughter, Audrey. We’re honored to have them with us again tonight. She was telling me today they are going to move down here and join our church next. She said she loves Tennessee, but it’s too humid. I said, well, I can’t argue. There’s some truth to that right there. We’ve been honored to have them here for a bit for sure, and they are great, great people from a great church there in Washington.

For just a bit, let’s talk about this thing of changing the mind of God in prayer. That’s kind of hard to believe. Can we really change the mind of God? It almost sounds prideful. Can you change the mind of God in prayer? You know, sometimes, in some philosophies, what God wills is going to be done no matter what. It doesn’t matter what you do, whether you’re praying or not. Sometimes we get that mindset, and our prayer life becomes a little bit of routine.

I think pretty much all these things I’m about to say are true: Prayer changes us, and it does. Prayer ought to be a great time of worship and praise, and it ought to be. It’s a time where we really get to know God’s will for our life, and there’s a lot of truth to that. But can we really go in prayer and kind of change the mind of God and get things from God? Is that a thing?

Some will say, “How foolish you are to actually think you can change the mind of God.” That’s just out of the question, prideful, you know. I will say this before we get to where we’re going: sometimes some things are just going to happen. There are things like that. I think about Israel; God is going to take care of Israel. Now, I’m glad America was a true ally, and we took care of business. Amen for that. But these last days, God said, no, the one we trampled on the last times—it’s just going to happen.

Going back a little bit on that, it’s on a lot of our minds, but I am glad for one thing: God will bless them that bless them and curse him that curses them. I’m talking about Israel over there in Genesis 12. By the way, he does use the term “nation” over there in Genesis 12, talking about the descendants of Abraham and Isaac. But some things—it’s amazing—some things God wants you to change His mind in prayer. We’re going to look at one of those things.

Moses is up on the Mount. The children of Israel are down there, and Aaron was down there, and boy, they just went off the end of the clip. They just lost it. Man, they’re worshipping these false gods and golden calves and having this crazy rock and roll demonic party down there. And God says, “I’m fed up. I’m tired of it.”

I want you to see this conversation between God and Moses. God really reveals to us an instance where the mind of God is truly changed by someone’s prayer life. It’s amazing. I didn’t read it in the Bible—I think, is that really true or not? But God has it in His Word recorded for us here: Exodus 32. We’re going to start in verse number 7. If you are able, would you please stand as we read God’s Word together? Exodus 32, verse number 7. You there tonight? Would you say amen? Good, good.

Here we go, verse number 7: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” Isn’t it amazing? God’s talking to Abraham, and he said, “Your people—I tell you what, your people messed up.”

Verse number 8: “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” By the way, that’s amazing for them to say that after God had brought the ten plagues and shot at all the Egyptians. God was taking them out one by one. We did a study on that—all those false gods. And now they’re saying these gods, these golden calves, are the ones that brought you out. Wow. How could they have the audacity to say that?

Verse number 9: “The Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them.” Just the fact that God would say to someone in prayer, “Leave me alone so I can…” That’s just amazing in and of itself. That’s what God said.

Bottom of verse number 10: “…and then I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.” We’ll start over. Moses besought—he begged—he besought the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people?” Notice: not my people, thy people, “which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?”

He said, “Lord, if you wipe them all out, it’s going to hurt your name.” It is amazing. The Bible says, “Come, let us reason together,” said the Lord of hosts. That God Almighty would let me reason with him is amazing. He tells us, “Come, let’s reason together.” And he’s letting Moses, a little peon, all of us, you know, a little bit arguing with the almighty, infinite God—it’s amazing. But it happens here in the Bible.

Bottom of verse number 12: “Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self.” God likes it when you use His Word in your prayer time. He has all kinds of promises, and he likes it when you bring them up. That’s what Moses is doing, bringing up all the promises he gave to these patriarchs of Israel. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.”

It’s amazing. This next verse is just incredible. Verse number 14: “And the Lord repented”—it means he had a change of mind—“and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” Wow. I mean, this man prayed. God said, “Leave me alone. I’m going to wipe him out.” God had a change of mind because someone prayed. You can, in prayer. God wants you to. He invites you to change the mind of God through prayer.

Look over, if you will, in Jonah, the book of Jonah, chapter number three. Jonah chapter three. In God’s Word, of course, you know the story of Jonah and Nineveh, a very sinful land. God said, “I’m going to utterly wipe it out. I’m sick and tired of their sinfulness. I’m about to smack them really good.”

Before I do that, Jonah, I want you to give them a fair warning of what is about to happen. Look in chapter three, look in verse number four, if you would please. Chapter three in the book of Jonah, verse number four: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Where did he get that from, folks? From the Lord. The Lord told him, “I want you to go tell them: forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” That was the plan. That is what God said. Now, we know Jonah had all kinds of issues; I tried not to get into that tonight, but he preached what the Lord wanted him to preach eventually, right? He’s there preaching it. That’s what he says.

Now look in verse number five: “So the people of Nineveh believed God.” Well, this fellow’s telling us God’s Word. God is going to do what He says He is going to do. “And proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.” Wow. You talk about revival. Brother Bill Johan says he can trace back his descendants all the way back to Nineveh and the revival under Jonah.

Verse number six: “For word came unto the king of Nineveh: and he rose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” It’s amazing. Even the king is getting right with God. And cause it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast”—not that little chihuahua as we talk about this more, nobody—“neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God. Let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.”

Watch this: “Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?” And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil." That evil doesn’t mean sinful; that means he was about to whoop up on them really good. That’s what it means in Tennessee. “He repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

Now let me ask you, what is the thing that God would like to change that’s going to happen unless you pray? What is the thing? It is possible for God’s people to get so thoroughly right with God and pray and seek God, or that he would have mercy maybe, or that he would work so much to the point that God in heaven changes the course of history, if you will, because of the prayers. God allows that; God wants that.

Who is your neighbor that God wants you to pray for, that maybe they may spend eternity in hell or in heaven, but according to your prayer life will be the difference? What about the church member that’s been missing here lately? If we just spend some time praying, they get back in place. These things are so very important. I say it so often, but things happen in the kingdom of God because someone somewhere is praying. That’s where the victories are won, friend. We look out in the open and say, “Oh, that’s it, that’s wonderful.” No, no. That doesn’t happen out there. The victory was won way before, in private somewhere. “He who sees in secret shall reward thee openly.” Three times he says that, Matthew 6. The battles are won on our knees, with someone seeking the Lord’s grace and mercy.

Look over, if you will, in Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, real quickly here. Matthew 7 and verse number 11. There’s a parallel verse to this over in Luke about asking for the Holy Spirit, but here in Matthew 7, verse number 11, I want you to see it here real quickly tonight. Matthew 7, verse number 11: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that…” What? Let’s make two words: “Ask him.” Ask him. Why? Like some good things in my life? Ask him. I wonder how many things I will not get simply because I do not ask him.

John Rice used to talk a lot about when you go to heaven one day. He would say this isn’t necessarily exactly biblical, but you’re going to go to heaven one day, there’s going to be warehouses with your name on it. And you’re going to say, “Hey, what’s that warehouse over there with my name on it?” And Peter, whoever may be, says, “Hey, that’s the things God wanted to give you that you didn’t ask for.” And you get things—the Bible says, “Ask.”

Friend, how much have you and I been asking? God gives or not gives, simply because the Bible right there says, “Ask.” God knows what good things you really need and not. He knows what’s truly good for you. It says “good things” there in Matthew 7:11. He knows. By the way, your dad, just like a dad and a little boy—the little boy wants to, you know, we want sugar, amen? Come on now. I’ve got sweet teeth, not sweet tooth, man. I got them all over the place, you know. And boy, he wants everything that’s sweet, and Dad says, “You’ve had enough.” God knows what’s good and what’s not good for us. And God says he gives good things to them that ask. How much have we been asking here lately? How much have we been asking here, ladies? God gives good things to them that ask.

So key. When we started the church years ago, there was a man, a very wealthy man, that gave money to someone, and part of that was shuffled over to us. They helped fund the start of this church—a very wealthy man, Russell Anderson, so we might know him, and he’s in heaven now. We were traveling to my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Michigan, trying to get to their house to go to church with them, but there was a little bit of a snowstorm, and we weren’t going to make it there. So we stopped at the church he went to, and we didn’t know it. He said he had never asked a preacher over the years to preach. He was a millionaire, multi-millionaire; he’s in heaven now. He had been sued and had won. He told the Lord, “Lord, if you help me win this, I’ll tell everybody about it.” Right after he won, the preacher said, “Hey, ask me again, would you preach?” And he said he felt like the Lord had made a deal, so he said, “I’m preaching.” He never preached, but he did. And we just happened to be there.

It was very interesting because he had funded some of the start of our church. When he was preaching, he talked a lot about his prayer life. He’d be up sometimes 3 or 4 a.m. praying, typically in the morning. He had a stack of college-lined notebooks. Now, I don’t want you—if the teacher back in the day before computers and all that, they wanted, you know, a three-page paper, I didn’t get the college-lined ones. I wanted those big, fat-lined ones. Amy and I won’t have to put many words. Come on now. All right, I’ll tell you, I did the same thing, you know. Nowadays we have computers, you know, and they have an inch and a half space between lines, two inches, four inches between lines. I mean, that’s why you do it nowadays.

But man, they had a stack of college-lined, those spiral notebooks, you know. And he said, “These are all answers to prayer.” He said, “Everybody wants to know how I got my money. It started off hanging drywall. How did you get all that money?” And he said, basically, “That right there is how I got it: asking.” Up every morning, 3 or 4 a.m., asking. It’s a good thing for him; he used millions of it to help preachers and missionaries around the world, literally. It’s a good thing for him. But he said, “I got all these good things, not by me being intelligent and all the rest of it.” He worked hard, but not all that. No, no. A lot of other people work really, really hard and never get anywhere. He said, out of his own mouth, “This is how I got it right here: just ask you, every morning up early, ask you.” Yeah, yeah. He gives good things to them that ask.

The mind of God. It’s amazing, but the mind of God—God lets us argue with him in prayer. In fact, he invites us to. “Come, let us reason together,” said the Lord. He invites us. That’s when you’re sinful, by the way, over there at Isaiah 59. He invites you to do that. It’s amazing; God does that. He wants you to do that. Moses, God said, “Hey, Moses, that’s your people.” And Moses turned to the Lord, “That’s your people. You brought them out. It was your mighty hand. You made all those promises to Abraham and Isaac.” God lets us do that. Now, I’m not talking about us being disrespectful to God; I’m not talking about that at all. But the Lord records this prayer life and the answers. And Moses says, “Hey, Lord, it’s going to be your reputation on the line. Everybody’s going to say, ‘Well, the Lord brought them out of Egypt just to wipe them out.’” That’s what he prayed. We just read that in Exodus 32.

Oh, friend, the classic of all that is Joseph wrestling with the angel, which I believe was Jesus Christ, the Old Testament appearance of it. And he allowed—it’s interesting—he wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night long. And in the morning time, the angel just touched the hollow of his thigh. That’s the sinew of the thigh; that’s about the strongest part of a man’s body. They say it’s so strong, so hard to pull that out of joint; you kind of have to hook a truck to each end of the body to pull it and get that right there. That’s just a tough one they say; that’s very hard to be pulled out. And God said, “Look, I can just touch you, just barely touch you, and you’ll walk with a limp for the rest of your life.” That’s how powerful God is. But God says, “I’ll let you wrestle with me all that long.”

God invites you and I in our prayer life. Hey, how much have you been wrestling with God in prayer about that issue in your life? About that situation, about that burden, maybe about that financial matter, maybe about that wayward child or grandchild? How much have we been wrestling with God about these issues in our lives? God wants us; he invites us to that. He opens it up; he gives us examples here of where God changed His mind about what he was going to do. Friend, he did that so you could read this tonight, and he wants you—he invites you—hey, he gives good things to them that ask him.

Now let me say this: you pray, and either one of two things happens. Either one, as Paul, when he—remember Paul, he prayed three times, “Lord, remove this thorn of the flesh.” I don’t think that was just three little, “Well, take this away.” No, I think it was three seasons of prayer. Maybe three times they were so burdened about it. Maybe he fasted all those times. He had sought the Lord about this and spent time with God in prayer about this, and three times. And then God came and said, “Hey, Paul, I’ve got a better plan. My grace is sufficient for thee.” And he said, “No, my strength is made perfect in weakness.” And God has a better plan. I don’t want you to get all puffed up through the bunch of revelation. And God said, “Hey, this thing needs to be in your life so the power of Christ can rest upon you.” And you know what Paul did? Paul said, “Hey, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities.”

Now here’s what I’m getting at: you pray, and either God changes your heart, or Paul had to change his heart. Paul said, “Lord, you’ve got to take this thing away; it’s killing me.” And the Lord said, “No, no, no, I’ve got a better plan.” And so Paul’s heart was changing. He said, “I’ll take glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” So you pray, and either God changes your heart about the matter, or God answers that prayer. But don’t you stop till then. You keep asking, you keep seeking God, you keep begging God. It may be God comes back and gives you peace.

There was our former president for a while. Brother Adam gave me a good message about a preacher who had preached about praying for your president. I had kind of been ritualistic, but I got burdened about that. For maybe three or four or five months, I was really burdened to pray for Joe Biden’s salvation, and I mean sincerely. I think God was working in his heart. But I’ll be honest with you—I’ll be perfectly honest with you—I should say, I try to be honest with you all the time, but I’ll be open with you. Three or four months of that, I felt like God said, “All right, Paul, I still prayed for him as president, but I felt like God said, ‘Hey, you did what I wanted. My heart was changed. I had peace about it. I did what God wanted.’” And sometimes in prayer, God does that. See? But you keep praying for what it is: either God changes your heart or God answers that prayer. Keep praying about that. Keep seeking God. Wrestle with God in that thing of prayer. Sometimes it may take years, but you just keep praying.

You know the Bible says, “Hey, we’re co-laborers with Christ.” Maybe the greatest place you get to work with God is in the prayer closet. Jesus gives you the right to come boldly. You enter in, and you come by the way of the cross, and you come to the Lord, and you start seeking God over that.

Here’s the interesting thing: God didn’t have to tell Moses what he was going to do. You read that over in Exodus 32. God could have just—he just said, “I have a plan, I’m going to do it, and boom, I’m going to wipe them out.” But God told Moses what he was going to do. It’s kind of like God was giving Moses an open invitation: “Hey, Moses, this is what I’m going to do. I know your heart. I know what you want. But I’m going to give you an opportunity to seek me in prayer about this thing.” Amen. God does the same to you.

Now, what is God—what is God kind of giving you a little light on this situation? Maybe God’s burdened you to pray about something. God went to Moses and told him, “Moses, I’m about to do this.” He gave him an opportunity. God, he could have just wiped out Nineveh; they deserved it. I mean, they were the pre-Bill Johan seniors, so you know they deserved it. No, I’m joking. Brother Johan is a wonderful people. But he told them. He gave them the opportunity to get right and seek the Lord. And he does the same to us. He gives you the opportunity. He reveals sometimes, even in your heart, what he is working on; he invites you to work on that also. It’s an amazing thing.

I’m talking about Jacob wrestling with an angel of the Lord all night. Let me just read a little passage about that, Genesis 32:24: “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” I mean, it just seems like God said, “I’m going to show up over there and give you an opportunity to seek me on this.” And God does the same with you. He gives you an opportunity to come and wrestle—I mean, little peons wrestling with Almighty God. God lets us do that.

Hey, how much are you truly praying for America? I think the great victories we’ve had in the White House and D.C.—we’ve still got a lot of issues, but it’s a whole lot better than it was about a year ago, friend, amen? I think those victories came because God’s people prayed. I believe that. Not this election, the election before, when we had that—remember I had that 24 hours someone was on these altars praying? I mean, all day long, all night long. I came in the middle of the night—I don’t know, three, three or four, I don’t know what time it was—in the middle of the night when I came here, someone was on their knees. We had it all signed up. A man, you know, it had to be a man after 9 or 10 o’clock, early morning. I can’t remember; the ladies did so much before that, you know, but in the middle of the night, it was me, and I came in the middle of the night as a man here praying. I got beside him and started praying and prayed for however long I was supposed to. When I left, there was a man right beside me on his knee, 24 hours. And I remember thinking, I felt like God heard our prayers. Lord’s heard our prayers. And pray for God’s people praying. And boy, that election—boy, that election went south for sure. Got cheated. And I said, “Lord, what happened?” Four years later, I think God almost seems like God said, “Hey, I heard your prayers. The timing wasn’t in your time, but I heard it. Had a little bit more people’s minds and a little more revelation to be done, but I heard those prayers.”

Hey, all these victories—God’s people prayed. Are you truly sincerely praying for America? I mean, God, he invites us to. This was the nation Moses was praying for. God changed what was going to happen to that nation—three million Jews, two and a half, two million Jews—because one man prayed, Moses. God said, “I won’t do it. I won’t bring my judgment on them.” Are you praying? I don’t know what it might be for you. Maybe a health situation. Are you praying about it? God invites—God allows us sometimes—amazing. He allows us to change His mind. It’s amazing, but he does. That’s what a loving dad does sometimes.

Have you ever had something you wanted to give to your kids, especially when they’re little? I mean, you want to give it to them, but you kind of hold out on that, and you’re just waiting for them to come ask? Or maybe, Dad or Mom, you come home, and you’ve already got those special treats for them, and you’re going to give it to them if they ask. And boy, there’s just something about that coming: “Mom, Dad,” and they start asking about it. And man, you’ve been waiting for them to come ask. You know, Brother Frankie always had that candy for the kids, you know. And he said it bothered him; he didn’t have candy for them last Sunday. Some of them came to him, you know. But he liked it when the kids came and asked for it. And God likes it when we come. He invites us to come.

Hey, what is it? What is it in your life? Maybe it’s your ministry you’re involved in. Maybe it’s your finances—I’m not sure. As a church, fan of all the building and groundbreaking and all that, are we proud? Are we asking? Yeah. It’s an amazing thing, but God Almighty, the Bible says it clear as day, and he repented of the evil he was going to do, and he did it not. Wow. Hey, friend, you have power in prayer that Almighty God gives to you. Are we using it?

Let you bow your heads and close your eyes, please. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Maybe there tonight you say, “You know, I’ve kind of been going through the motions of prayer. Maybe I’ve been doing it just to kind of check off, ‘Well, I had my prayer time.’” You say, “I want to start praying for real. I want to start claiming those promises.” God spoke to my heart. I want to start truly seeking God and His moving through my prayer life." God spoke to my heart about that. If that’s you tonight, you slip up your hand: “Preacher, God spoke to my heart about that.”

Maybe you’re here tonight. You say, “I have something in mind. I believe the Lord wants me to be going to him in prayer, earnestly believing. I know what it is. The Holy Spirit has already put it on my mind.” Maybe it’s a person. Maybe it’s a certain subject. Maybe it’s an issue in your life. There’s something you say, “I know God’s already leading me, and I’m going to be praying about that situation.” That’s you tonight. There’s a certain issue; I’m going to start seeking God on that.

You used to hear this term more than you do now, and he’s “praying through.” Anybody ever heard that term, “praying through”? And sometimes the older folks say, “Well, I prayed through on that one.” And it’s like you’re praying about something, and God just in the prayer closet, he gives you confirmation: “I’m going to do that.” Boy, you leave that prayer closet, and you’re like, “It’s done.” You know, it hasn’t happened yet, but you’re like, “It’s going to happen.” God does that. Just sometimes you’re praying through. And boy, the Holy Spirit, he’s your prayer partner. He can give you confirmation. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. Don’t worry about who does whatever. It’s going to—God said it, and God says it’s going to happen. And praying through—it’s amazing. God changes things because of your prayer. What an amazing, amazing thing.

Good to have everyone here tonight. Glad to have you in the house of the Lord. Praise the Lord for your faithfulness. Good to have guests. This is the guest side. We’ve got Teresa and Audrey; this is their last service with us for a while until they move back down to Tennessee. And then the youth department, I hope y’all have a great, great youth conference. That’s awesome. Glad you’re going there. It’s great. And how many in the church say you’ll pray for the young folks this week? Good, good. By the way, that reminds me, we’ve got junior camp this week also. Pray for the juniors going to camp, and I pray that God will bless that. And then Brian and Becky from Virginia. Amen. Amen. What a good reminder of how important prayer is. Let’s pray about those things. Honored to have them with us. Good to see everybody. Been a good, good weekend. Been a busy weekend—team trip and weddings and all those things going on. But praise the Lord, it was a good, good weekend. I appreciate all God’s people making it out. What a blessing. Let’s pray for that. Let’s pray for this youth group in Illinois. Praise the Lord, a good group of young people. It’s awesome. I hope you have a great week. God speaks to your heart. Let’s pray for this church and their teens there. Then our juniors. Let’s pray for all three of those. Don’t forget Franklin and Wanda, especially this week. You pray for them, would you please? Let’s get brothers Bill senior since they gave them a hard time tonight. Johan’s junior and senior. They’re awesome. Both of them are.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - ＂Changing God’s Mind＂ Sunday PM 06⧸22⧸2025 [LX9Mc5r8DR0]