It's a five-peat line.
Okay.
Ready?
And.
Okay.
Ready?
And.
Alright, alright, alright, it's Tuesday night, so we're going to do things a little bit differently tonight.
And that is I'm going to open this fair now, and then Ari is going to come and meet us in the Bible book game that we learned at, if you can this year, kind of an internet peon going around.
Alright, so let's pray first. Pray with us.
Father in heaven, we do praise you for the many good gifts that you've given us. You certainly deserve it. You are the only truly good Father, even as much as we as men might try to be good dads.
You are the one example that shines above all. You are the instiller of justice. I mean, you know what's right, you show what's right, you do right, and you enforce it.
And we are grateful that we have a dad like that, a father, a heavenly father like that. We want to be part of your family.
Lord, even as we come together and sing this next couple of songs, we play this game that we're about to play, the kids go to their lesson, their game time.
We'll pray that all that goes on in this house, in this building that you've left us with, with this room and the other rooms and the playground.
But that first building we were in didn't have playground. Didn't have much of anything, really. And we're grateful.
And Lord, you've given us and given us and given us. And we're so grateful.
So we ask you to take over now, lead us, heal us, because we've got a lot of thickets in our midst.
Some of us are feeling a lot better. I'm grateful for that. But there's still a long road for some of us.
So we pray that maybe you turn that long road into a very short road.
And we're actually healing in something that you can easily do, and we trust you for it.
We pray also Lord that you'll bless our families that are not here with us. Some are traveling, some are sick, some are hurting.
Some of there's kids in the room, and mom and dad didn't come along today. We pray you'll bless them all.
I'm going to do it just the way you know how. So I pray all this in Jesus' name.
Thank you.
Alright, RJ, you're up.
Okay.
Alright. So real quick, I'm going to explain the rules. They're super, they're super simple.
So the rules are, I say a letter, then you say a book of the Bible that begins with that letter.
That simple.
Two teams. Who wants to be on?
Raise your hand if you want to play.
Jason, Caleb. Jason over here, Caleb over here.
Can I have a question?
What?
If it has a button on it like, so it's just...
Just ignore the numbers.
Just ignore the numbers. Just ignore the numbers.
This one?
You want to play?
Yeah.
Over here. Zane, over here.
Yeah.
Kaylee.
Kaylee, over here.
Zane, over here.
Tell them we can get over here.
Woo!
What's up?
Zane, please.
I'll get one more.
Charlie and Chris.
I'll let you guys, you can play.
Charlie.
Chris.
Chris, you're going to be over here?
Okay.
Charlie, you're going to be over here.
Okay.
Jason versus Caleb, whoever says the book first gets a point for their team.
Yep.
And it's all about who does it the quickest.
Last time we did this, Jason and one kid said like three or four books exactly the same.
It was five.
Exactly the same.
It was five.
It was hilarious.
It was like three or four.
It was hilarious.
It was it.
All right.
You're ready.
N.
Not even.
Nope.
No.
I'm saving.
And N.
Ten seconds.
Yep.
One point over here.
All right.
Arianna.
You said N, but I said numbers.
I forgot about numbers.
Ready, Z?
Ready?
Pay attention.
G.
There you go.
This isn't fair.
I'll give you an easy one.
R.
Romans?
Yep.
Yay.
Two to one.
It's five.
S.
Yay.
Do two.
D.
Duality.
D.
Durality.
A.
S.
Good job.
I'm coming back.
H.
Hosea.
Three to four.
For the game, Chris, you win this, you win for your team.
L.
A little bit of guess.
Yes.
Four to four.
Oh, boy.
That's it.
Back to the beginning.
The winner is?
M.
Mock.
There it is.
We will play again, but not today.
With that being said, I encourage you to study the Bible, know the books at least.
Yep.
I'm going to read it for you.
So once you can see it, you'll realize it's a very ambitious worksheet.
So I'm trying something I've never done before.
the vision but I drew it to start with. So this is as you might have guessed
the summary or the recap of the entire ten locks of prayer. So this is what's
going to happen. We're going to start at the middle bottom of the maze where you
see the lock and it says number one. Okay and it is currently locking the door of
the maze. Alright so we're going to start there. We're going to name the lock and
then we're going to name the key that opens the lock before we can go on. Okay
so those of you who have your binders if we need help we'll be counting on you to
go back and look. Here's the trick. The order of the locks is scrambled. Random
randomized. Okay so they will not be quite that easy. So like for
example the first one we're going to read is not necessarily the first lock
that we covered on your worksheets. Okay so you're if you're accessing your
worksheets to get the full amount full thing. Do you have one of these?
Okay we've got one left so after that hit the copier. God willing there's
somebody on their way. Alright so here we go. So the very first lock locking the
door of the maze. This is the easy one if you will. It says on the left hand side
under the number one it says prayers not and it starts with a P and the answer is
prayed. Very good. Okay so remember these locks all ten of them are times when God
does not hear your prayers and so obviously if you do not pray them God
does not hear them. So that was the easy one. Okay so over on the right we need
the key to actually get in the maze and the key is what? Two words and I didn't
give you any letters. Most of the other ones have the letters so it's a little
easier but if it's prayers not prayed if that's the lock what's the key? It's much
shorter than that. We you can look in your binder it'll be there I guarantee
it. It is two words. Two words with each has three letters. There you go
there's your clue. Okay so if you're in Sunday school and they ask the question
the Sunday school answers are always God, Jesus, Bible. Which one of those has three
letters? God. Okay so the second word is God and the first word is has three
letters. You have not because you ask not. Remember this lock now? Ask God. Okay so
we've got the lock open and we're into the maze. Okay this is where it starts
getting a little tricky because I'm going to give you directions. I'm gonna
try anyway I don't know I've not rehearsed this or anything. I'm gonna try to
give you directions on how to get through the maze so that we can make it
we can actually make it through. Okay so you're gonna go straight forward in the
maze until you hit the first right turn. Okay so the first right turn you're
gonna turn right and then the first right turn you're gonna turn right again
and then turn right again. What? Well you can get places but we're not trying to
get to four right yeah we're trying to get to two. Yep so it was a first right
then a right then a right so you're going back on yourself then a left down
toward the gate and then a diagonal out to the left along the top of the gate
and then turn diagonal right towards so you're right at the bottom of the maze
now then you're gonna turn left and then left again and you should be at lock two.
Everybody got it? So it was straight into the maze turn right turn right again turn
right again then turn left and you can't right in there you can't do anything
but follow the line all the way to number two. Everybody got it? Okay the big
number one at the bottom middle okay yep and that's the door okay and then from
the door it's straight forward to the first right then right and right left
follow that line around to the two see it now
it's only gonna get harder I know that's comforting yes we're gonna do all ten
locks I have it I have it yes I have I have the answers filled in on my paper
and I have the route so I'm guiding you yes well I made the maze too so you know
there's that took me over two hours okay so we're at lock number two yep good
okay and so lock number two remember these are scrambled was pray while
blank blank blank and you don't have letters three words but one of them is a
short word in the middle so you run into a lock if you pray while blank blank
blank everybody got it okay that is one but it's not this one try again you'll
get it got the right idea the other one that has three words
but if you look down if you look down I gave you the letters for M and S and
mistreating and spouse number eight yeah yeah okay so we're in number we're doing
number two praying while blank blank blank after this you start getting
letters so it does get a little easier
if we need more still we got me copies I have a an original we can make copies
of nope mistreating your spouse comes later it's actually number eight you
want to fill it in now you can't know we'll know when we get there but
we're on number two and they are scrambled so they're not in order nope
okay so it's praying while ignoring the poor oh you would have found it I gave
it to you too soon too soon praying while ignoring the poor okay and so if
that's the lock what's the key be blank toward those blank
yep be compassionate toward those that's one word that'd be kind of weird be
compassionate toward those needy I guess you could do that yeah it's those
hurting remember when we looked at the word needy or poor we found that it had
a lot of biblical definitions so it's anybody that's hurting in any way with
their financially hurting they're sick they're emotionally struggling whatever
you want to be compassionate toward the and that's what the less fortunate
actually does fit there although I'm a little bit allergic to that word
because to say someone is less fortunate means they got less money or less
positive things in life okay so we made it past lock number two okay we're gonna
go up to the first right to pass lock number two you're going through the lock
to the first right you're going to turn right and you're going to go straight
past all those lefts so you're going straight past four less until you can
turn right and it's a dead end if you don't turn right so you're going to
turn right at the dead end okay you see it are we okay so there's one two three
four laughs you're passing and you're taking the third right one two three
rights taking the third right and it's just a little bit you go down a little
bit or as in gaming terms you go down about 20 feet and then you're gonna take
a left which is the only way you can go I'm gonna explain that in a second our
day okay and then when you get to the dead end you turn right then turn right
again and turn left you should be at the bottom corner turn left to go to the
very bottom corner over over over right here you're going to this little corner
like that everybody there work together as a group you can and I've got I already
said I'm going to talk about that in a second okay so just focus on what you're
doing is everybody got that corner we're down the corner and then you're gonna go
up straight up and you're gonna turn left which is the only thing you can do
and you're gonna turn left again which is the only thing you do and you're gonna
turn right again which is the only thing you can do and you're gonna turn right
to number three okay now there are two ways to get to lock number three so you
did I gave you one okay there is another way and that's kind of a hint okay so
the the lock is praying with a the word starts with an F heart faithless go
ahead faith faithless faith less heart
I didn't miss that was pretty good throw okay all right so now before we hit
before we get the key how would a Christian play pray with a faithless
heart how would that be possible okay so I believe God saved me I'm living for
the Lord I believe God made these promises but I'm doubting he's going to
keep his promises right remember when the Bible and James writes he says that
he who doubt shouldn't think he has anything that's written to Christians
okay and so it's pretty possible for our Christian to be have a faithless heart
right now a non-Christian you would kind of expect that faithless heart or they
might be putting their faith in something that's not God right it's we
always put our faith in something so but this is talking about a faith in God
all right and so then number three the key is so the first one is something
something God and the second one is something something that's perfect
believe God and believe in God it's believe in God I'm getting better at
this
she'll get there gotta sit in the back row okay okay all right so we're leaving
three out the top so you're gonna go straight across to go out the top of
three because you can one is not believing in God that's not being saved
that'd be like a lost person the other would be not believing God which is a
Christian who's not who's in doubt or not faithful toward God so whether it's
not whether it's saved or not okay so if you're gonna go straight across three
and you're gonna take the first left and then you're gonna take the first left
again so it's left then left and then you're gonna go down and take the first
available right so you're going out yep so you're gonna go on all the way across
under the cell phone until it ends and then you're gonna take a right so you're
going all the way across don't go in by the cell phone and don't take any less
go all the way across and take a right okay and then when you get to that t
intersection where you could go right toward the cell phone you don't want to
do that instead you're gonna go left all the way to the end don't take that right
go all the way to the end and then take a right and that should take you up to
four see it so now you're at four we're working together as a team and we're
almost halfway I believe this might actually work okay so we should be at
four is everyone at four if you need help somebody get somebody help you
nearby whatever okay Larry you got it are you okay no he doesn't have you don't
have your glasses do you okay good luck I can't do it without my glasses either
brother okay all right so we're at four and the lock is praying from an no not
unclean nope not unforgiven
nope not unfair you got does yours have a little NR next to it okay so you've
got the first three letters of the word on unrepentant right it's unrepentant
okay so I accidentally put the little NR there and I thought well it might be
kind of a hard once I left it there okay so praying and from an unrepentant heart
okay turn it off okay and so now what is the key to lock number four do not
blank and the second word starts with an S the second word is sin do not blank
sin and there's a couple of different words that can actually go there but we
used one at the time when we studied it
yeah don't know which day well you got it if you got the answers then you you
they're not numbered these are random order so it wouldn't the numbers
wouldn't help you anyway you're supposed to learn the material that's the point
the goal is to learn the material not just be able to regurgitate what's
written on the paper so if I if I have an unrepentant heart I could open that
lock by not blanking sin not what sin come on Arden you got this I don't think
you need it I think you do it anyway a person with an unrepentant heart does
what to sin say it again okay you got not ignoring sin what nope okay you do
allow the word we used on that day was to cherish okay so remember your heart
is like your value center and so if you have an unrepentant heart you cherish
sin in fact there's a verse that we read that said I think it's from David where
he says if I cherished he said if I had cherished my sin let me find it okay
here if I had cherished sin in my heart the Lord would not have listened so 68
66 I'm sorry 66 18 yes the word is cherish yeah so yeah if it's if you
cherish sin in your heart God's not gonna listen to your prayers that's
that's so then don't cherish sin in your heart the lock is open now you can pray
and gobble here unless there's something else all right so we're going past for
then but with that lock open and it just goes a little way and you're forced to
turn left okay don't take that right don't take that left don't take the next
right go down so that you're at the corner of that cookie cutter shape and
then turn right there toward the clock so you went straight up about an inch and
a half maybe inch and quarter and then you're turning right at the bottom
corner of the cookie cutter toward the clock and then you're gonna go turn left
and follow up along the clock and then you're gonna go up on a 45 degree angle
all the way to the dead end so skip that left skip that right and then turn right
at the dead end what you got yeah could be anything yeah okay not if you cut
them I'm sure you guys will stay up late one night debating that okay anyway so
we're turning right we were turning right and we're going down if you go
down just far enough and turn left you'll go straight into the five you see
it go straight down there turn left go right into the five and we're in lock
number five okay so lock number five is praying with a blank heart and it starts
with an L lustful yes somebody's got no are you okay because if you're okay it's
funny all right okay so praying with with a lustful heart was the lock okay
and then we need a key for the lock and it is love God word starts with an F
word starts with an M word starts with an A these may not be the exact word we
used in the lesson so I might make it even harder
think simpler but yeah it's focused but it's it's I came up with no I mean that's
not what I had but you could put focus there but we're gonna love God how three
words say it again yes but that won't necessarily solve I mean I guess it kind
of would solve a lot of lustful hurt probably yeah probably okay so it's
first then with M most and always first most and always okay love God first most
and always and that solves the problem of a lustful heart so remember a lustful
heart that's the one where it said first it says you you have not because you ask
not and then he says you ask and do not receive because you asked with wrong
motives that you may spend it on your pleasures and then 30 that's all 374
says delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart
so the key is God first most and always okay and that was five we're halfway
exactly okay so we're gonna go past five and we're gonna take the first left
turning towards the top of the page up there on a kind of a slant it's gonna go
about three-quarters of an inch and you're gonna turn left along the very
top edge of the maze and you're gonna turn the 45 degree left toward number
six everybody got it we are in number six oh we need some monsters and some
adventures and we could have us a real dungeon crawl I did work on this map a
long time maybe I'll reuse it okay did everybody get six are we good okay so
six the lock praying for what praying for show nailed it okay that was one of
the first ones we did if you're praying to be seen your prayers will not reach
the Lord so say it the word okay the the the key is a little tricky but we
definitely talked about it at length when we covered this one prayer as an
blank yes that's right or ongoing or continued conversation perfect so when
you're praying to God rather than just praying what you think people want you
to pray what people are gonna think a certain way of you if you pray like that
it should be a continued conversation you should already been talking to him
previously and if you continue talking to God all the time then your prayers
will not be just for show okay so we're passing through number six going
straight out the opposite side of the way we came in and then we were forced
to turn right and lo and behold we're at number seven already that was an easy
one it was just boom boom there you are number seven okay number seven is
praying blank perfect praying rip repetitive empty or extraneous words
empty is that meets my simple mind okay and so if the lock is if we pray to God
just repeating over and over praying empty words or extraneous words to him
if that's the lock the key is praying blank and blank simply and honestly
simply and honestly very good this is going remarkably better than I had
hoped even okay pass number seven what
yeah if there's a line across you can't go that way no there's no cross on line
okay not if you go from nine or is it seven you go straight to the left from
seven and you're gonna take the first left and you're heading down to where it
says prayer life and you're gonna kind of take a right curve and then a left
curve and it goes between the P and the R and follow that down do not go out to
the right continue don't take any of those rights until you reach number eight
everybody got it we are we went between the P and the R and then we curved a
rock kind of like a lazy left curve around to number eight okay and somebody
we already have this one don't we yes praying while mistreating your spouse
the key is a little bit trickier everybody ready so the key to number eight
is treat your blank and blank blank well and the first blank is P the next blank
is F and the last blank is S the S is spouse that is good okay so the S before
well is spouse yes the F is future and the P is present so you treat your
present and future spouse well if you treat your present and future spouse
well then you will your prayers will not be blocked for mistreating your spouse
remember we talked about how you maybe a young person or a single adult or
whatever you haven't married yet and so that lock doesn't really apply to you
but it actually does because what you're doing anything you're doing right now in
your life can affect what happens with your spouse in the future and so you're
treating your future spouse poorly if you're not taking good care of yourself
living for the Lord making good decisions and so on okay and we're gonna
take that right from that perspective it's a right so we came on at eight now
we're going out to the right it's just the way the hallway goes I'm gonna go
straight across and we're gonna turn left take the first left under cash not
the one that goes down toward TV but the first left under the cash okay now we're
gonna go all the way down past the side of the TV and take the right it's a 45
degree right and then a 45 degree left don't get distracted by a broken heart
okay you should be at the very bottom of the maze and then you're gonna take a
right along the bottom of the maze and take a right up to number nine did we
get it whether that's kind of not too terribly complicated part okay praying
with blank in your blank towards someone bitterness in your heart towards someone
very good she doesn't even try to catch it she just dodges okay and if number
nine the lock is praying with bitterness in your heart towards someone then
number nine the key is to blank all blank starts with an F starts with a T
against you and all P blank transgressions so the F should be easy
forgive yes forgive all transgressions against you and all sorry no it starts
with a P start to the P no not past you have to forgive transgressions and also
start to the P transgressions it's not past say it again no not prior so that
the prior and past would be covered in the first part the forgiving all
transgressions nope not present that would also be covered in the first part
what kind of transgressions would not be covered in the first part okay good
enough it's personal or perceived right so in other words you have an idea that
it hurts you even though maybe it shouldn't have that make sense so you
think you were wrong but the truth is you really weren't wrong like I had a
kid said well he hit me with the ball right well he was just shooting a basket
came down off the basket and hit him and he thought he hit him on purpose or he
said he did whether he actually thought that I don't know but you're just mad
because he got hit so you forgive all transgressions against you and all
perceived transgressions so in other words if you think someone wronged you
your first thing is to forgive it just forgive it and if you have to do it
multiple times over and over and over again to act yes and it's a decision if
you do it multiple times and do it multiple times why because if you don't
you may have bitterness in your heart and that could stop your prayers from
getting to God that's what it says that's what scripture says okay all right
and then by now you've already guessed it if you stay right up that left wall
from nine go all the way up to where it slants a little bit to the right and
then slant a little bit to the left it goes right to ten and ten is praying
without blank blank blank blank yes knowing God through Jesus is exactly
correct and that is it so I scripturally speaking people who do not know Jesus
do not have a promise of heard prayers can God hear those prayers absolutely but
they do not have a promise that God will in fact for what we're about to see they
kind of need Jesus to get it done it is come to God through Jesus that's the key
okay so the key to that is to come to God through Jesus the fact is there are
a lot of ways that people could come to God they're not gonna actually get there
right they're not gonna actually get there because there's a barrier of sin
between us and there they they did a moon mission and they went to the moon
theoretically and landed on the moon and did some stuff while they were there and
all that happened and then after that there was a barrier that's been detected
between the earth and the moon and other scientists asked him and said well how
did you get to the moon if that barrier was there and they said well we didn't
know it was there so we just went through it we didn't know it was there
now whatever the science is right the point is this when a person tries to get
to God and their sin is not dealt with that sin creates a barrier between them
and God right so I say God help me on this test and they may be praying in
faith of some kind of faith thinking well only God can help me on this test
or whatever but the truth is if that barrier persists if it's blocking them
then they can't go to God they can't like you or I if you're here and you're a
saved Christian you can literally walk into the throne room of God with your
prayers when you're praying you can you can sit there picture the door opening
and you're literally walking into the throne room of God with God there Jesus
as that is right hand and they're hearing your prayers a lost person would
have it they would be destroyed instantly right they if they thought that
was actually happening they'd be in huge trouble and so Jesus is the way to God
John 14 6 I'm the way the truth and life no one cometh unto the Father but by me
that does not only mean physically comes when you die it also means your prayers
right so it's a problem if you don't know God so repent know God follow Jesus
trust and know him as Lord and Lord is a person who tells you what to do and you
do it a Savior is a person who pays for your sin and Jesus did that now real
quick before we're done so we and we have just we have the time okay notice
that there are a lot of other stopping places in the maze right and so the first
key was prayers not prayed but there's a lot of other people praying right there
Muslim people praying they're probably many of them are praying by more than a
lot of Christians pray right Buddhists pray all kinds of people pray right but
they don't have an idea of who God is to know who they're really praying to so
there is a question as to whether they're asking God or they're asking
someone else right but let's say you manage to ask God and get in this maze
you're talking to God like the lady the Indian lady who was running from the
tsunami and she knew that Allah wasn't gonna save her because she knew who Allah
is or she who she thought Allah was or how people think Allah is but she heard
the Christian God might save her and so she cried out to the Christian God the
Christian God told her to run to the church instead of running to the temple
and when the tsunami hit the ground of the temple flooded even though it was
higher ground it flooded and everybody that ran there for safety died but
everybody went to the Christian Church even though the Christian Church building
was on lower ground everybody that ran there was spared and she went and told
everybody that the Christian God saves right and so you can you can not really
know what you're doing but truth would call out in faith to God and wind up on
the board you can get in there right and then you might say oh my goodness you
know I cherished sin in my heart like I still want to do these things that I
know I shouldn't do and then you're saying well why does God not listening
to me why doesn't he listen to my prayers why aren't there miracles
happening you know why why doesn't God intervene if things are tough I want God
to do things and if you work down this list and you go oh well gosh I'm
cherishing sin in my heart I'm still doing things I know I'm not putting God
first right because you're into food or because you're into your phone or
because you're too busy or because you're watching TV or because you're all
about making the buck and so you're not putting God first or most or always then
that's another lock you might find that there are three or four ways the
scriptures telling you that you could pray to God and your prayers are not
reaching him it's not that God's willingly willfully saying I don't like
you or I don't want to answer your prayers but biblically speaking the
Bible says if you have one of those locks in place then when you pray to God
your prayers are not reaching him right just like David said if I cherished sin
in my heart my my prayers would not reach God as that's it and so we we have
to realize that there are situations does everybody need money I mean not
exactly but pretty much right you gotta have paid bills houses take care you
gotta have now could you live off the grid and you know farm somewhere and
sometimes speck of land in the back of the Amazon or something maybe you know
or something like that but or could could you have somebody like a sugar
daddy's taking care of all your bills as you never just kind of worry about that
anymore yeah maybe but probably you need money but but never first or most never
displacing God in your thoughts and we got food and we've got money or your
sports and we got TV we got cars and we got all of these things you could go
there and go like you know God what I really need you know and then get wrapped
up in the things of this life but guess who made food and cars and sports and
cash and TV God made everything and so the greatest idolatry has been the
history of God's people the Israelites what did they do they got into worshiping
the creation rather than the Creator and we can't do that we have to be very aware
that God has set the parameters and God is ready for you to have a prayer life
that bears fruit but God's got to be first and most and always and you can't
cherish sin and you can't despise your spouse and you can't have you can't have
unforgiveness or bitterness in the way you've got to say okay I'm a child of
God he's my my dad my father I love him I'm one of the family and no matter what
I go through he's always going to be my go-to guy you know we're talking about
this I was talking about this with one brother this week and it's like if you
if you will let any of these things or any of a million other things because
that's an infinite there's a word it's called a permutation it means minor
changes right there's infinite permutations of every distraction of
every health issue of every financial issue of every need for a car or a
transportation or whatever the infinite permutation so if there's any way that
the enemy the devil can get you focused on that rather than on God boom just
like that you're praying and God's not hearing it you think that's not what he
wants to do that's exactly what he wants to do so we practice our spiritual
disciplines so we pray so we study the Bible so we know this right if you will
memorize this list the next time and I'm the truth is this list could probably be
longer right I think it's pretty thorough I didn't make the list I give
credit to the Kendrick Brothers and for this because this came out of their
book that came out of the movie war room right it's not my list I didn't make
this list and every one of those you'll notice it says that on the bottom of
your page it doesn't say it on here but but I did when I posted it on Facebook
but anyway the point is if you would go down this list but I don't feel like
God's answering my prayers I don't think God's hearing me and you go down this
list and find yourself identify yourself with one of these locks then you know
exactly what to do now am I saying that work solves everything like okay no
because repentance is not really a work there are works that accompany repentance
right so the guys that were repenting with John the Baptist he said now go and
do works that accompany repentance and so if you're not doing the works that
accompany repentance you're probably not repenting right so you need to do the
things that God's calling you to do and don't do the things that God's calling
you not to do right and the world the world will make every excuse and the
enemy has polished them they'll hand them over here it is here's your excuse
today here's the one for you right and the demons that use are right there
give you the excuse that you need so that you will put you personally they
won't do it for you they don't have to do it you personally will put the lock in
place you'll shut it yourself so I'm saying and they want you to do that
because you're the child of God you're the one who knows who God is but we've
got that all this idea of like we need a little bit more money so we don't want
to tithe we don't want to give we don't want to donate we don't want to give
backpacks for kids or whatever you know we don't a little bit of money is too
much money and a lot of money is way too much money but the truth is a lot of
money is not too much money it's not because there's nothing that there's no
amount of money you could give that's gonna buy what God's given you for free
and then we talk about TV so I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands but I'll
guarantee if we went around this room most of us have watched TV every day
this week more than we have prayed more than we've read our Bible half the room
is probably watched TV more this week than then served and those are all like
the basics of what it means to be a Christian now you can you can do some
things while you watch TV like you can control so you don't you don't watch things
that you shouldn't be watching so you're avoiding having an unrepentant heart and
so on you put God first you choose movies and programs that honor God you
can do that and that removes certain locks out of the way but where's the
time blocked out for prayer where's the time blocked out to be in the Bible to
learn these very things part of its right now but after we walk out of here
you've got your worksheets if you were here for every single one but will you
remember the ten locks and the ten keys if not you're gonna have to go back over
again the worksheets posted online in three years from now if you are praying
and you feel like God's not hearing your prayer who's responsible is it God
because God gave us the word and told us what they are what the things that are
stopping the prayer from getting through are and so now that we've studied it it
becomes our responsibility now I was blessed that after I made the blank
sheet and I didn't look at this sheet and I was able to fill in most of the
blanks but not all and I I wrote all the lessons all six of them right and so
what I'm saying to you it's gonna take some work we're gonna have to be willing
to do the work to get where God wants us to be and where is that well let's say
in second Thessalonians 517 pray without ceasing let's have a prayer life let's
continue a conversation with God all the time I have seen people do miracles with
no more effort than it takes to wave away a fly they're talking to God they're
going along talking to God and all of a sudden somebody died not me personally
right all of a sudden somebody does something and they'll just review that
evil spirit or they'll pray for healing in that moment right that they just go
right on with their day it's a prayer yep God please heal that person right
now they go on they may never see that person again but that person got
miraculously healed and I've seen it it happened to Chris Mitchell at camp when we went to
Seneca Lake back in the day she about broke her ankle and they were driving
around in a golf cart and everything and one of the youth leaders that was there
walked over to her prayed for her ankle just like that gone no pain back to
walking around camp and so it just it happens like that if we'll continue
doing the spiritual disciplines and this is our emphasis prayer right you could
do the others you could be serving if your heart is always to serve you're
gonna find so many better ways to serve and service will give you the
opportunity to share the gospel service will give the opportunity to love people
like we're talking about on Sunday mornings right now right and if you don't
you're gonna wind up one of these other things in creation is gonna be important
and you're gonna get stuck and then you're gonna have locks that are closed
and then you're not gonna have an active prayer life that's what's gonna happen
so my word of encouragement is this is just you know it's just doing it in a
fun way but scripture laid these out for us and then the Kendrick brothers picked
them out of scripture and then they picked the keys out right and they gave
them to us and then we were able to study them praise God for it and I would
encourage you to realize I mean it can be overstated to at camp you can they a
number of times talked about how video games are directly related to demons it
comes with demons play video games and you wind up with demons right and not
every video game but certain video games and and so they were saying well you
need to be careful choose wisely or don't do it at all those are your
options that's that's pretty yet harsh that's pretty harsh teaching it's not
unreal right because there are video games that are very simple and if you
play a video game that's very simple and have an unrepentant heart so you're
gonna like oh yeah it's fine I'm beating this girl up in the video game it's just
a video game and I'm beating her up and rubbing her face in the dirt and doing
nasty things to her it's false all fine it's not real yeah it's that's an
unrepentant heart because it's not fine those are not fine images right they
should not be in your head ever and so then you have an unrepentant heart and
there's a lock and so now you pray to God said God be with me help me lead me
guide me give me wisdom help me walk away from this like you could be doing
that and then you're going like well I just want to make better slightly better
choices I want to move my my really nasty video games down to just kind of
sorta nasty and you go to God good God I don't want to have really nasty I just
want to have sorta nasty and guess what happens God doesn't answer because you
have an unrepentant heart and there's a lock in place and so on so I think we're
blessed to have studied it I'm blessed to have studied it I'm gonna learn the
list and the learning and the keys and I will you know I may make myself a little
keychain thing I can carry or whatever I'll do whatever it takes to make sure
that these things are available to me and I would encourage you do the same if
you come up with a good way to do it share it with me and maybe I'll use it
too but realistically speaking if you're praying that seems like God is not
hearing this is where I would start and ask yourself am I doing the things that
God has called me to and then repent and do the things that God has called you to
you and then see if it changes okay let me pray for you pray with you pray along
with me pray for me I need probably more anybody in the room we pray together
and then we'll be done.
Father in heaven it's really kind of amazing in fact I can see how somebody
raised on this planet in the last 60 years or so could definitely think that
Christianity puts forward praying and talking to you and listening to you as
an easy thing to do and they might think like it's just too easy to talk to the
God of the universe that doesn't make any sense I talk and I don't hear
anything back from God or I talk and I don't think God is listening and it
doesn't make any sense to me how he can say how they can say that if we talk to
God God is listening if we talk to God God may talk back to us and they tell us
what to do they convict us of our sin may lead us to true salvation and to
live for him for the rest of our days some of us for another hundred years or
so and that's just I can see how easy it would be for people to dismiss the truth
and the truth is that you loved us so much each one of us before ever we were
born that's a fact before ever we were born you loved each one of us so much
that you sent your son Jesus that you came in the flesh truthfully because
it's got the father got the son God the Holy Spirit and you're all one even
though you're three separate persons came in the flesh and died on a cross to
pay for sins so when I stole that candy when I lied to my mother when my mother
and I lied to my teacher that dozen times that fifty times whatever it was
when we lied to my dad when I lied to my brother when I beat my brother up all of
those things that I did when I was a kid Jesus paid for them all before ever I
knew and they went when I was 25 years old I came to you and I began to realize
that that's what you did how awesome that was and so freeing and then that
brings us to a place where we should be able to pray to you we come into you in
faith and then if after we've come to faith we fail to believe in you fail to
believe what you're doing what you promised we failed to put you first most
than always or we mistreat other people the way your word says we definitely
should not or we put our priorities on other things even cherishing simple
behaviors whatever it only makes sense if I had a brother or a son and he kept
coming to my house asking for more stuff even stealing my stuff taking my stuff
and selling it to pay for the stuff that he wanted pretty soon I'd lock him out
it just makes sense it is easy it's just this easy accepting Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior and following you for the rest of our days and Jesus died to make
that possible I didn't make it possible because I believe a certain thing I
didn't make it possible because it did a certain thing Jesus made it possible
and we praise you for it make us prayer warriors give us a prayer light help us
unlock every lock that lies between us between our prayers and you we pray all
this in Jesus name amen