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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!

TALKING TO GOD IN PRAYER

Introduction

How many of you have one of these in your house? (Hold up a regular phone)

These things are great if you want to call somebody up:

            We might want to call someone and ask them a question about something.

            We might want to call a friend just to carry on a conversation with them.

We might find ourselves in an emergency and need some help and then they really come in handy.

I’ve used one of these things to talk to some of our missionaries on the other side of the world. (Australia, Philippines, Romania, Ivory Coast)

These things can be a bother if you are trying to get some sleep and they ring and wake you up!

            Let me see if I can get hold of my mom in Brunswick, Georgia. (Dial the phone)

            Wait a minute! Something’s wrong! Nothing is happening!

What is the problem? Let’s check down the list. In order to use one of these things several things has to happen:

            I have to have a phone. (Check)

            I have to have phone service through a phone company. (Check)

            I have to have service established and I have to pay the bill. (Check)

            I have to know who I’m calling and how to get in contact with the other person.

            What is that called?    (A PHONE NUMBER!!!) (Check)

            I have to actually dial the number correctly. (Check)

            (What happens if I dial even one number wrong or in the wrong order?)

            WRONG NUMBER!!!

I have to have the phone connected to an outlet that is connected to the phone company!

            (There’s the problem!!!)

            If it is not plugged in it won’t work no matter how hard I try.

I grew up with one of these in the house except for most of the time I grew up ours didn’t have buttons, you had to dial. (Don’t look at me so funny – I’m old, but I’m not that old!)

Now Bro. Munday up here, he probably was around when they had to crank a handle and an operator had to connect you to the other person. (Am I right?)

But in the days we live in now, just about everywhere we go, we see people talking on phones and the phones aren’t plugged in. They’re called CELL PHONES!!!

            We see people driving down the street talking on the phone!

            We see people shopping in stores talking on the phone!

            We hear people in restaurants talking on their phone!

I was watching a ball game on TV the other day and every time they put the camera on the fans, I would see some of them talking on their phones!

I was even attending a meeting a while back where Eric Miller, with Advance America, was giving a speech and while he was speaking, a phone rang and the lady answered it and was talking just about as loud as Eric was. HOW RUDE!

I read about one preacher that brought his cell phone to church one Sunday. During the sermon, he looked around the congregation to see who wasn’t there and then he called them to see why they weren’t at Church!

I thought about doing that. I’ve got most of your numbers in my cell phone. It would be very easy to do. But, I understand that the pastor who did that doesn’t pastor that Church any more so I thought maybe it might not be such a good idea!

Cell phones are handy though, because we can call our friends and family from just about any place we may be.

We gave both our son and daughter one when they began to drive so that in case they broke down and needed help they could call us.

But, you still have to have a connection through a cell phone company (except for 911 calls) and it will also cost you some money. You don’t pay your bill, they cut you off!

You have to have a power source. (Usually either the battery has to be charged or it has to be plugged in to the wall.)

            You have to turn it on. (That’s always helpful!)

            You have to be in a service area where you can get a signal.

            You still have to know who you are calling and have a phone number for them.

            You still have to enter that phone number in correctly.

So what if I want to talk to God?

Do I need a telephone? No as far as I’ve been able to tell, God is not connected with any telephone company. He’s not in the phone book! (He’s not in the White Pages and He’s not in the Yellow Pages!)

Do I need a cell phone? Nope. Again, God doesn’t have one and doesn’t need one.

            (And again, we don’t have a number for Him.)

So, how do we talk to God? Very simply, we talk to God through the avenue of prayer.

It doesn’t take any special equipment of any kind!

The bill has already been payed for by Jesus!

Ephesians 2:18–“For through him (Jesus Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

To talk to God in prayer we only have to be hooked up with Him! It takes no wires, no phones, and no special hookups of any kind.

It only takes accepting the payment made by Jesus Christ for us!

When God created the first man and first woman (Adam and Eve) were in the Garden of Eden man had a continual connection with God until man was disobedient to God.

When they disobeyed God, sin broke the relationship and fellowship that man once had with God. It was as if their phone was disconnected.

Isaiah 59:1-2--“Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Not only has our connection with God been cut off, but we face death and eternal separation from God in Hell.

In order to get our connection reestablished and to keep us from being eternally separated from God in Hell, it took someone paying the price for our sin. That someone was Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

Romans 6:23–“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

John 3:16–“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We could try to reestablish the connection ourselves but it would all be in vain. It just can’t happen. If we don’t accept Jesus payment for our sins. God’s not hooking up our service.

And, if we are not hooked up with Him, He is not taking our calls. That is, unless we are talking to Him about getting hooked up with Him!

What do I mean by getting hooked up with Him? I’m talking about asking Jesus Christ to come into our heart and life and save us!

We need to see that sin blocks our ability to have our calls answered by God.

Even after we are saved, we need to first confess our sins when we come to God in prayer so that it removes any hindrance from God hearing and answering our prayers.

1 John 1:9–“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When it comes to talking with God, prayer is much better than a telephone or a cell phone.

No matter where we are or what we are doing, we can always talk to God.

            While riding down the street on your bicycle! (Keep your eyes open though!)

            While shopping in a store!

            While at a ball game!

            While riding in an airplane!

            While in a submarine down deep in the ocean!

            While riding in the space shuttle!

            ....no matter where we are, we can talk to God if we are God’s child!

Conclusion

Have you got a connection with God? Have you been saved? Or is your sin still blocking access to God? You can have your service activated today! You don’t have to wait for installation!

Come and trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour and then you too can have direct access to God!

Anywhere, anytime, for whatever reason. You can talk to God and He will hear you!

If you have your service connected with God–you’ve been saved–is the connection clear or has sin in your life caused some static in the line and broken the fellowship between you and God.

Why don’t you confess your sin and restore that sweet fellowship with Him today!

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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!