They Limited God 2 Of 2

He is saying that God wanted to do many great things for Israel, but the choices that they made in their lives limited the Lord from doing those things.

Illus: Remember how as a child, before Christmas came our parents started telling us to do certain things and if we didn’t, SANTA CLAUS WAS NOT GOING TO BRING US ANYTHING!

We believed all that stuff, and anything they wanted us to do we did, because we thought if we didn’t, all we were going to receive was a bag of switches!

However, we thought if we did those things, we would get all the goodies we wanted for Christmas.

We believed in Santa Claus with all our hearts. We believed that he existed and he would bring us these goodies, but we had to meet the conditions of being good and doing things our parents told us to do.

Illus: I do not know if you noticed this, but when you stopped believing in Santa Claus, you started getting clothes for Christmas.

We all want the blessings of God on our life. Every one here wants the blessings of God on their life. But just wanting it is not enough. The question we are confronted with is this: ARE WE WILLING TO MEET THE CONDITIONS FOR GOD TO BLESS US?

Illus: When the Secretary of the State goes to negotiate with other countries, he goes to those countries with what we call in the political world, “PRE-CONDITIONS.”

He says to the country that wants something from us, “IF YOU WANT THIS FROM US, HERE ARE THE CONDITIONS YOU MUST BE WILLING TO MEET!” These conditions are called LEVERAGE!

If we want the blessings of God on our life, God has these pre-conditions we must meet or else the blessings of God are off the table! In other words, the conversation is over; there is nothing else to talk about.

In the previous sermon, we dealt with two of the things that keep us from receiving the blessings of God in our lives.

I. LACK OF PRAYER

II. LACK OF FAITH

Let’s look at two more things that are equally important for receiving the blessings of God on our life.

III. LACK OF MATURITY

The Bible teaches that we are to be as little children in our faith, ¬BUT WHEN IT COMES TO BEHAVIOR, HE WANTS US TO BE MATURE. Why does he want us to be mature?

Children are very limited in what they can do. If God did not give them parents:

• They would not go to bed at a decent time.

Illus: A doting father used to sing his little children to sleep until he overheard the four-year-old tell the three-year-old, "If you pretend you're asleep, he stops."

• Some would not go to school on a regular basis, if they did not have parents to make them go

Illus: A young boy came to school late. His teacher knew that he was usually very prompt and asked him if anything was wrong.

The boy replied that he was going fishing but his dad told him that he needed to go to school.

The teacher was very impressed and asked the boy if his dad had explained to him why it was more important to go to school than to go fishing.

The boy replied, “Yes, dad said he didn’t have enough bait for both of us.”

• Some children would never brush their teeth, if they did not have parents that made them.

• Some would never take a bath, if they did not have parents that made them.

WHEN IT COMES TO PHYSICAL GROWTH, WE NEED TO CONSIDER TWO THINGS! These kids today are facing a paradox.

(1) THEY WANT TO GROW OLDER

• This is why little boys wear their dads clothing, because they want to grow into maturity.

• This is why little girls wear their moms clothing, because they want to grow into maturity.

Children know they are limited and they want to become an adult so they will not have these limitations. This built-in desire is something every child has.

But life has to be confusing to them because they want to grow older and -

(2) THEIR PARENTS WANT TO GROW YOUNGER

Illus: One lady said that every time she sees a wrinkle in her face she runs and grabs a donut.

• Someone asked why she did that.

• She said, “I do that so when I gain weight it stretches my skin to keep from having wrinkles in my face.”

This has got to be confusing to children today. They want to grow older and their parents want to grow younger.

When it comes to spiritual growth, God makes it clear that we are to become MATURE CHRISTIANS.