Heal Our Land

Leader: Today our verse in “Ten For Life” is 2 Chronicles 7:14. (All of a sudden the music theme from “NFL On Fox” or “Monday Night Football” begins playing. Referee Ricky comes running in blowing his whistle over and over)

Ricky: (blows whistle) Stop the presses! I’ve got a big problem!

Leader: Oh really? What seems to be the problem?

Ricky: Well, you remember my Bible club I started last week?

Leader: You mean C.R.A.M.P.?

Ricky: That’s right! C.R.A.M.P.— Christian Referees Are Magnificent People!

Leader: I would have thought you would have changed the name after the whole thing with not letting the non-Christian referees in and all that.

Ricky: No, no, no. We let that guy in. We fixed all that. But, we can’t change the name. We already paid for the business cards, the logo, and letterhead and all that.

Leader: Oh, I see. So, what’s the problem then?

Ricky: (blows his whistle) Hold on, there sassy pants! Don’t get ahead of my story.

Leader: (rubs ears because it was so loud) Oh, sorry. You go right ahead and tell the story.

Ricky: It goes like this. We really want to see our entire football league come to know Jesus as their Savior. We want everyone to stop living in sin and start living for God.

Leader: That sounds like a great desire to have.

Ricky: Yeah, but we have been wishing that for some time now—and nothing is happening.

Leader: Well, what kinds of things have you been doing to help make that happen?

Ricky: What do you mean? We can’t do anything to help make that happen. God’s the one who has to do it.

Leader: That’s true that God is the one who heals our land. But, it’s also true that we are supposed to do our part to help make that happen.

Ricky: (blows whistle) Hold on there, speedy britches! You’re going a little too fast for me. You say God is the one who heals our land, but yet there is still something we are supposed to do? Well, I sure wish God would’ve told us that before now. I mean, you’d think there would be something in the Bible about all this.

Leader: That’s where you are wrong. There IS something in the Bible about this. It happens to be our verse for “Ten For Life” today. I want you to check it out as Dr. Boing and Dr. Von Hinklesnot teach it to us.

Leader: You see? God wants to heal our land, but it’s up to us to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our sinful behavior. It’s THEN that God will hear our prayers from Heaven, will forgive our sin, and heal our land.

Ricky: That sure makes sense! All this time we have been just sitting around in our C.R.A.M.P. club talking about how our football league needs Jesus and we ain’t done NOTHING about it!

Leader: So, what are you going to do?

Ricky: First thing is—I’m going to call a C.R.A.M.P. meeting. But, not just any C.R.A.M.P. meeting. It’s going to be a C.R.A.M.P. Prayer Meeting. We are going to humble ourselves and pray, that’s what we are going to do! We are going to seek God’s face, repent of our sins, and ask God to heal our land!

Leader: Sounds like an amazing plan!

Ricky: (blows his whistle) Of course it is! It’s GOD’S plan! And, I can’t wait to put it into action! I’ll see you later, kids! (theme song plays as he runs out of the room blowing his whistle)

Use the masking tape to tape off a center line dividing the playing area in half. Place 50 wads of paper on one side of the dividing line and 50 wads of paper on the other side of the dividing line.

(raise the U.S. Flag and wave it around as you talk during the introduction) How many of you love your country? We live in one of the most blessed and amazing countries in the world. The United States was founded on Christian principles. Did you know that? Many of our country's founders were Christian men who followed God with all of their hearts.

But, things have changed over the last two hundred years. Our society has slipped further and further away from God and the principles of the Bible. Everywhere we look, we see the effects of sin in our country. We see drugs, violence, and more. It’s not fun to think about.

I have a question for you. How many of you would love to see The United States Of America turn back to God and be healed and cleansed of all the sin that we see every day? (allow response) Well, that is exactly what God promises to do in our scripture verse today. God promises to “hear from heaven”, “forgive sins”, and “heal our land.” Wouldn’t that be amazing if that happened in America? (allow response)

It can certainly happen in America, but our Power Verse today teaches that there are several things we need to do in order for God to “hear from heaven”, “forgive sins”, and “heal our land.” It’s a promise. But, it’s a promise with conditions. It’s like your parents tell you, “I will let you play outside—IF you clean your room” or “I will pay you five dollars IF you get an A on your report card.” It’s a promise, but we must do our part to make sure that promise is fulfilled. So, let’s look at our Power Verse for four things that we must do in order to bring healing to our land.

The first thing God tells us to do in our verse is “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves.” What does it mean to humble myself? It means that we don’t walk around thinking we are “all that.” Too many Christians walk around like the “Bible Answer Man” in our “Ten Show” video today. They think they are better, smarter, and more special than everyone else.

That’s not how God wants us to live. We are to be humble. We are to realize that we are no better than anyone else. Too often when Christians have a puffed up and proud attitude, they cause non-Christians to never want to have anything to do with God. They think, “If that’s the way Christians act, then I don’t want to be one.” If God is going to heal our land, then I must humble myself and...

Prayer is a powerful thing. It is our direct line to God. (hold up the cell phone) How many of you have begged your parents to buy you a cell phone? (allow response) Of course you have. Why? Because a cell phone gives you a direct connection to your friends. You can punch a few buttons and BOOM there is your best friend on the other line.

Well, with God we don’t need a cell phone to be in direct communication with Him. We don’t have to punch any buttons, have a strong signal, or anything like that. All we have to do is speak, and God hears us. The sad thing is, too many Christians do not spend very much time in prayer every day. Oh, we might pray “God is great, God is Good. Let us thank Him for our food” or “Now I lay me down to sleep.” But, sadly that is where many Christians prayer life ends.

God wants us to spend time with Him and talk to Him. He wants us to pray for our friends and family. He wants us to pray for our school, our neighborhood, and our country. Why would we expect God to heal our land if we don’t ever pray for that to happen? We must pray if we want to see God heal our land. I must humble myself, I must pray, and…

I know what you are thinking. “Seek God’s face?” What in the world does that mean? That simply means we must put God first in all we do, doing everything we can to get closer to Him. How do we get closer to God? We pray, we read the Bible, and we go to church so we can learn more about Him. That’s how we get closer to God and become strong Christians. But, if we are like many Christians we struggle to find the time to pray, read the Bible, and go to church. We often are so busy going to school, playing in the neighborhood, doing sports, etc. that we forget to pray, read our Bible, and go to church.

If we are going to see God heal our land, we must spend time with Him. This helps us become more like Him. When we do everything we can do to get close to Him, He can use us to do BIG things for Him. But, we must make sure nothing gets in the way of us spending time with Him. We must put Him FIRST in our lives.

When 2 Chronicles 7:14 says we must “turn from our wicked ways”, it means we should ask God to forgive our sins and then stay as far away from sin as possible. When others are watching movies they shouldn’t, we don’t hang around—we run from that sin. When others are telling jokes and using bad language, we run from that sin. When we are faced with the decision whether or not to lie to our parents, we RUN from that sin and tell the truth.

We must do everything we can to live holy lives, free from sin. The best way to handle temptation is to RUN from that sin. Don’t even be around the people or places that would tempt you. That way others can see the difference in your life. They will know that you belong to God.

So, if we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and run from sin—it is THEN that God will hear from Heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

1. What was today’s Big Idea? Answer: “Gotta Stay Humble, Got To Pray, & God Will Heal Our Land Today!”

2. What was the name of the guest on “The Ten Show” today? Answer: Bible Answer Man (or Joe)

3. Did the Bible Answer Man have a very humble attitude? Answer: No

4. If God is going to heal our land, what is the first thing we must do? Answer: Humble ourselves

5. If God is going to heal our land, what is the second thing we must do? Answer: Pray

6. True or False: God hears us every time we pray. Answer: True

7. If God is going to heal our land, what is the third thing we must do? Answer: Seek God’s Face

8. Seeking God’s face means putting him ______________ in everything we do. Answer: First

9. If God is going to heal our land, what is the final thing we must do? Answer: Run From Sin

10. Where was our Power Verse found? Answer: 2 Chronicles 7:14