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(Cloud Ten Pictures – 2008) Main Point: When we talk to God, words aren’t what’s most important. What matters is our heart! The Movie Clip: Talk to God Saving God is a fantastic film about an ex-con named Armstrong Cane (played by Ving Rhames) who returns to his old neighborhood a changed man, after spending several years in prison for mistakes in his past. Though the neighborhood is full of drugs and gangs, Cane tries to make a difference by taking over his father's old church. The movie follows Cane’s daunting struggle to help the people in his hood – especially a young man named Norris – even though dangerous gang leaders, drug dealers, and silver-tongued preachers threaten his work. Cane won’t let anything deter him from helping Norris. The two of them form a close bond and Norris strives to change. Cane will do anything to help the young man avoid making the same mistakes he made. Introducing the Clip: I’m not sure how many of you saw Saving God, but there were some powerful scenes in this movie, and I want to show you one of them now. In it, Pastor Cane encourages Norris, the young man, to just talk to God from his heart. Pastor Cane tells Norris that “words aren’t the most important thing,” when it comes to prayer. Let’s take a look at the clip and see what else we can learn about prayer. Scene Script:
Norris: Thank you sir. Cane: So, what’s goin’ on? Norris: When I got locked up I was holding something for somebody, right? The cops took it from me when they arrested me. Cane: How much we talkin’? Norris: About five grand. Look! That doesn’t matter Pastor Cane! My life ain’t worth nothin’ no more! OK? Cane: No. Never say that son. Never say that your life isn’t worth anything. That’s a trick of the devil and the devil is a liar. And if you want peace in your life, you have to come to Christ. You have to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You can’t run forever. So, why don’t you talk to Him? Norris: What am I supposed to say to God, man!? I don’t know what to say to God. Cane: The words aren’t the most important thing. God can hear what’s in your heart. Norris: Pastor Cane…this is stupid. Cane: (dragging Norris to his knees) No it’s not stupid! Talk to Him, son. No, just talk to Him, from your heart. Talk to Him. Norris: God. I don’t know if You can hear me. I’m just…I’m just tired of living like this. Man, I can’t…I can’t do this anymore. I just…I just need somebody to help me, please. I’m scared, man. I don’t want nothing to happen to my grandmother…I don’t…I don’t wanna die. I just…I just need You to be a part of me, please. Just, show me some guidance. Just help me. Amen. Cane: Amen. That’s a real good start, son. Now you’re gonna have a lot of healing to do. Prayer is so much more than the words we say to God. Actually, it has more to do with our hearts than anything else. The good news is, when our mouths don’t have the words to say, our hearts can speak to God instead. Let’s spend a few moments talking about how our heart affects our prayers. Divide into Small Groups: Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups and talk about this, then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word. CLICK HERE for a quick training article on how to maximize your small groups using our small group format—a great resource to equip your small group leaders. Discussion Questions:
Read the following passage from the Bible: Romans 8:26-27 (New Living Translation) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. Say: The passage we just read not only talks about the Spirit of God helping us when we pray, it also talks about God knowing our hearts. If Pastor Cane is right – and I think he is based off of this passage from Romans 8 – we better make sure we are truly praying from our hearts when we pray. Let’s check out another passage from the Bible that talks about prayer. It’s a great one to use because it’s actually a prayer of King Solomon’s as he was praying about his people, the Israelites. Read the following passage from the Bible: 1 Kings 8:46-51 (New Living Translation) 46“If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far away or near. 47But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ 48If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—49then hear their prayers and their petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. 50Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed against you. Make their captors merciful to them, 51for they are your people—your special possession—whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt. Wrap Up Tonight we watched a video clip that told us that our words aren't as important as our hearts when it comes to prayer. Then we read a Bible passage that encouraged us by telling us that when we don't know how to pray, or what to pray for, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and intercedes for us. That's pretty cool! Then we looked at another passage that instructed us to pray with our whole hearts. And if we do, the Bible says God hears and answers our prayers! Praying with our whole hearts seems to be the major requirement God places on prayer! It’s not the words we use, or the style. We just need to be real with God when we pray to Him. If you take a look at the prayers of the Bible, they are rarely “polished” prayers that use the “right” words. Often, they are desperate cries for help, or for forgiveness, or for mercy. For instance, in Matthew 14 we are told that Peter was walking on top of the water to meet Jesus, but lost faith and started to sink beneath the waves. He called out to Jesus for help and simply said, “Lord, save me!” God understands that when His people need His help, the last thing on their mind is “proper wording or sentence structure or grammatical accuracy.” He doesn’t want our focus to be on those kinds of things; He wants our focus to be on “keeping it real with Him.” Let’s make sure that when we pray in the future, we pray with our whole hearts. And if we don’t know exactly how to pray or what to pray about, let’s take confidence from the fact that God knows our heart and will give us His Holy Spirit to help. Close in Prayer Written by David Smith |
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