Obedience is the Key

Application:

Obedience is the Key to God's Blessing.

Materials You Need:

Two 60 mm diameter balls or square blocks of wood.
Drill one block with a 6mm hole straight through.
Drill the other with two 6mm holes at angles to each other as shown in the figure.
Two by 2 metre lengths of soft rope that just fit the holes in the blocks.

Effect:

The ropes are threaded through the holes in pieces of wood so that they can run freely through them. At your command your block will stop or start moving down the rope. Your assistant is given an "identical" block, except that his has the hole drilled straight through it, and so his block will never obey him!

Performing the Effect:

Hold the top of the rope in the left hand and the bottom in the right hand. The block will then move down the rope at a speed determined by the tension that is kept on the rope.
When you wish to stop the block, pull on the ends of the rope. This will stop the block because the rope will bind at the bend where the two holes meet at the centre of the block.
When the block has moved all the way to the bottom of the rope, turn the rope over placing the block at the top of the rope again.
During the message, emphasise responding to the will of God, and demonstrate it by the response of the Obedient Block to your command to stop or go.
Use another helper to show the Disobedient Block that will never stop at their commands.

Text:

Numbers 9:15-23.

God's Guidance:

Jesus said in John 15:14, that we that we are His friends if we do what He commands us to do. We need to daily stop and pray and listen to God, so that He can direct our life. We need to be eager to know God's will for our lives and quick to respond by obeying.

This wooden block will obey my command to "Stop" and to then to "Go" (Demonstrate how it will obey your commands, especially if those magic words "Please" and "Thank-you" are used!). It reminds me of the story in Numbers 9:15-23 of how the Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness while God guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

When the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire stopped, the children of Israel camped, and when it moved, they followed it. In this way they were safely guided to the Promised land by God. We too should daily seek God's will and obey His leading. We do this by praying every day and asking God to guide us wherever we go, and in what ever we do and say.

I have another block here. Would someone like to come and assist me? Thank-you. Now you hold the ends of the ropes just like I am doing and we will see whether your block is also obedient. (Demonstrate the obedience to your commands again and of course your helper's block will fail to be obedient much to the audience's delight).

God's Commands:

1 John 3:23 tells us that this is His command:

"To believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and to love one another as He commanded us".

Are you willing to obey this command? It's not easy to love those who annoy us and make us angry or hurt us. But, if you are willing obey God by doing what He says, then you will be like this wood block that will obey my commands to stop and go.

Don't be like this other block that refuses to obey my commands. You will never enjoy God's blessings if you disobey Him.

One special command is found in Ephesians 6:1 where children are instructed to obey their parents so that they can enjoy a long life. Are you willing to do this and also obey all the other commands that Jesus gives us in the Bible? If you do this, then you will please God and have His blessing in your life and Jesus will make you grow into a strong Christian.

God bless!