The Power of Taking a Knee

“When Tim Tebow took a knee on the field, the world laughed and mocked him. When a coach in Washington prayed after football games on the field, he was fired. Yet on Monday night, the injury of one NFL player made it all okay again. God works in ways we do not comprehend. All it took was one man to bring the country back to its knees. May that sudden urgency for God remain with us. May we not only pray for the healing of Damar Hamlin but for the healing of all mankind.”

2 Chronicles 7:1–15 CSB

When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests were not able to enter the Lord’s temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord: For he is good, for his faithful love endures forever. The king and all the people were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to give thanks to the Lord—“for his faithful love endures forever”—when he offered praise with them. Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing. Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, Solomon first consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple and then offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there. So Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath to the Brook of Egypt—observed the festival at that time for seven days. On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people home, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel. So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice. If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people, and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place.

Deuteronomy 12:1–14 CSB

“Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth. Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods—on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. Don’t worship the Lord your God this way. Instead, turn to the place the Lord your God chooses from all your tribes to put his name for his dwelling and go there. You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. You will eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your household in everything you do, because the Lord your God has blessed you. “You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own sight. Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security, then the Lord your God will choose the place to have his name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord. You will rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your city gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you. Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see. You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.

If...

Who?

What?

When?

My People, my house, my rules...

The place He chooses, not that we choose...

The Way He chooses...

This House of Sacrifice

Not dead sacrifices but living sacrifices

Hebrews 9:11-14

He is the high priest

And the sacrificial lamb

So He is now the mediator of the New Covenant

Our sacrifices are living

We present ourselves, our bodies Romans 12:1

We bring our praise Hebrews 13:15-16

Prayer Revelation 8:1-5

Giving of tithes and offerings Acts 10:4-6

All are our choice...

All have an affect on our lives...

Earthly sacrifices have heavenly consequences

Angelic activity is released

People are directed

Miraculous events unfold

Healing comes

The Holy Spirit falls

When?

We humble ourselves acknowledge our need for Him

Repent (turn)

Seek His face

Pray

He hears and moves

Our sacrifice affects the move of God. We can’t live our life for convenience. We must be willing to pray, change, obey, give, worship

All outside of our comfort zone...

All with intention on our part...

The events of the last week show us something

Take prayer out and kneel for the wrong reason

Tim Tebow ridiculed

No more prayer...

When tragedy strikes, hell breaks loose, the heaven’s are shut up...

If...