A Call to prayer (6 and final)

Trappin’ with Billy

When I was 12 years old I spent 2-3 months living with my cousins on Kinney Hill so I could start school while my mother finished her job in Truro. While I lived there I spent a lot of time with Richie, Kim, and Billy. Billy was the unfortunate one who was asked/forced to share his room., but it was alright. We all got along most of the time.

It was a lot of fun because they had cool interests and I got to tag along. Richie and Billy both liked the outdoors. So between bird hunting and fishing and trapping, we had a lot of fun out back of my uncles farm.

Billy was the one who was big into trapping. And I went with him. I served as usually as a pack mule. I was scrawny but I could carry a lot. And I know what some of you are thinking but yes at 12 years old I was scrawny. I made Azlee look muscular. But I would carry traps and bait and animals on the successful days. It was a lot of work. Every day after school Billy and I would go run the trap line resetting sprung traps, baiting traps and bringing home our catch. Once we got home it was homework then straight to the skinning shack. It was a room off the basement used for bringing four wheelers and such into the basement. It was not insulated nor heated except by us and a small kerosene heater. I’m pretty sure I came out of there high on fumes more then once. Once they were skinned of skun if you lived around here all your life, we then had to stretch them and hang them to dry so they were ready for shipping.

Like I said a lot of fun but also a lot of work. I learned a lot about trapping while I lived there. I learned the importance of covering up scent. I learned that the right bait is worthless if you have a bad trap set, and a good trap set is useless if you have the wrong bait.

I also learned different sets work better for different animals and not every animal is attracted to the same kind of bait. So you have to know your prey. You have to know what attracts them and what repeals them. You need to learn how to cleverly conceal your traps because if an animal suspects a trap they will avoid it.

So conabear traps well placed around the entrences of a lodge work best for Beavers. Those setas don’t even need bait. The outside world is the bait. You can also place them on baks where the beaver have been sliding in, with just a small amount of bait on the trigger if you’d like but again not always necessary.

The best bait for a beaver by the way is what? Any guesses? Fish, that’s a good guess, you know basing it off their diet, but what we found to be the best most effective bait for beavers, work!

Now I am not sure if this is 100% legal so don’t get me in trouble now, and certainly do not do this and say my pastor told me to. I was only 12, but what worked best was breaking a small hole in the dam and setting a conabear trap in the hole. They could not resist fixing that whole. We had a Beaver in that set every time. In fact the day we showed up and the whole was still in the dam was the day we realized we got them all. The best bait for them was more work. They were workaholics and we knew it so we used that to our advantage.

Like I said I learned a lot about trapping during my time with the Campbells. And so whenever I read the last part of the Lord’s prayer I can not help but think about all I have learned about the relationship of a trapper and his prey.

We have been going through the Lord’s prayer together looking at how we could become better at praying. Not that we are bad at praying but that when we pray we want to pray to the best of our ability, and if Jesus took time to teach us to pray, it makes since we would try and learn from that teaching.

week 1 we learned to refocus on God and His Holiness

Week 2 That Jesus is coming back soon and for those who arn’t ready this is bad, so pray for His return and share the gospel until He returns.

Week 3 we learned about having a realignment with God’s will instead of trying to manipulate God to ours.

Week 4 we learned the difference between wants and needs

Week 5 last week we learned the importance of Forgiving others the way God forgives us 100%

So this is our last week with this series and I want to look at the last component found in

Matthew 6:13 NLT

And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:13 NLT

And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

When I read those words do you know what it makes me think of? You should I’ve been talking about it for an hour. I think about my time trapping animals with Billy.

See as Christians we have a predator who is trying to trap us. You can call him Satan, or the Devil, the enemy, you can even call him Lucifer and his fallen angles. Whatever you call him one thing is certain to him he is the predator and we are his prey.

You see Satan is constantly setting traps for us. Did you know that? All sorts of traps. He tries to trap us into a life of sin and fallen morality. He uses addictions, and circumstances to set his traps. And what does he use to bait those traps do you suppose? Well He uses all sorts of baits and in our Christianese we refer to these different baits as temptations.

Can you see how temptation is noting more than bait set by the enemy to draw us into one of his traps. And rest assured the enemy has designed these traps not to wound but to kill the spirit of the prey.

In this world the enemy has snares and foot traps and dead falls and all sorts of different traps set up in broad daylight, and every day people are drawn to those traps by whatever bait the enemy has placed in said trap and every day people a caught into the traps of the enemy which is why it is so important that every time we pray we remember to pray,

Matthew 6:13 NLT

And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

This morning the question I want to ask is...

How can we keep from taking the bait?

Now before I answer this I need to acknowledge that I am operating on the belief that each of you are able to identify when Satan is baiting you.

But in case you are not the only way to really identify the bait of the enemy is to know the word of God. God’s word teaches us what is right and what is wrong. And ignorance is no excuse, for God’s word has been made available to all of us.

And so when you think you may be being tempted by the Evil One, you can ask yourself a few questions to help determine the truth.

1. What does the bible say about this?

If you don’t know go find out!

2. Will taking or pursuing this thing cause me to sin?

3. Is this something I need to be messing around with in the first place?

Let’s put this into practice imagine you are Eve and the Serpent says did God really tell you not to eat this fruit. Now in that statement the trap has been set. Now instead of saying yes He did and walking away Eve engages the enemy, He said it would kills us.

Now the trap has already been set but watch as the Enemy baits the trap. He responds by saying no not at all if you eat it you will be as smart as God. I hope you all realize I am paraphrasing a lot.

But what was the bait? Knowledge of God. To be like God. That was the bait, and we know the rest she ate the trap sprung and here we are today Glad for the salvation offered by Jesus.

What if Eve had asked three questions.

What did God say? He said do not eat it or you will die.

Would pursuing that knowledge cause her to sin? God said do not eat it or you will die.

Was this something she should be messing around with? No walk away.

Now I hope those questions help you to identify Traps and bait, now back to the question at hand

How can we keep from taking the bait?

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

How can we keep from taking the bait?

Look for a way out!

Me: The kid who hits the mailbox learning to ride a bike video. Where was that kid looking when he hit the mailbox?

We: What do we do when we are faced with temptation and we have identified it as a trap? Many of us stare at it, we contemplate it? We consider the consequences, and often by the time we have done all this we have become so weak we walk into the trap. What if instead of staring at the trap and bait, we began to look for a way to get away from the temptation all together?

1. Fight

God: That is what Paul is teaching here in Corinthians. fist he teaches the reason we are tempted is because the enemy has chosen a bait that has proven to be effective on humans in the past. Meaning we are not the first to be tempted by this bait. Then Paul gives us hope by way of God’s faithfulness of not letting us be tempted beyond what we can bare. Many miss quote this by say God won’t give us more than we can handle. Listen to me life without Jesus is more than anyone can handle. Thus we need God. If He never let us have more than we can handle what would we need Him for. No it says we won’t be tempted beyond what we can bare. That means no matter how alluring the bait may be we can still say no. Otherwise sin wouldn’t be our fault. Not only can we say no Paul tells us God will actually show us the way out so we can endure.

2. Flight

You: What does this mean for you? You will be tempted, so was Jesus, but just because the enemy has set a trap for you and put on the pan a super alluring bait to draw you in, does not mean you have to succumb to that trap. God has created a way out for you and He is willing to show you the way.

3. Freeze

We: When we pray

Unfortunately

Matthew 6:13 NLT

And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

What we are asking God is when we see the trap and the bait looks like it is worth the risk, help us to take our eyes off the bait and show us the way to avoid that trap.

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