Turning your Bibles to the book
of Matthew chapter six, while you're turning, I had this thought,
which I hope will bless you as it did me, as Sherry was playing
one of my very, very favorite hymns during the offering, It
Is Well With My Soul. And I was sitting there, and
it occurred to me that it may not all be well With my house,
when I left, the roof was leaking and there was a hole in my son's
bedroom wall where I worked and I didn't get it fixed. It may
not all be well with my car, the brakes locked up on me once,
and I don't know what that means. It may not be well with my wife's
health, and it may not be well with this and that and the other,
but this one thing I'm grateful for. I can sing that song, it
is well, it is well with my soul. And all the rest of it, well,
maybe it'll get better, maybe it won't. But the one thing that
needs to be well is well. For that I'm grateful, and I
know you are too. Read with me here a few verses in Matthew
6. This is a very, very familiar
portion of Scripture, in Matthew 6, beginning in verse 5. Our
Lord is teaching his disciples here, and he says, And when thou
prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners
of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when you pray,
use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do. For they think
that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye
therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things
ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore
pray ye, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses." Turn now, if you will, mark this, because we're
going to come back here, but turn just a minute over to Luke
chapter 11. And I will freely confess to
you that I am talking to you this morning on a subject that
I am not accomplished in any way and wouldn't pretend to be
an example of and that kind of thing,
but I have spent some time trying
to find out what God's Word says in this subject. And it's talking
about prayer, talking about prayer. And I'm not certain, but I think
I know why this matter of prayer, whether it's public or private,
is really difficult for most of us. Apparently, even our Lord's
own disciples found prayer not an easy thing. Look what they
asked him in Luke 11, verse 1. Luke 11, verse 1, And it came
to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he stopped,
or when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord,
teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." Now listen,
if these men had been with our Lord, if their pastor had been
God Almighty in human flesh, if their pastor for these three
years had been Jesus Christ himself, and yet they were compelled to
ask this question? I suspect it's a question we'd
do well to also make. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he took
this request to heart, because he did immediately instruct them
in the matter of prayer. Is it therefore too obvious a
point to make that if we want to learn to pray, we ought to
ask our Lord, teach us to pray. And that's exactly what happened
here in Matthew 6, right before this passage of Scripture I read
to you. That's exactly what led our Lord
to say these words. It's His disciples said, teach
us to pray. He said, all right, I'll teach you. So let's see,
you know, this is what led me to this message. Not because
I think I know all there is about it, but I do think, as a congregation
of believers, that, you know, you're probably better taught
than most. You really are. I know your pastor, by example,
it's illustrated by Stan's prayer. It was illustrated that y'all
have been taught to pray. You really have. I read the prayers of saints,
though, in the scriptures and hear the prayers of other men,
and it causes me to come back to the same place. Lord, teach
me to pray. Teach me to pray. And seeking
that in, here is some of what God's word says about prayer. Now, I'm going to do this by
asking a series of questions, and then we'll answer them. And
the first question I ask is, what is prayer? What is prayer? Well, three things, and you may
want to, I don't often say anything worth writing down, but you might
want to write some of this down, because I think it might help
you. What is prayer? Well, examples in the scriptures
reveal that prayer is three things. Number one, to pray is to praise,
to praise. That is, expressing glory to
our Lord Jesus Christ. And expressing means saying words,
thinking thoughts, and heartfelt groanings. Heartfelt groanings. I noticed that as Brother Stan
prayed, that occasionally I could hear somebody. Let me tell you,
when I first attended 13th Street, I sat a row or two in front of
Brother Charlie Payne, and Charlie, after a few words, kind of just
went, I mean, I didn't know anything.
I thought she's sick. You know, what is that? I mean,
and I'm sure that that's, you know, if we don't understand
what this is about, you know, what is it? I'll tell you what
it's not. It's not, you know, you can carry anything to an
extreme. And this, when you get, when you get so far that you're
waving your hands and shouting and carrying on, I'm not sure
that that's what prayer is. That's not, I'm not sure that's
what praise is. Shouting praise would be fine,
but what this is talking about in praise here, let me read you
a verse out of Romans 8, which says, Likewise, the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Sometimes if we knew
what to say, it'd be easy, wouldn't it? But you don't know what to
say. So that's the reason a lot of
times in this conversation we go, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Don't
we? Listen, when someone says something
that you wish you'd said, there's nothing wrong with going, Amen.
Or going, hmm. There really isn't. That's the
outpouring of the heart, and that's as much prayer as it is
to say it with the mouth or to think it with the head. You understand?
That's all part of praise. Now, that's one thing that prayer
is. A second thing that prayer is,
it's not just praise, but it's thanks. It's giving thanks. And that's expressing, again,
gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus Christ and for
the Lord Jesus Christ. So, it's praise and it's thanks,
but the third thing, Prairie, is petition. Now, petition, that
means just expressing your need. It's asking for things. OK? Asking
for something. When we're children, we don't
have much problem with that, do we? Can I go to the movies,
Mom? Can I have an ice cream cone?
You know. One of the reasons maybe we're instructed to be
as little children is Let's ask. You know, the only reason we
don't have is because we don't ask. Yeah. And that really leads me
to the second question, which is, why is it hard to pray? Why is it hard to pray? I can
tell you this. If you ask any man in this room
who's ever been asked to stand and publicly pray, he will confess
to you that, in a sense, it is the dread of his heart. He just
sits there on pins and needles thinking, will I be asked to
pray? Because it's an awesome undertaking. But why is it so
hard? Let me, I can give you the answer
to that. Listen to me. It's hard to petition. It's hard
to ask. You know why? We're just flat
too proud to ask. You know it? We're just too flat
proud. We just think, well, I can do
it myself. Secondly, it's hard to pray because
it's hard to give thanks. You know why? We're just flat
an ungrateful lot. We really are. We're really not
grateful. I mean, listen, how many of us... Now, we may have
got up this morning, and I did sit there with Hannah this morning,
and Mindy had served some great breakfast, and we gave thanks.
But listen, you know, I've eaten a lot of meals I never gave thanks
for. Didn't thank God at all. I mean, did we get up this morning
and thank God that our children had breath in their mouths? Did
we? Huh? Listen, the only reason they
did is because God Almighty gave it to them last night. Let them
live through the night. That's right. But we don't give
thanks because we're not thankful by nature. We're not. We're an
ungrateful lot. Yes, we are. And the third reason
it's hard to pray is not only are we too proud to ask and too
ungrateful to give thanks, We're too self-centered to give praise.
We're just too interested in our own glory to praise God for
His glory. You see, prayer is communicating,
expressing the thoughts of the mind and the feelings of the
heart, and public prayer is doubly tough because, listen, we'd all
be embarrassed if we ever got up and said what was really on
our mind. final prayers you prayed this
morning, I suspect you'd be utterly humiliated if we had some kind
of a magic thing where you plugged your finger into the wall over
here and we had a big screen that came up and showed everything
that crossed your mind since you got up this morning. So you
see, it's hard to get up and pray when in fact our minds are
just full of all kinds of matter, isn't it? It's a hard thing. And by nature, we feel the need
to have these things for the same reason why did Adam and
Eve go put fig leaves on? They were embarrassed by what
they'd done and what they thought now. And in the garden, they
and we are sinners now. We're full of sin. So we usually
have to say what ought to be on our mind instead of what really
is on our mind. And that's a tough thing. It's
difficult to get the new man to communicate for fear of what
the old man might say. Does that make sense to you?
Anybody who's ever had to speak publicly at all anyway, aren't
you afraid of what you might say that embarrass you? Listen,
to get up and pray for God's people is terrifying, because
listen, the old man's not dead in there. What might he say?
Oh, my! And that's why prayer is difficult,
public prayer. You know, we all with one accord
need to pray for the one who's been appointed to pray on our
behalf. When Stan gets up to come up
here and pray like that, ask God Almighty to give him something
to say, to keep him from saying something he ought not say. Listen,
the first time I was ever called on to pray publicly. The men
at 13th Street meet in Henry's study before the service in the
evening. And I'd been back there a long
time, and the man who's in charge of that, Brother Gerald Kuhn,
asked me to read. And someone reads a passage of
scripture and prays. And the very first time I was
ever asked to publicly pray back there and read the scripture,
I did. And sometime in that prayer, I remember the words as if they
were burned on the back of my eyelids with a hot tool. I prayed that God would save
everybody. And I don't know what made me
say that. I know it's not God's will to
save everybody or He would. You know, it was a silly prayer,
you know. And no, not a word, not a man
said this a day has ever said a word about that. But I haven't
forgotten about it lately. And I tell you what, every time
I pray publicly, before I ever start, I ask God Almighty to
watch my tongue, to not let me say some of the crazy, absurd,
sinful, wicked things that are in my mind and in my heart. And
when somebody comes up here, pray for them. Listen, ask God
to help them. It's no small thing. I mean,
you understand, when a man gets up here, it's as if you're saying,
he's speaking for us to you, God. It's no small matter. All right. Who will pray? That's
the third question. Who will pray? Well, everyone
should pray. I just read that a minute ago
in Romans. Do you remember? It said all men ought to pray. Ought to pray. So we all ought
to pray. But I can tell you those who will. Only those who see
Christ can and will really pray. Those who know Christ, they really
pray. You see, seeing Christ as He is, with a glimpse of His
glory and holiness, we see ourselves as sinners, as wretched and undone,
and realize we have nothing to be proud of. So that's how we
get over being too proud to ask, is that we see ourselves for
what we really are, and then all of a sudden we say, well,
I need to pray about this. I need to pray. And so we ask
for what we need, both spiritually and physically. I tell you who
else will pray, is that those seeing Christ as He is, as all
in all, and that we are and have nothing by nature, will acknowledge
that we all have and are, physically and especially spiritually, all
that we have comes from above. And we'll thank Him. We'll be
grateful. I tell you, a person who... Most of the time, I guess, when
you get your paycheck, you go, hey, thanks a lot for paying
me this week. No, because you earned it, right? Now, don't
misunderstand, we ought to be grateful if we've got a job or
got a check coming in, but, you know, you don't just go to the
boss and say, thanks a lot for letting me work, you know, for
giving me my paycheck, because you earned it, didn't you? But
listen, well, everything we've got, God gave us, and we didn't
deserve any of it. If we ever come to see Christ
as who He is and what we are, we won't have any trouble thanking
Him. You see that? And then I'll tell you who else,
who else will pray, okay, is that seeing Christ as God in
human flesh, and as the Lamb slain, and as our Savior, and
as our Redeemer, as the Holy One of Israel. If we ever get
a glimpse of Christ in that light, it'll evoke the same response
from everybody who does. Praise him, he is worthy. He
is worthy. Men and women who seek Christ,
they pray. They praise him, they give him
thanks, and they ask of him for everything they need. Now, here's
something. How do we pray? That's the next
question. How do we pray? His disciples
said, Lord, teach us to pray. Well, let me read you here a
verse in Matthew 6 again. Look at verse 9. Our Lord taught
his disciples and said in verse 9 of Matthew 6, After this manner,
therefore, pray ye." Now, listen to me. You know, at every social,
religious I mean, it turns my stomach to see the football players
all get down in a pile before the game and kneel on one thing
with their helmets off, and you can read their lips, aren't they?
They're reciting these words, aren't they? Huh? Yeah. That's what they're doing. And
it may, maybe it's well that that's what they do instead of
saying something else, you know, that might embarrass them. Okay?
Maybe it's well that's what they do. But, this, when our Lord
taught us to pray, He didn't say, say these words. Does it
say that there? No, what's the first three words?
After this manner. Do you understand? This is a,
this is a, is a pattern. It's not that, you know, every
time we pray, we don't, now in the church I was raised in, Methodist
Church, they said this prayer every service. Okay? And as a
result, it got to where, you know, I didn't know what it meant,
didn't care. I heard it so much, it was just
like our Pledge of Allegiance. You know, if you say it every
morning as a rote thing, pretty soon you forget what country
you're even talking about. You know, the flag doesn't mean
anything. Okay? Nothing wrong with saying it.
Don't misunderstand me. But it's a whole lot better to
pledge allegiance to that flag when one day the country calls
and says, hey, we're at war! You know, you've got to go! You
know? That's when somebody pledges
allegiance here and in every way, right? Huh? Not leaving
the country or whatever. You know, go hide so they don't
come get you. Maybe that's a poor illustration,
but you get the point. I'm telling you, when you pledge
allegiance to God Almighty, you're praying with your heart. You
don't just say these words. It's not these words, it's after
this manner. And listen, this is not the Lord's
prayer. That's what it's called, isn't
it? This is the disciple's prayer. It's not the Lord's prayer, because
you think about this. He had no need to ask forgiveness
for his sins, did he? No, he didn't have any. He didn't
have any sins. No. He didn't need to be led
or delivered from temptation. No, he couldn't be tempted in
that sense. Does the one who fed five thousand
with two loaves and five fishes need his daily bread given to
him? Christ didn't need His daily bread. He owned a cattle on a
thousand hills. If He was hungry, He said, I wouldn't ask you.
You know? Who in the universe would Christ
be talking to if He were praying Himself here? To whom would He
be saying, Thine is the kingdom, and Thine is the power, and Thine
is the glory, when in fact, He is the glory! He is the power! He is the king! Who would He
be talking to? This is not the Lord's prayer,
it's the disciples' prayer. You see, neither did our Lord teach them
to pray these words. No, he said, after this manner.
How many of us here are concerned about our bread? Is anybody here
going to go home today and have no lunch? Huh? If you are, now
let some of the men know here. I mean, the folks here would not have...
one of their brothers or sisters in Christ be hungry. If your
family's hungry, you need to let, that's how, you know, that's
how we take care as believers. We're going to take care of each
other. You, Stan, you lose your job, you and Sherry, you have
no work, no food, you know, you don't have to go to social services
down here. You don't have to go do that. No, just, you're
not even going to have to ask, I suspect, because the men are
going to know. They care about you, they love you, they're going
to see you're not hungry. But is there anybody here that just
needs their daily bread today? No. Well, you don't have to say
these words then. It's after this manner. What
you need to pray about is, now the disciples, you understand
the disciples? Here were a bunch of fellas,
itinerant guys, following this man around who preached. They
didn't know where the next meal was coming from. I suspect the
disciples did wonder about their daily bread. You understand?
That was something on their hearts and minds. They may not have
ever said it to our Lord, but I suspect there was plenty of
time they wondered, well, what are we going to eat tonight? You know? We
don't have any money, and what are we going to do? You know?
Remember? Yeah, when Caesar's tithe came,
they were all looking at each other like, who's got the gold?
Lord said, go down and you'll be a fish there. Pull him out
and there'll be a coin in his mouth. The Lord took care of
it, but just like us, they were with so little faith that they
worried about their daily bread. You understand? Well, listen,
that's, we don't pray those words because that's not where our
problem is. What is our problem is that we need to pray about
what is our problem, what is on our mind. You understand?
After this manner, okay? And let's not be too critical
about, you know, the disciples saying, well, man, I don't know
why they were worried about Ethan. I mean, he took care of everything
for them. I suspect they would look at us and think we are pretty
foolish, some of the things we worry about, you know. I suspect
they'd think our worrying about being able to get our kid a Nintendo
for Christmas was a pretty goofy thing to worry about, in reality. You know what I'm saying? So
let's not be too hard on these disciples. But on the other hand,
our Lord was saying, if it's on your heart, pray about it.
Pray about it. Most of us don't need these specific
words, give us our daily bread. But we do need to pray after
this manner, whatever concerns you. And it might be, Lord, give
us this day grace to be kind. It might be, Lord, Give us this
day love to discipline my children." It might be, Lord, give us this
day a submissive attitude. It might be, give me the will
to do my job well. Or, Lord, give me a job. It might
be, Lord, give me wisdom to keep quiet and be still. Give me strength
in old age to get up this morning and have a good attitude. It
might be, Lord, Give me a desire to love my wife, to be sweet,
to be kind." Whatever it might be, it's after this manner. And ask what's on your heart
and what's on your mind. Walter Gruber, I'll never forget
him telling about, he and Betty were living in a house and it
was, some fellow bought the property next door and put a chicken farm
in there. Well, I mean, living with some chickens is one thing,
but 4,000 chickens next door now, buddy, that's a heap of
smell. And the road in front of Walsh's house, all of a sudden,
wasn't some quiet, dirt road. He had chicken trucks coming
up and down that road, you know, 85 times a day, just hurl and
dust all over the house. And he came home one night, said
he went into the study, and he said, Lord, I don't know how
to pray about chicken dung and dust, but he said, I just need
some help. You know what happened? Somebody bought the chicken farm
out and moved it, and they came through the next week and paved
the road in front of the house. That was on his heart and on
his mind. He didn't pray, Lord, give me
my daily bread. He didn't need his daily bread.
What he needed was the chicken dung and the dust out of the
house. You understand? And for our man, listen, how
tough would it be for him? And this applies in our day,
because Walter was supposed to be preparing messages to preach
the gospel to every tribe and kindred and nation under heaven.
And he was having trouble doing that with all that mess. You
understand? His wife was cleaning the house
from morning to noon. They were miserable. He couldn't
study for the smell. Pray about what's on your mind.
There's nothing to... Is there anything to... God watches
the dust. He tracks the dust through the
air. You think he can't take care of whatever your problem
is? Ask him. You may find out. Ask him. If it's for your good
and His glory, you take care of it. But listen, don't take
your daily bread or anything else for granted. Give thanks
continually for His sweet provision. Anything and everything that's
not a problem or not on your mind or heart today, there's
only one reason. That's because Christ has taken
care of it for us. And He deserves to be thanked
for that. Yes, He does. There is a phrase in the Old
Testament that's so frequent, when I looked it up, I didn't
even bother to count how many times it's said. That phrase
is, O give thanks to the Lord our God. O give thanks. And his
mercy does endure forever. If we need, we'll find words
of our own to ask. And if we're grateful, we'll
find words of thanks. The most, let me tell you, the
best thanks is that which is heartfelt and spontaneous. One
time Luke and I were visiting Danny Parks in Tortola, and we'd
been to services all the time, what have you, and one afternoon
I says, come on, let's go down to the beach and I'll take you
down there scuba diving. And we went down there with a
snorkel and swam out into this reef, and all of a sudden we
swam through this opening in the reef and there was a There
was a million black and red sea urchins everywhere. It looked,
it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. And I told Luke,
if you get in any trouble, I said, squeeze my shoulders, keep a
hand on my shoulder. I said, squeeze me and we'll come up,
you know, whatever. And oh, he started squeezing
me. I thought, oh, he's hitting those sea urchins and it stung
him or whatever. And we came up and he went, he
just went, thanks dad, thanks, this is great. Put his mask right
back down. Let me tell you. Now listen,
if I live to be a hundred, I will never get a greater blessing
or a more genuine moment of joy than that thank you. Because
he meant it. He meant it. Okay? That's how
to thank God. It's when you get a blessing,
thank Him. You don't have to go, Luke didn't
have to sit down and write me a note saying, Dear Dad, thank
thou for thine all great wisdom in taking me to see those scientific
name for sea urchins, whatever it is, and it was a marvelous
experience. You know, that meant more than
anything to me, you understand? And that's how to thank God.
When He blesses you, thank Him. Just, that's the reason sometimes
the only way you can get it said is just go, mm, mm. You know,
when the doctor came out and said he got all of Becky's cancer,
all I could say was, mm, mm. You know, that's genuine gratitude. You understand? And that's what
part of prayer is when it's giving thanks. And if we're really grateful,
we'll give thanks. And if we've seen Christ, we'll
find words to praise Him as well. Now, look here at verse talking
about how to pray. Here's what He taught His disciples.
Look in verse 7 of Matthew 6. But when you pray, Use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking." Is there any prayer in the world
more vainly repeated than this one? Listen, there's not anything
wrong with reading this or reciting it, I suppose. But let me tell
you, if you're looking for God Almighty to hear you, if it's
a vain repetition, He's not hearing it. I'm telling you, when they
read this in these churches this morning, and they get up and
God's not hearing them. You know why? It's a vain repetition
to Him. And that's not... Listen, when
I was a little boy, I was taught to say the blessing, and I bet
I haven't said this in 20, maybe 40 years, I don't know, but I
bet I can still remember it. God is good, God is great, let
us thank and forgive each other. It's a vain repetition, you understand?
And I'm trying to teach my children that they don't have to be like
I am when I sit down and, you know, say what I say before we
eat or what have you. All they got to do is say, God,
we're grateful for this food in our home. Amen. You know,
it's not vain repetitions. All right? It's not necessarily
these words, but it's after this manner. And it's not also for
length of words. If there's a lot on your mind
and on your heart, that's okay. Say a lot. Pray a lot if there's
a lot on your mind. If not, brevity is all right. Saying something just a little
bit's okay. Spoken slowly and deliberately, this prayer takes
less than 30 seconds. Did you know that? Less than
30 seconds. Fellas, we don't have to give
up here, get up here and have an eight-minute prayer. We just
don't. This one takes 30 seconds. It's
not for length. You understand? That's not what
it is. And it's after this manner. It's not how much we say. It's
not how much we pray. It's the motive of our praise.
It's not how much we thank Him. It's the sincerity of our thanks.
And it's not how much we ask. In fact, in verse 8, you see
what it says? Be not ye therefore like unto
them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need for
before ye ask him." You don't have to give him a long list.
He already knows. He already knows. You know, sometimes
I think all it is is we just need... And in the feelings of our heart,
honestly, honestly, after this manna. Our Lord promised, What
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye shall
receive them, and ye shall have them." Okay? All right. Fifth thing is when to pray.
When do you pray? Well, let me read you a verse
from Luke. Don't look it up, but listen.
Here's when you pray. When you pray. Our Lord taught His disciples
in Luke 18, He said, Men ought always to pray. And not to faint. Not to faint. Always? Always? Does that mean we get
up in the morning? You know, some have gone to be
monks, because that's what they think. It means you get up in
the morning and you pray all day long. Well, we'd have real...
You'd feed the family real good that way, wouldn't you, Henry?
Huh? Yeah. Praying all day long. Is that what you're supposed
to do, is tell your boss it can't work right now? I'm praying.
Huh? Is that what you're supposed
to do? No. That word always there, you know what it means? It means
whenever. Men ought whenever to pray. Whenever, whenever you
feel the need to pray, that's when you pray. Okay? That's when
you do it. And it, does it, you know, I
only find, let me show you one warning about this. In Matthew
6, look at verse 5. The only warning I see about
this is not to be a hypocrite. And here's how you recognize
a hypocrite, okay, and recognize hypocrisy in ourselves, is in
Matthew 6, verse 5. And when you pray, thou shalt
not be as hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the street, that they may
be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
You see, the hypocrite loves to pray when it's in public. You understand? When he gets
to stand up in front of folks, or when he's got his family sitting
down there on the table, and they can't go anywhere or do
anything. He can just go on and on and on, whatever. The man
who's seen Christ sits terrified of what the old man thinks and
feels and might say, and sits in awe of the responsibility
of praying and praising and thanking and petitioning our God for people
publicly. He doesn't love to stand praying.
But I tell you what, he bows to the command of our Lord, which
says men ought always to pray whenever and not faint. You understand? When he calls on you, Stan, you
don't go and fall on the floor. You know, you don't go, no, don't
call on me, I can't do that. No, I mean, you have to, because
it's the command of our Lord. Don't faint from it. You know?
Don't faint from it. But listen, you need to pray
that a man doesn't faint from it. Because otherwise, you know,
we all just run out of here and go, I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to take that responsibility on. We need to pray and encourage
those who are called to lead in public prayer. Because true
servants of God don't love to pray standing. You understand? They're not hypocrites. No. But
don't misunderstand. All God's people do love to pray. It's a privilege to the believer
to pray. Listen, it's a privilege to pray, but not to be seen of
men. If it makes you squirm when you
go out to eat and you see people holding hands around a table
and And, you know, they make a big deal out of it. And listen,
we ought to give thanks. I don't care if we're out in
public or not. You know, we ought to give thanks for our food,
all right? But I tell you what, we don't
have to all stand up and hold hands and bow our heads and make
everybody in the restaurant look at us and think, oh, aren't they
good? That's hypocrisy. Now, I'm telling you, it's drawing
attention to ourselves instead of... It's just... That's what this is talking about,
okay? Hypocrisy. All right, look at verse 6 here
again. It says, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret. Listen, when we pray, it needs
to be in secret. And it doesn't mean now, it doesn't
mean, and this is where should men pray. Where should we pray? When should we pray? Whenever.
Where should we pray? It says here in the closet. Well,
does that mean we go home and we get empty the closet out and
now we got to get in there every once in a while and shut the
door and pray? Is that what it means? No. But it does, that's
a picture of what we ought to do. We ought to shut the world
out. Find some place. I don't care, sometimes when
I get my cards, about the only place I can shut them all out.
You know what I'm saying? But find you a place where you
can just be quiet, and you shut the door, and you can talk with
God Almighty. I tell you what, if you want
to, if us, if you ladies, if you ladies want to take a minute
and tell your husband, You know, honey, I appreciate you. I love you. I know you work hard.
You just provide for us, and you're kind to me. And I haven't
told you in a long time, I love you with all my heart. You're
not going down here under that Confederate monument in the middle
of town to try to draw a crowd, are you? Huh? No, this is personal. This is between you and the one
you love. All right? Well, listen. If we're
in love with Christ, get away somewhere where the radios aren't
blaring at you. You know, and you can tell Him
how much you love Him. You understand? That you can
thank Him for what He's done for you. You can praise Him and tell
Him, Man, you know, you're marvelous. You're great! You know? That's
where we should pray, not on a street corner. It doesn't matter
if Peter got up on a rooftop, our Lord got in the Garden of
Gethsemane, He went in the mountain, David rose up at midnight, Hezekiah
turned his face to the wall. and pray. You understand? It's not so much a place. Timothy
said, I will therefore that men pray everywhere. So no place
on earth is off limits. The secret place just means it
comes from the heart, from the heart. All right, let me move
ahead here. The seventh thing is to whom
do we pray? To whom do we pray? All right,
Let me show you, I'll show you one verse and we'll wrap this
up. You hold Matthew 6 and turn to Romans 15 real quick. I've
just got one more point after this. Romans 15, to whom do we
pray? We pray to God by his Spirit
and for Christ's sake. Is that too hard to understand?
We pray to God the Father, by His Spirit, for Christ's sake. And I'll show you that in one
verse. That's all you need to see. Romans 15, verse 30. Now
as I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
you see, for Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that's
by His Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers
to God. For me. Is that clear? It's so
simple. Prayer doesn't have to be hard
now. It doesn't. It doesn't. It's to God, by His
Spirit, for Christ's sake, on your own behalf or behalf of
someone else. All right. That's to whom we pray. Now,
very quickly, what's the results of prayer? Prayer is the believer's
blessed privilege. Let me tell you something. If
you're not praying, you're missing it now. You're just missing out
on, I mean, you may have been to Disney World, but you ain't
seen nothing. If you're not availing yourselves of the privilege of
prayer, the joy that's in prayer, communication with God the Father,
what would it be like if you were, if you could, you know,
if you could never speak to your spouse again? What would it be
like, Joe, huh? You could never speak to her
again. Listen, it'd be awful. And I know us men jabber on about
it. My wife never shuts up. Listen,
hogwash. We'd go nuts if they stopped
talking to us. We don't want them to. Do we?
No, I don't want my wife to stop talking to me. No. Part of maturity
is learning to listen. That's the big problem, is we
don't know how to listen. And that's the other reason maybe
we don't speak so much, is we don't understand God always listens.
He's listening now. Just because we don't, don't
transfer that attribute to him, he listens to his people. He
doesn't shut his wife off. He doesn't let it go on one ear
and out the other. God Almighty is listening. Communication
with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son by His Spirit,
it gives joy and comfort and peace. You see here in verse
6 of Matthew 6, it says, Thy Father shall reward thee openly.
And I can prove that to you. Having been taught to pray has
been openly rewarded." You say, what are the rewards? Well, the
first thing is that Christ-centered preaching goes on here day in,
day out, week after week, month after month. Christ-centered
preaching, that's the greatest blessing. Secondly, is that you've
got a beautiful place to worship. You don't have to sit out in
some hut or something. Thirdly, you have blessed fellowship
with Christ and with Christ's people. It's a great blessing.
You have prosperity. Now, I know you maybe don't have
Ross Perot coming here, but you don't need him here. If you did,
he'd be here, I'm telling you, or someone with his money. But
you have faithful missionaries to support, don't you? And individually,
all your needs are met abundantly, and most of you want. That's what the rewards of prayer
can be, okay? And sometimes, if not often,
we ask for what's not in our best interest. And you know,
our Father's so good that knowing what we need, even before we
ask, He gives us what we need instead of what we ask for. Huh? Yeah, He's so good He does that
for us. And I have some examples of prayer here, but we're about
out of time. I just want, let me give you
one. You remember when the Lord was teaching his disciples, he
said, two men went in the temple. You remember that? And one of
them, boy, he just strode right down front, didn't he? And he
raised his hands up and stood right out there at the front
of the altar, didn't he? You remember what he said? He said,
God, he said, I thank you that I'm not like other men. Especially
like that one back there, pointing at the publican, didn't he? You
remember that? Now, that's one example he gave. And keep in
mind, that example, this fellow stood, and he loved standing
there. And our Lord said he's a hypocrite,
didn't he? And you notice it says in there he prayed with
himself. He wasn't praying to God by his
spirit for Christ's sake. He was praying with himself.
You understand? He's talking to himself. And then he said, I thank thee.
You know what he's really saying? He was saying, God, aren't you
glad I'm not like these other folks? You see that? That's his heart. The other fellow,
on the other hand, the publican, he did, he stood to it, says.
But there's nothing wrong with standing on the outside if you're
kneeling on the inside. That's the reason it doesn't
matter whether you're praying standing up here, sitting there,
or on your face. It doesn't matter. It's the position
of the heart that matters. It's with bending the knee of
the heart. And he stood afar off, not up front, but afar off,
and he so much wanted to pray from that secret place in his
heart, you know what he did? He smote on his breast, as if
he could pound out what was on his heart and mind. And that's
a good example. And his prayer, how long was
it? What, five words? Seven words? Seven words, God
be merciful to me, the same. Not a very long prayer, and we
all understand it, don't we? Well, let me summarize this way. Several things can greatly affect
our joy and peace in this life, and we ought to be mindful of
these things. Number one, do we avail ourselves
of every opportunity to sit under the Word? Now, listen to me here. I'm telling you something important.
several things greatly affect our joy and peace in this life.
If you without some joy and without much peace, maybe we need to
give some attention to these things, and the first one is
sitting under the gospel. Every time the doors are open,
Sunday school, I mean, listen, when your pastor is teaching
verse by verse on Sunday morning, You may miss everything else,
but you better not miss that, and I'll tell you why. That's
how God's people become mature in Christ. I can tell you, when
I grew from being, and don't misunderstand me, I'm not mature
in Christ at all. I'm not using myself as an example, but I know
when I went from a baby in Christ to a young man in Christ, and
that's when I, when Henry started having Sunday morning Bible studies,
and you sat there week after week after week, absorbing God's
Word as God presented it, verse by verse by verse by verse. And
if you're not having much comfort and much joy and much peace in
this life, that's the number one thing. I can promise you
this. You ever, on Wednesday night, I get home some Wednesday
night. I've driven 800 miles. I'm wore out. I'm tired. I tell
Becky, I don't think I can make it. She says, come on now, you
can. And you go to church. It'll be the biggest blessing
you'll ever have if you'll go. I'm telling you. You got to almost
understand me. Ask God to make you go, to get
you there. Whatever. Sit under the Word. The second
thing is, Do we flee from temptation? I mean flee from it. Run. Ask
God Almighty to keep us. Thirdly, do we often look in
the God's Word? We need to spend time in the
Word. And the fourth thing, the fourth thing of the several things
that greatly affect our joy and peace in this life, the fourth
thing is, do we pray? Do we pray? Fellas, I can tell
you the way, the way to make The relationship between you
and your wife, twice as sweet as it's ever been. This is not
a ribs-eyed figure-out. Somebody told me this, and they
were right. That's, not only start listening to her, start
talking to her. When she talks, listen to her.
You don't have to solve all her problems. That's not what she
wants. God will do that in due time. But she needs to tell somebody. She needs to tell her head of
her family. Listen. I'll tell you what, if
you want some sweet communion with God Almighty, talk to Him. Talk to Him. Talk to Him by the
power of His Spirit for Christ's sake. It'll bless you. It'll
bless you. Life will get sweeter, be full
of more joy and comfort. And again, I'm not telling you
this because I've arrived and I know all the answers But that's
what this book says. That's what this book says. Okay? Well, may the Lord bless His
word, our prophet. I'm going to leave us in a closing
hymn, please. Go.