Matthew 6:5-8

Intro: Welcome My Friends

BIBLE TEXT: Matthew 6:5-8 ““And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Sermon Title: It’s a Relationship

Joke:

WE HAVE a sprinkler system in our lawn, and there was a time a few years ago that I couldn’t get it to come on. I called a serviceman over and asked him to take a look at it. He looked at my water sprinkler for about an hour or so. Then he came back and said the wire that makes the electrical contact from the timer to the system unit and tells the sprinkler to come on was not connected. My lawn was supposed to be automatically watered by the sprinkler system at set days and times. The timer didn’t work so the sprinkler didn’t water. If you were to drive by my house, you would discover that my green lawn was starting to turn brown. The longer the sprinkler was inoperative, the more brown the grass was getting. The problem wasn’t that my sprinkler system wasn’t working, nor was the problem that I didn’t have water. It just wouldn’t turn on because the wire from the timer had broken contact with the mechanism that lets my system know to turn this on.Some Christians have lives that are getting brown. Some of them have lost their greenness. Some of them do not have abundant life anymore. It’s not because there’s a water problem. Jesus says in the Word that He will give us a well that will spring up into eternal life. It’s not because there is a power problem, because Jesus says in the Word that He will give us the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to power the pump and to get the water working. The problem is that the wire that connects your will with His power has been disconnected, so there is no flow of water and your life is turning brown instead of staying green. If you’re developing a brown lawn in your life, it may be because there’s a connection problem.

Title Points: Praying Is A Relationship

Bible Text : Matthew 6:5-6 ““And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

One Teaching Idea: (1 Sentence or Less)

6:5 When they prayed publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone could see them, they were not praying at all

Jesus taught that we find the essence of prayer not in public but in private communication with God. For these hypocrites, people’s praise is all the reward they will ever get.

6:6 If they really wanted to fellowship with God, Jesus suggested this: “When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly.

Cross Reference: 2 Kings 4:33 “He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.”

1st Point: Pray In Silent

One Application:

Private prayer enables believers to pour out their hearts to God, express their true feelings, and listen in the quietness for God’s answer

Personal Story: I love watching War Room the Movie. That movie was a big influence to having people start up their own prayer closets

Outline 1

Bible Text : Matthew 6:7-8 “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

One Teaching Idea: (1 Sentence or Less)

Jesus told his followers, “Don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do.” The believers did not pray to idols of wood or stone; they prayed to the one living and true God

Cross Reference: Ecclesiastes 5:2 “Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.”

2nd Point: You are not a Robot

One Application: God doesn’t need our prayers; but he wants our prayers and knows that we need them. Prayer develops the trust that says, “Father, you know best.”

Personal Story:

I remember being in mens bible study and always heard this guy praying for a super long time but kept going on and on. When you thought he was finished he kept going

Outline 2

Bible Text

One Teaching Idea: (1 Sentence or Less)

Cross Reference:

2nd Point

One Application:

Personal Story:

Outline 3

Bible Text :

One Teaching Idea: (1 Sentence or Less)

Cross Reference:

3rd Point

One Application:

Personal Story:

Matthew 6:8 ““Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Are prayers are measured by weight not by length!

God is not impressed with the length but he looks at the heart.

In the physical side of working out. We see that people go to the gym 2-3 hrs a day, and only improving the outside man

When you can get more work done in 10-20 min. Which works on the inside man and conditions the heart from the inside out.

Cross Reference: Ecclesiastes 5:2 “Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.”