Many years ago, I heard of a poll that was taken from numerous pastors. It asked the following question, “What was the most important thing in ministry?” Not at all surprising, the overwhelming answer was that of PRAYER. However, when asked about how much time was given to prayer in relation to everything else, the amount of time spent praying was at the bottom of the list. What a sad commentary! If the people who know with certainty of the importance of prayer are not spending adequate time facilitating the prayer closet, then how much worse it must be for the average church member! The following sermon outline addresses this issue.
Title: “Get Back Into The Closet!”
Text: Matthew 6:5-6
(Matthew 6:5-6) “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.” (KJV)
Introduction:
• We need to get back to secret praying!
• A good way to measure our praying is how much time we spend in the closet praying!
• Consider what Leonard Ravehill stated in his book Why Revival Tarries:
“Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”
Proposition: There are five things I want to draw our attention to in this passage of Scripture concerning prayer!
I. We Should Pray!
“ But thou, when thou prayest…”
A. Jesus prefaces His statement about prayer with an assumption that people will pray!
B. All children of God should pray!
II. We Should Have A Place!
“…enter into thy closet…”
A. We should frequent our place of prayer “physically”!
B. I feel that having a certain place to pray helps me! – Jesus went to the Garden often!
C. We should frequent our place “figuratively”! – We can take our position with Christ at the throne of God in holy intercession for our brethren!
III. We Should Shut Ourselves In!
“…when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret…”
A. When we get down to business we need to do what we can to keep distractions from coming about!
B. Jesus means for us to focus our attention on prayer and worship!
C. This door is also referring to the fact that we should get alone and not always do our praying in front of others!
IV. We Should Remember God Rewards Our Prayer Efforts!
“…thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
A. Jesus promises that The Father WILL see us praying!
B. Jesus said that God the Father would reward our secret praying!
C. Jesus gives us some strong consolation to the fact that God will give us answers that others will see even though they may not have known of our praying beforehand!
Conclusion:
To The Sinner:
• Repent and be saved!
To The Christian:
• Get back into the closet!
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Why Revival Tarries
By Leonard Ravenhill / Bethany House Leonard Ravenhill’s call to revival is as timely now as it was when first published over forty years ago. The message is fearless and often radical as he expounds on the disparity between the New Testament church and the church today. This book contains the heart of his message, A.W. Tozer called Ravenhill “a man sent from God” who “appeared at (a) critical moment in history,” just as the Old Testament prophets did. Included are questions for group and individual study. |
