THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER 2 A lot of Christians today fail - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

2 A lot of Christians today fail to see the relevance of prayer in their lives as well as in the church. Prayer meetings are not as well attended as they should be, and even some pastors themselves downplay the importance of prayer. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

3 Some years ago, I got hold of statistics that divulged that pastors spend on the average only about 5 MINUTES of prayer everyday. If the leaders of the church don’t model a life of prayer, then WE CANNOT EXPECT THE FOLLOWERS TO GO BEYOND WHERE THEIR LEADERS HAVE NOT BEEN. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

4 EARLY CHURCH This sad spiritual state is a far cry from what the early church had modeled. At a time when the church was threatened with the possibility of a great divide because of a misunderstanding in the distribution of food between the Hellenistic Jews and the native Hebrews, THE TWELVE APOSTLES STOOD PAT ON THEIR SPIRITUAL PRIORITIES. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

5 ACTS 6:1-4 1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number , a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food . 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “ It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3 “ Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 “ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

6 The Biblical philosophy of ministry that the twelve held on to was that PRAYER AND THE WORD were their TOP PRIORITIES. Sadly, these two things are no longer given the proper attention and devotion that is needed for the church to create a powerful impact on society. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

7 The Lord Jesus Christ Himself held on to this philosophy of ministry and this is the reason why He got outraged at the Jews at the temple in Jerusalem for failing to see what the Temple stood for, which was PRAYER . THE TRAGEDY OF PRAYERLESSNESS

8 I. III. THE TEMPLE’S CONSEQUENCE PURPOSE: PRAYER II. KINDS OF UNRIGHTEOUS PRAYERS THAT JEWS PRAYED THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

9 THE TEMPLE’S PURPOSE: PRAYER 12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is I. written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.” MATTHEW 21 THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

10 I . THE TEMPLE’S PURPOSE: PRAYER The vendors were selling their The poor could ill afford the These merchants had merchandise which was to be offerings that were sold, actually prevented the poor used as temple offerings at an preventing them from Jewish people from fulfilling extremely exorbitant price, worshipping God and their spiritual obligations, such that only the rich and praying acceptable prayers at thus incurring the wrath of well to do would be able to the temple. the Son of God. make offerings to God. Jesus succinctly points out one Indeed, they deserved to be of the major purposes of the Jesus declares the driven out of the temple area temple, aside from its being a temple to be a “house as they were a hindrance to place where atonement could of prayer .” the worship of God. be provided for the offending sinners. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

11 2 CHRONICLES 6 18 “But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. 19 “Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You; 20 that Your eye may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. 21 “Listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

12 ▪ Sadly, the temple had degenerated into a place of hypocrisy and a place where people were exploited for the sake of material gain. ▪ PRAYER was no longer a priority for the Jewish people! ▪ And if prayers were prayed, much of the prayers that were prayed in that temple were unrighteous prayers. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

13 KINDS OF UNRIGHTEOUS PRAYERS THAT JEWS PRAYED 1. MEANINGLESS REPETITIONS: II. Some prayers that were prayed here were meaningless repetitions that hit the ceiling and fell back to the ground. 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. MATTHEW 6 THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

14 KINDS OF UNRIGHTEOUS PRAYERS THAT JEWS PRAYED 2. SHOWBOATING PRAYERS: II. Others prayed as a way of “showboating” their spirituality. 5“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. MATTHEW 6 THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

15 KINDS OF UNRIGHTEOUS PRAYERS THAT JEWS PRAYED 3. SELF-GLORIFYING PRAYERS: II. There were others who also prayed seeking to glorify themselves before God. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

16 9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” LUKE 18 THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

17 KINDS OF UNRIGHTEOUS PRAYERS THAT JEWS PRAYED 3. SELF-GLORIFYING PRAYERS: II. There were others who also prayed seeking to glorify themselves before God. This kind of prayer is adverse to the true spirit of prayer which should exude humility and not pride. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

18 THE CONSEQUENCE These were kinds of prayers that were being III. prayed by the nation of Israel and so it is no wonder that it was not producing the fruit that would have caused God’s kingdom to be established in Israel during the FIRST COMING of Jesus. Christ had already announced on so many occasions that the “ kingdom of heaven is at hand” , but since they had rejected the King Himself, that kingdom had to be postponed and will have to be fulfilled in the distant future at the SECOND COMING . THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

19 Sadly, because of this sorry spiritual state, they were totally unprepared to receive their King. Jesus said in MATTHEW 23 : 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

We as a church do not want to fall into judgment as the nation of Israel because of their PRAYERLESSNESS or INEFFECTUAL PRAYERS . THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

NAZI HOLOCAUST THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER

THE TRAGEDY OF NEGLECTING PRAYER