November 1, 2015

The Danger of Hypocritical Praying

Pastor: Pastor Marc Wragg Series: Matthew Passage: Matthew 6:5–15

In Christ’s day, some men made long prayers as a public show of their piousness. Even today, men sometimes use prayer as an opportunity to demonstrate their eloquence and biblical fluency, their boldness as they “command” God to perform some work, or their spiritual power as they cry out for mystical and emotional experiences with the Spirit of God. Jesus condemned self-serving prayer, and exhorted us instead to pray to the Father in secret. His intent was not to ban public prayer, but to expose the hypocrisy of prayers made for the approval of men. How can we avoid such hypocrisy? Remember that our prayers should be an honest reflection of our private thoughts. We do not pray to impress men, or even to inform or coerce God. We pray to align our will with His, and to build our faith as we see Him work through our prayers to fulfill His Word. And if you're not sure how you should pray, don't worry. The Spirit of God will intercede for you with groanings too deep for words.

other sermons in this series

Jan 17

2021

Make Disciples

Pastor: Pastor Marc Wragg Passage: Matthew 28:16–20 Series: Matthew

Jan 3

2021

Just as He Said

Pastor: Pastor Marc Wragg Passage: Matthew 28:1–7 Series: Matthew