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Okay, we're continuing this evening with the book of Matthew. We're in chapter number six and tonight We're continuing with the Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Mount is a sermon that Jesus preached and it covers chapters five six and seven and Over the last couple of or actually two weeks ago or so when we started chapter five And when we concluded chapter five, we see that a lot of it Regarding the Sermon on the Mount. It's just a lot of practical teaching, right? Just a lot of practical teaching a lot of pragmatic principles for Christians to apply He basically covers what it means to be blessed of God what it means to be persecuted He covers the fact that where the light of the world assault of the earth He covers the subjects of making oaths and divorce and he also covers The subject of just loving your enemies right and not just loving your neighbors But also loving your enemies doing good to them that hate you and despitefully use you So a lot of great practical teaching but one of my one of the reasons that this particular sermon is one of my favorites Did Jesus preach it's because of the fact that it does have a lot of practical teaching in it regarding just simple fundamental Christian virtues that we're to practice in our day-to-day lives But as he's giving these principles he uses bad examples to tell you how not to do it Okay, and the reason I like that is because sometimes when I preach About a particular subject, you know, I'll often call out particular people, you know in this world Whether it's pastors or false prophets to kind of give an example of how not to do it Right and people will often have a problem with that. They don't like that They you know, they they're kind of softies about that and a little sensitive and they're just kind of like, you know Oh, you have to copy Wow when you preach or whatever But here we see that Jesus even teaching the most fundamentally just sound Virtues of the Christian faith is still using bad people to show you what not to do because even in this particular chapter in chapter 6 he says don't do as the hypocrites, right and So he's given the bad example of the hypocrites which we know to be the Pharisees Sadducees and the stripes Now what's also interesting about this sermon is that he progressively begins to expose the Pharisees little by little Because in chapter 5 you don't really hear anything about them until the latter end You know We can surmise that he might be talking about the Pharisees because he talks about you have heard that has been said by them of Old and when you compare that with some of the deeds that the Pharisees did it's like, okay Maybe he's talking about the Pharisees, but then in chapter 6, he's like the hypocrites, right? And The reason we know that he's talking about the Pharisees right here is because in chapter 23 When he's rebuking the scribes in the Pharisees, he says won't you scribes and Pharisees? Hypocrites he says it eight times. Okay, and when we look at chapter 6, you know Obviously it's referring to the Pharisees because they're the ones in the synagogues. They're the ones who? Exert these hyper spiritual attributes, etc And so he's obviously referring to them and then this sermon culminates to chapter 7 talking about false prophets So he's just like he kind of talks about them indirectly He just hits on them a little bit and then I'm pretty sure by chapter 7 whoever is in the crowd Obviously already knows. Okay, he's talking about the religious leaders of our day. He's obviously addressing the Pharisees here And so it's a great sermon. I love it And I'm sure a lot of people got offended by it, but you know, who cares and so tonight We're gonna cover a couple things We're gonna cover alms giving prayer fasting and maybe get into some of the treasures This might be a two-part, but we shall see look at verse number one here It says take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them Otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven Therefore when thou doest thine alms Do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward But when thou doest alms Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly. So let me say a couple things about alms giving Now one of the the primary things about this particular sermon is that he hits a lot on rewards We see that in chapter 5 But he also talks about the importance of doing things in secret so that God can reward you openly and he starts off with talking About alms now, what are alms? Well, we don't really use that term or that word today We would more readily use charity Right when you think about being charitable to someone giving someone of your resources Money food things of that nature someone who's less fortunate than you We would say you're being charitable with someone and that actually fits the context because previous to this He says love your enemies do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you Well another word for love in the Bible is what charity right? So he's saying there, you know give alms But make sure you're careful that you don't do it before men to be seen of them. Okay, and Then he says if you're seen of them Obviously you're not going to get a reward in heaven because of it look at verse 2 He says therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet Before the as the hypocrites do in the synagogues in the street. So what is this referring to? Well, actually before I get into that, let me just say this is the alms in the Bible as I mentioned is charity Don't mistake it with the tie Okay A lot of times people will mistake this just because it's it's hitting on the subject of giving or resources and so automatically people Associate alms with tithing but tithing is something completely different Okay, tithing is something that's it's it's it's referring to the 10% of your gross income It's a system that God instituted in the Old Testament to keep the operation of the house of God going and It's not something that's been repealed in the New Testament, by the way, because a lot of people will tell you Oh, that's Old Testament. We're not supposed to give tithes anymore. That's all Old Testament. You know, it's funny I can't find a verse in the New Testament that says hey no more offerings. No more tides Okay, you know we see meats drinks diverse washings cardinal ordinances that includes the tithe as well But here's the thing folks is the tithe in the Old Testament doesn't foreshadow anything The things that were done away with in the New Testament are things that Jesus Christ are essentially foreshadowed Jesus Christ You understand and so the reason we don't do those things anymore is because Jesus Christ is the culmination of those ordinances In the New Testament when he was crucified on the cross He became the the the completion of those symbolic representations of the Old Testament Tithing is not one of them. You know, I mean, it's just like well Jesus is like 10% or you know It's like he gave his hundred percent or something. You know, you can't make it fit. Okay Don't try to overly spiritualize tithing tithing was simply a system that God instituted to keep the house of God going in the Old Testament and the house of God going in the New Testament because the priest and Levites in the Old Testament, you know, they needed to make a salary in order to keep this operation going, right? I mean they had a lot of responsibilities a lot of work to do and And so people needed to tithe God commanded his people to tithe in order to sustain those laborers in the Old Testament Well now in the New Testament, we don't have a temple that we meet in Although some churches for some reason are called Baptist temples I don't know why they do that You know, we meet in a church a local New Testament Church and the Bible says that this is the house of God the pillar And ground of truth and it calls it the church so now the house of God is a local New Testament Church made up of Baptized believers and lo and behold we still need tides. Amen Why is that well because of the fact that a church is run by a pastor bishop elder It has employees such as an evangelist a deacon Things of that nature and a church has bills to pay, you know We got a we got to have a place to meet got to keep the lights on When it's 90 degrees in the summer, it's nice to have AC Amen, nice to have seats and hymns and we need to pay for printed material We need to pay for soul winning trips and missions trips Activities things of that nature that all requires resources that is collected by the tides of the members Understand so don't buy into this house church mentality It says well, we're all pastors. We're all equal here and we should in tide Everyone should just do it out of the goodness of their hearts, okay? Why don't you go to your secular job and do that job out of the goodness of your heart and see how that works for? you Right because the pastor is as much a job as anything else. Okay, and Something needs to keep this operation going and luckily God instituted the system of tides in order to keep that going That's not what this is referring to alms is something you give out of charity to someone who's less fortunate than you You know a poor individual who is not able to provide for himself because they're handicapped for whatever reason, you know They're just incapable That's referring to an arm. So this is out of the goodness of your heart. You see someone in need You see someone who has a need for whatever reason you want to be a blessing to someone that would be considered an arm Okay, when you give that that particular thing to that person whether it's money food raiment things of that nature and So here he says, okay. So when you give alms though don't sound a trumpet and He uses the example of the hypocrites in the synagogue and obviously we know that he's he's using hyperbole right, like the Pharisees are not in like the in the synagogue with the literal trumpet like As they're giving or something What he's basically trying to get across here is that the Pharisees are obviously calling attention to themselves as they're giving their alms They're trying to get people to see and watch them do the spiritual act of giving alms Because they want the glory of men. They want the recognition of people Because they're just that proud and arrogant and hyper spiritual and wicked. Okay So The reason he's giving this admonition here is because Christians can often fall into that trap as well In other words desiring the praise of men the recognition of men to admiration of men Because of some work some alms that you do some D that you do and so he's saying look When you give alms when you are a blessing to someone don't sound a trumpet don't sound a horn Don't sound any type of instrument. Don't call attention to yourself as you're doing it. Okay, so Because of the fact that if you do that, then I'm not going to reward you is what he's saying Okay When you give an alms to someone when you give to someone who's less fortunate to you or you're just a blessing to someone You actually get yourself a reward by God whether in the immediate future or in the resurrection Because the Bible says when you give to someone who cannot recompense you back you will be recompensed in the regeneration referring to the resurrection Okay, so God blesses you for that particular alms that you gave that charity that you gave To that particular person. However, if you're doing it with the motive to be seen of men though You know, you kind of look left and you're like, all right, everyone's looking now's the time, you know You just and you do that then it's like, okay Well, you already got your reward because what you really wanted was for people to look at you do that You wanted the glory of men? You know you understand you wanted people to recognize you and see how spiritual you are See what a great Christian you are that is what you desire and so that's that's what you're gonna get But you're not gonna get anything from God in case what he's saying now What this particular passage is teaching is discretion When you do the service of God learn discretion, don't sound a trumpet Okay, if you run a true reward be discreet about it. Okay. Now when I look at this particular passage here, I think of one person Specifically, okay, and I'm thinking of a famous youtuber actually whose name is mr. Beast You guys know what I'm talking about this guy's a really popular youtuber who is sent I mean everyone knows even though the child knows who mr. Beast is, you know, but mr. Beast is a famous youtuber He has about 150 million subscribers, okay, and he's essentially responsible for creating this genre of Videos where he does these really expensive stunts and challenges, but he's very much known for his just Extravagant donations that he gives because he gives away a lot of money and this guy obviously, he's really rich Okay, obviously, he's very wealthy He has a lot of money and a lot of his videos are based upon him giving away a lot of this money. Okay, and You said what's wrong with that? He's giving away money because you give away a lot of money like hundreds of thousands of dollars Okay, I mean if you look at his videos He's just like hundred deaf people here for the first time and you know It's referring to the fact that he's providing hearing aids for the deaf Okay, like hunter blind people see for the first time and he's providing something for them so they can see you know, it's it's a lot of those types of videos and he even has I think a particular video where you know, he goes to a restaurant or something and He the waitress comes and he tips the waitress a brand new car. I Mean this girl is probably ecstatic about that right like who would not want a car as a tip You said how do you know all these things Oh because he sounds a trumpet So when he uploads that video it gets millions of views So that everyone can see his philanthropy, right? They can see his generosity, you know from a world's perspective. It's just like well, there's nothing wrong You know, he's giving away a lot of money. He doesn't seem like an immoral person. He doesn't seem like a wicked person He's not doing anything immoral per se he's doing the world of service by giving away all that money What's the problem with that? well the problem with that is is that he's created a Generation of young people who are only willing to be generous as long as people are watching who are only willing to be a blessing to someone and feed the poor and give away money as Long as it can go on their Instagram on their social media platform and millions of people can see it So it's not necessary out of a motive because they want to help people It's not because they want to be a blessing to someone it's not because they truly want to help the less fortunate It's because it gets them views because they want the glory of man is what it is. Okay And here's the thing like obviously mr. Beast probably not even safe, right? I mean, I never had a personal conversation with him, but I'm just gonna guess he's probably not saved. Okay. He's calling himself. Mr. Beast You know, that's not necessarily a good name for a Christian if he is one and I don't think he's even claiming to be a Christian But let's just pretend for a minute that he is a Christian, you know, he's not gonna get any rewards from God All right, he's not gonna get anything from God. I mean imagine think about all the millions and millions of dollars He's invested by giving to people and all the vehicles and just millions of dollars that he's invested It's all down the toilet cuz it's not gonna count for anything in the eyes of God because he got his reward You said what's his reward the views? The million views is the reward Which end up making makes him more money and then he's giving away more money, but in the eternal it does nothing Okay Does nothing at all and so it's creating a generation of young people who are essentially, you know, yeah, they're being generous Yeah, they're giving away a lot of money. Yeah, they're you know doubling and pass it to Double it and give it to the next person Would you take this or give it to someone else double it and give it to the next person is just like oh man So many generous people but folks millions of people are watching this so it's not really for that Is it because if it was really for the motive of being a blessing to others you wouldn't have to film and upload it So you can get a bunch of views Etc. Okay, and so He's not gonna get any rewards for that. He has his reward which is the glory of men now don't mistake this when it says To be seen of men because obviously people in general Will probably see your works and in fact in chapter 5 if you remember what does it say? Let your life so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven So, how do we reconcile this? Well, the way you reconcile is this when we do our good works we should do with the motive of people glorifying God Whereas this person who's doing the works to be seen of men wants to be glorified by men They want they want to be glorified. I don't care about God getting the glory and So obviously he's not saying that when you do a deed And alms deed when you're a blessing to someone else you give away Resources you have to be so secretive about it No one's gonna see you and if anyone even peeks at what you're doing you just lost your reward He's obviously referring to his motive of the heart. Right? Why are you doing this? Are you doing this because you genuinely love that person? You want to be a blessing to that person or is it because you're hoping to gain an audience? So that people can see how spiritual you are. Okay that's obviously a wicked thing to do and You know, it kind of shows you that there's people in this world that do a lot of good things for the wrong reasons You know, there's a lot of Christians out there There's a lot of fake Christians out there, you know, for example the Pentecostal movement, for example I mean their services are just filled With people who are doing these outward spiritual actions, but they're only doing it to be seen of men Okay, it's not because they love the Lord and it's not because they're demon-possessed either. It's just You know, they're just trying to show off or something. They're hyper spiritual and So Obviously in this particular room, I don't think that we have any mr. Beast I don't think anybody's that rich to give away that much money or give away all those cars or anything But you know, this is a temptation that Christians can fall into Where they do particular services or deeds or in order to be seen of others Okay, and we need to be aware of that type of mentality that we don't fall into that trap that we become these Christians who are eager to be seen of men and therefore that's why we do those deeds Our motive should be because we love the Lord we love others and because we want a reward, right? Not because we want the praise of man more than the praise of God or something and I'll give you an example You know because this goes into the realm of just being like a hyper spiritual person. Okay? I'll give you an example of this, you know Years ago. I won't say about four or five years ago. I went on a missions trip to Mexico with my at that time my boss pastor Anderson and We went to this particular place and there was it was a big soul-winning trip a mission trip to Mexico and It was a lot of fun. I mean we saw a lot of people saved It was very receptive, but I remember like the first couple hours pastor Anderson and I were we're coupled together We're teamed up to go sowing and we got like no one saved like no one got saved okay, so like the pastor Anderson the one who actually put the trip together got no one saved and then his evangelist is working from The evangelist gets no one saved. Okay, so just like, you know, this is how bad it was Okay So we come back and we meet with everyone and everyone's like we got ten got five We got this many and it's just like awesome You know, we're rejoicing and there's one particular person who came up and was just like yeah I got like 15 or something, you know some ridiculous number and Then and then that person looked at us is like how many did you guys get we like we got zero? And he's like, oh What's the problem? Why they're like because I don't know we just got no one saved I mean we can't force anybody to get saved We're gonna do you want us to lie or something? And it's just like what's wrong? Why didn't you get anybody saved? I mean it's I mean this person wanted to say like aren't you guys like, you know, the leaders here kind of thing And I remember pastor Anderson saying well, we're on the same team. So what's the big deal? I mean, this is a team effort with my soul in here, right? And previous to this he had told beam that he had warned the group basically like hey no hyper spiritual people Hyper-spiritual attitudes on the mission strip You know, none of this attitude because people have a tendency to get that attitude Especially when it comes to soul when he for some reason, okay, they get this Pharisaical hyper-spiritual attitude and And lo and behold someone end up being that way, right? Now later on we ended up getting people saved But I that stuck with me because I was the first time I actually encountered someone like that and this person Down the road became a really wicked person by the way, they were not even saved Okay, they ended up going apostate and believing you could lose your salvation You know, it kind of shows you that people who are hyper spiritual They're either babes in Christ or they're just really wicked people Okay, and this person ended up being just a really wicked individual who taught false doctrine and and just went off the deep end But you know it kind of showed me that and by the way this person on the trip was boasting of their Salvations and how long they go so winning and all these things However, I do remember one particular time because he he had instructed the team and he said we're gonna go so winning for this Amount of time. Okay, and he specifically told people if you want to go longer than that. That's true. That's perfectly fine But don't peer pressure people into going with you if they don't want to go Don't make people feel bad don't guilt-trip people and don't even do it indirectly either Okay. Now what do you mean by that? Well, you know people are just like oh you want to go so long? Oh, no, I got something to do. Oh That's weird All right Wow But make people feel uncomfortable right that's a hyper spiritual attitude And He said, you know if you want to go that's perfectly fine, but don't make people feel bad if they don't go with you Okay so I remember the you know, the day was over and we're kind of all fellowshipping and it's nighttime and There's a couple people missing because they have gone a little extra and I remember this group came back, right? But they came back very humble. They're just kind of Snuck in and I remember seeing them and thinking all these guys went longer But you know, they didn't come in like oh man, what a day My god is just from so much region is just like look how worn out my Bible is. Oh, man You know, it's just kind of like These dogs are barking, you know, just like They're actually just very just quiet. They snuck in and we're all fellowshipping and they just join the conversation We just act like nothing happened and I remember my admiration for those guys went really high because I thought to myself these guys are really humble because I know they got more people saved and I know this guy could preach the gospel and He could preach the gospel so well, he doesn't need to tell people he can preach the gospel We could just see it you would cause me to do cause me to glorify God on his behalf I thought to myself this guy's really humble, you know Whereas the ones who are typically boasting they're the ones that's sounding the trumpet Okay, those are these are the hyper spiritual people that God is warning us to stay away from and not to be as well Okay, so we got to be aware that when we do Any type of deed of course, this is referring to alms that we're not sounding a trouble. We're not calling attention to ourselves We're not trying to put people down Right or make people feel bad or guilt trip people if they don't if they're not doing as much as you okay Now obviously from the pulpit I have to challenge God's people to step it up to do at least the bare minimum, right? Well, you know if people are doing the bare minimum We don't have to guilt trip people into doing more if they don't want to do more Or if they're not doing as much as you are, okay Now, you know, obviously people aren't gonna go out of their way to guilt trip you but they can do it indirectly And so we need to be aware of those indirect comments that people make and check people on that Okay, you know, we want to make sure that we normalize calling out hyper spirituality in our church That if someone starts displaying hyper spiritual attributes, we check that person and say hey, you're acting kind of hyper spiritual there You know, I thought pastor preached on Matthew 6 recently. They didn't mention some of these things and So don't do your alms before men to be seen of them. Don't sound a trumpet and You say well, you know don't like pastors upload their Sherman's though, isn't that like the same thing? No, because in Matthew chapter 10 Jesus specifically says what I tell you in darkness that speak ye in the light What I tell you in the ear that shall ye upon the housetops So he says when you hear the Word of God when you get the Word of God shout it from the house thoughts Put it on YouTube Instagram Spotify put it everywhere. Why because we want the Word of God to get out Okay, and I have no problem putting all my sermons out there No matter what consequences there are no matter who comes at us because that's what God wants He wants us to get the Word of God out there and not try to Censor it right just because the message is offensive we wanted to get out there because you know what some people are gonna get offended but some people are gonna like it and Some people are gonna be won over by it. And so when it comes to God's Word, that's not something you want to do in secret Okay, and sometimes people get that mixed up they like do that in secret, you know, they're preach really hard sermons But then it's just like they put it on private or something like that because they don't want you know, they don't want the persecution but here's the thing folks when you get persecuted you get rewarded and So just just allow it to come so he says in verse number three But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth again Using a little bit of hyperbole here obviously, whatever your left hand does your right hand is gonna know right? I mean you're They belong to you. Okay What is it about my just talk about discretion here? Okay you should be as try to be as discreet as you possibly can when you do these deeds and Not try to just sound a trumpet a horn of some sort now Let me give you an example of someone who did this in my personal life. Okay years ago I think I already shared this story, but it's pretty funny as we're sharing again Years ago when I was in Bible college, and I was a dorm supervisor I remember talking to someone and I had mentioned to this person like just in passing like man I really want to get an mp3 player you guys remember like the mp3 do we still are they still mp3 players around a little? There isn't yeah, see the older folks are like, yes, the younger folks are like, you know It's this little thing, you know where there's music and you put stuff and I remember saying like so I can listen to preaching I can listen to music and I just said it in passing but there's a guy in the dorms who had heard that and He was kind of a he was a generous person and one day I came home from work I think it was from work and I had my own room. I did I think I did share probably with brother Marcus or something I don't remember exactly and so I unlocked the door and I and I come in and on my bed is A package on the pillow, right? I'm like someone came in my room But the window the screen was like broken like someone broke in to my room They broke into my room right and the sheets were all dirty and stuff Like someone stepped in there and I'm just like what in the world? I mean, those are the kind of thieves you like right the ones that bring stuff not take stuff, right? So I go in there and I open it up and it's an mp3 player With sermons and and Christian music already in there I'm like, whoa, and so and there's a card in there. I pull out the card and and this is what it said it said Bruce This is for you to listen to Bible preaching and godly music sign God Now I'm not for people speaking on God's behalf in that manner like as if God actually wrote it I understand the intention of the person though, right? Now I knew the dorm guys very well I knew their writings because they had to like sign in and sign out and I'm like, I know who this is the ugliest writing here This guy I know this is very distinct writing here and it just so happened that he was in the other room. Okay So I walk in there and I was like and there's a couple guys and I was like Did you give me this and he and he was like offended? She's like no I'm like, are you sure cuz this looks like you're right. He's like I said no like And I at that point I realized okay. He doesn't want people knowing that he gave this to me So I just kind of let it go And you know, obviously he's not the most discreet person. Okay You know his his finger forensic files would have arrested him like really quick I mean like his fingerprints would have been all over this guy But I'm thankful for it But it showed me and he did this multiple times to multiple people in his mind It was very discreet but not very discreet obviously, but you know in his mind He's like I don't want people knowing that I gave these things and here's the thing people who have the spiritual gift of giving Obviously we all we're all supposed to be generous We're all supposed to practice that virtue of being generous certain people who just have that in them where they like to do that You know They a lot of times givers don't want people knowing that they're giving They do not they would like to be as anonymous as they possibly can When it comes to that and so that's how he was and I think that's a great attribute I think that's a great characteristic to possess to essentially be so discreet that you give with the intent of being a blessing to someone and they love the fact that they Can bless someone and make someone's day better or help someone or whatever and and not be recognized for it Okay, and that is something that we myself included we need to learn that right make sure that our left hand doesn't know What our right hand is doing he says in verse number four that thine alms may be in secret and thy father would seeth in Secret himself shall reward thee openly Now this doesn't negate the reward the eternal reward, right? In the resurrection this implies that you might get a reward even sooner than that says he rewards you openly and when you study the subject of rewards in the Bible you see that One deed or one action or one work that you do can actually produce a lot of work A lot of rewards, okay Rewards in the resurrection rewards in the regeneration but also just the immediate rewards that you get For doing those things and so that is the subject of alms there now look at verse number five We're gonna talk about prayer here all the way up until fasting now, I really wish The Catholics would read this part. Okay, and it's so funny that cults will often just Capitalize and they'll teach certain things that are just blatantly taught against in the Bible You know, I mean, it's just like the Mormons They got Moroni who's an angel who gave you the revelation to Joseph Smith? Even though the Bible says in Galatians if we are an angel from heaven preaching to the gospel that we have preached unto you Let him be accursed. It's like the devil looking at just like just give that one to the Mormons Okay, it's like the devil's looking at all these like, okay This one's Catholics. This is for Mormons because all cults will do things like this Where it's just something that's blatantly obvious in the Bible. They're just like say less We'll just do the exact opposite. Okay, and here's a perfect example. Okay, look at verse number five He says 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 why that they may be seen of men Verily I say to you they have their reward But one but that one thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou shut the 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 you ask him Okay, so what is he talking about here? Well again, he uses a bad example, right? Apparently the Pharisees and the Sadducees Love standing in the corners of the streets and the synagogues Praying out loud. Just kind of showing themselves to be really spiritual Lord, I am NOT as other men are right or Even as this publican or something. They love doing that because they want people to see. Oh, they're so Godly they're so devoted. Look how they pray and You know, this is a very vain thing to do here and he's saying there in verse number six that when we pray It's not the fact that you're being extravagant in prayer. That's the bad thing. Okay It's good to be passionate in prayer Okay The bad thing is like where you're doing it at, right? Here it says, you know, you should do it in your closet. Okay, and that's not to say we shouldn't pray in public per se but what it is saying is that the Extravagance of that prayer the passion of the prayer should be done somewhere else in private where only God can see you. Okay? Now let me say this is that you know, I've had people comment on on our videos my videos Our services and I've even heard people say like criticize the way we pray here They're like, why do you guys pray so irreverently you guys keep it so short there's no passion or whatever you know, it's just like well because of the fact that you know, we're not trying to show off here and The main purpose of us meeting together is to preach God's Word Okay, and here's the thing. Is that the passionate prayer is done before all this You don't see when we're praying in our closet crying out to God for our needs for our hurts Our pains and the pains of others and you're never gonna see that Why because that's designated to be in private with the Lord so he can see the contents of our heart We're not looking to be seen of men. Look. There's a lot of services out there like oh god you're just Come down Revival By the way that first part is for the Pentecostals Before we get into the Catholics the Pentecostals are guilty of this Where these Pentecostal services these charismatic services, you know They're just going buck wild or whatever in their services and holla shalabala in a six-pack dolla How about a nice and I should about a Honda and they're all about dancing and waving their hands around why because they want to be Seen of men. That's why It's not for anything spiritual Like well, I'm spiritual yeah, but you know, so are demons be more specific You Know that passionate prayer and look that's not to say that when we pray here if I pray here if I preach a particular Sherman, you know, I might be drawn to tears Right depending on the topic that I'm talking about, but that's not gonna be every single prayer now is it? You know people someone was just like, you know these prayers beforehand, you know, you guys should spend a little more time in prayer Why I? Mean, you don't you don't think like this prayer can be answered So if I just got up here and I said Lord bless the service Bless the sermon and the singing in Jesus name. Amen. You don't think that's gonna get answered. I Mean that's gonna get answered. Sorry if I don't have a charismatic spirit like you do But you know what? We're just giving a basic petition for God to bless the service. It doesn't need to be extravagant my friends The extravagant prayer should be in private Where you're weeping you're crying out to God You're asking God to deliver you to help you you're praying for others You know all that stuff should be done in private But you know people don't like to do that in private because it doesn't gain them the audience that they would like Because people like people to see them be spiritual But the truth is when it comes to prayer life, you know, your private prayer life should be filled with that. Okay, and So Pentecostals stop doing that You know stop being such a hyper spiritual person and you know Just going all wild in the services or whatever and thinking that that's godly There's nothing godly about that. That's confusion is what it is. And God is not the author of confusion and By the way, you know, God is not an author of speaking in tongues either. He's author of speaking with tongues, but not in tongues Tongues is just simply a language, okay So he says go in your closet Shut the door pray to your father which is in secret and your father would seeth in secret shall reward the openly Don't do it openly and think that God's gonna reward you in secret. It's the other way around Now verse 7 is for the Catholics. So let me correct myself verse 5 and 6 are for the Charismatics Verse number 7 is for the Catholics. He says when you pray listen to this use not vain repetitions as The Catholics do or sorry the heathen For they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Now. What is this talking about? It says vain repetition Vain means empty. Okay, and repetition is just something that's done repeatedly, right and I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory there and He says as the heathen do okay now This is a great way to describe this because of the fact that if you if you study or if you've looked into for example Eastern mystics the gurus and the ashrams they will repeat some mantra over and over again That's what heathens do in order to put themselves in an altered state of consciousness And you know, that's how they end up getting possessed or whatever That's what heathens do but you know a lot of Christians Or just people who claim the name of Christ have adopted those practices into their own Catholics right and they'll often what they'll do is, you know, they'll pray a certain amount of Hail Mary's Right our fathers or Hail Mary's and listen to this, you know, they think listen to this that the quantity of that prayer Will earn them grace with God So they'll pray those Hail Mary's like 20 times because they think they shall be heard for their much speaking So they think well in order for me to get this prayer this desire that I want I got to pray this Hail Mary like 50 times or something and they even have like a what is that like the beads? The rosary we got a former Catholic over here I got a rosary right and the rosary is Literally meant So you can keep track of How many times you said that prayer the bead there's beads on that necklace or whatever that is You know and they hold the bead they say a Hail Mary and look folks Let me just say this is that no one has a monopoly on those prayers like Mexicans do If you ever seen a Mexican pray the Hail Mary in Spanish you would think you're listening to like a rap song It's just like a like an ak-47 it's just like And they're like in unison, you know what I mean? How many know what I'm talking about? Okay How are the how do you white people know what we're talking about? That's crazy But you know that I've been to like, you know before I got say when I was a kid to you know I forgot to call like vigils and they'll they'll pray like 50 Hail Mary's because they think that the soul is in purgatory or something and it'll help them get out of purgatory and And they'll be in unison. It's kind of creepy actually, but they've adopted that from the heathens Okay, so they think that the quantity of prayers will gain them like a platform with the Lord favor with God grace with God But they're not gonna be heard for their much speaking. Okay Don't mistake much speaking with like an elongated prayer much speaking is referring to that vain repetition Okay, where they're just vainly repeating a specific prayer or specific mantra specific passage or some of some Sort but there's no heart involved You see if you're just repeating words, but there's no heart to it doesn't really mean anything to God Okay, you know God is not some computer that you're you know, putting in data Understand just put it put it in data. You know, God is someone who actually is a person who actually wants to hear you speak to him and So when we pray unto the Lord when we go into, you know, our private in private our closet wherever it is you pray We need to make sure that we have heartfelt prayers. Okay, we're speaking into God like, you know, like he actually exists okay, and speak to them and reverence him and Again, it's not talking about the the length of prayer. It's referring to the much speaking because of the vain repetition Okay, and by the way all heathens do this and all false religions do this the Jews do this When they're in front of the wailing wall gesticulating They're like repeating a mantra or they repeat a specific psalm because they think they shall be heard for their much speaking We know they're not being heard at all because they don't have the Sun If they don't have the Sun they don't have the Father doesn't matter what people say and So, you know really practical stuff here, you know Like teach me teach us to pray is that all right for sure just don't do it like these heathens do or These hypocrites do because in order for us to learn how to do something, right? It helps to know how not to do it Right. It's just like cuz if not you can you know air in that area and and possibly practice something that's not right He says a verse number eight Be not you therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him Now don't get this mistaken into thinking that this means that you shouldn't pray at all because God already knows what you need No, God wants us to bring our petitions before him, even though he's omniscient and he does know our needs He still wants us to bring those needs before him in prayer It's like when you know, he said to Adam where art thou you think God didn't know where Adam was What did he want from him? He wanted a confession He wanted him to speak to him and in like manner God knows our needs But he's commanded us to bring those needs before him as well. Why cuz prayer isn't at the faith as well Because when we pray into God, we're showing God we believe that you are and you're a ward of them that diligently seek you And therefore I'm gonna pray unto you Expecting to see these results that you've promised to give okay, and so, you know, it's important for us as God's people to be a people of prayer and And obviously when we meet together You know as Christians at church the main purpose is for the preaching of God's Word Like what that the Bible says that my house shall be called a house of prayer Yeah, we are a house of prayer because we pray here. We pray when we go home. We pray on our drive home We pray when we're just living our day-to-day lives. We are a people of prayer doesn't mean you have to pray in one specific location It just means we're supposed to be a people who are communion with God. We're praying unto the Lord We're asking God for these things. Okay He says in verse number nine after this manner therefore pray him so he gets into the model prayer now Here's the funny thing. Okay, cuz I you know, I'll correct Catholics on this and I'll say hey, that's a vain repetition God says don't do that. Oh Yeah Well, you missed a couple verses after that You know, he says right there to pray this specific prayer So they pray this our Father which are in heaven prayer And just completely ignore the previous verse that says don't use vain repetition So it says don't use vain repetition and they're like got it. We'll repeat this over and over again It's like you're not gonna be hurt for your much speaking got it not 10 but 20 So Let's just completely ignore what Jesus says here and Just do it. Anyways, right Now let's read through this actually before we read through them. Let me explain a couple things here. Okay? Because their argument is you criticize us for praying the model prayer, but Jesus said to pray it so what now You Catholic something like why would you criticize us for praying that if it's right there, right? So their justification for repeating this prayer is that Jesus said to pray it but you know, it's kind of funny You know because we have so many examples after this of people praying and none of them are praying the model prayer There's so many examples of people praying in the New Testament and this is never found coming out of anyone's mouth Hereafter and by the way Jesus prayed after this and He still didn't repeat it prayed in John chapter 17 when he's praying for his disciples He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and he never repeated this prayer ever again Like nope, nope, we gotta repeat it gotta be how if when we look at the example of the New Testament You don't see anybody else praying this Nobody else is saying our father which are in heaven hallowed be thy name, you know Cuz they always like do that Latin little vocalization in the masses or whatever and no matter the party who speaks on tools You said what is this for them Well, it's often referred to as the model prayer because what it is It's a model prayer to kind of give you the main essentials of prayer Okay, basically saying this this is what should be included when you pray unto the Lord Okay, the bare basics and this is a good prayer to give to someone Who's a brand-new Christians who may not know how to pray they read this and say, okay These are the essential elements to prayer when I go to God the Father in prayer. This is what I should include He says in verse number eight, or I'm sorry verse number nine After this man to therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name So when you pray address God the Father When it says hallowed be thy name recognize that he's God show reverence show fear because his name is holy He says our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven, so when we go to God in prayer We should not only address God the Father in a reverential way, but we should come to him wanting to do his will not ours Thy will be done So we go to God even though we come with a desire a petition of our home at the end of the day We relinquish the outcome to God, right? It's like your will Lord not mine Your kingdom not mine. This is the mentality of people are to have He says in verse 11 give us this day our daily bread So what's that showing us showing us that we should come to God for our basic necessities of life Lord provide for my meals provide for our sustenance or rent our mortgage Provide for our health give us this day our daily bread why cuz God wants you to pray for those basic necessities He wants you to pray for the big problems But he also wants you to pray for the small ones as well the day-to-day things that you need. Okay? Give us this day our daily bread He says it forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. So what's another thing that God wants you to do in prayer? He wants you to confess your sins before him and ask him to forgive you because the Bible says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness So God wants us to come before him continuously on a day-to-day basis Recognizing our trespasses against him and by the way, it says as we forget our debtors Right. So it's like I want you to forgive me because I forgiven other people too because guess what? That is the stipulation to be forgiven of God not talk about salvation here, by the way Because he said if you skip down to verse 14 it says and if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you but If you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses. This is a great incentive to forgive people around you Because God is saying I don't care how great the offense was if you don't forgive them. I'm not gonna forgive you I'm not even gonna listen to you and the Bible speaks of prayers becoming or excuse me, the heavens becoming as brass If you're not willing to forgive someone God says then don't bother praying What does it mean when it says the heavens will become as brass in other words you pray and it just like hits the ceiling Doesn't get it doesn't even leave the atmosphere Doesn't leave the stratosphere Doesn't just go it doesn't just doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't go to heaven It's like, you know you you mail out a package and it just comes back to you Your words just like you got the wrong address or something like that I mean, you know what I'm talking about You mailed something out and then you get it back and it has like another sticker on there or something It's just like man. I thought they got this or something. Well, you know you wrap up this package of prayer You're like Lord. I need this. I need you to provide for this I need you forgive me for this and you send it off and then God just like sends it right back He's just like address not found You got the wrong address or something And he's just like what happened? I'll tell you what happened. Uh, you haven't opened up the package of The person who's asking you to forgive them All right, and don't take this lightly either you're like well fine, I just won't be forgiven of God Okay, but here's the thing when you're not forgiven of God Number one you suffer the consequences of your own actions But number two you suffer God's chastisement Number two is scary and Here's the thing don't be the kind of Christian that says well I've already kind of thought out how I'll be punished by God And I've kind of already made peace with that doesn't work that way God's like a surgeon when it comes to that stuff. I Mean he will hit you where it hurts and sometimes he doesn't hit you Maybe he'll hit you in another area whether that be your health your job your kids he'll hit you in an area where you're like, oh, I didn't see that one coming and Then you're gonna do you're like, oh, yeah Let me let me open up that package that that person sent me because I need to send this package because I'm suffering here you don't want to get to that point and So part of praying is asking God to forgive you but also recognizing I need to make sure I forgive my brethren Forgive my wife forgive my husband forgive my children forgive my boss Forgive my pastor or whatever if I have offended you or something, you know forgive whoever forgive them and then you know, the package goes straight through like the Brass is removed and then when you mail that package of petitions, you know It actually reaches his destination and then you know, you you get a you get a gift card It reaches the destination, you know, no illustration is perfect, okay So he says forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and then he says lead us not into temptation but deliver us from Evil, so he's saying, you know Lord guide me, right? So our prayer should be filled with Lord direct me Lord guide me and help me Not to be visited with evil leaving not into temptation deliver me for the from these things help me to be spirit-led Okay So again, this is a model prayer because of the fact that it possesses the elements that are necessary for a successful prayer life It's not saying you're supposed to repeat this because of the fact that we see no example people repeating this prayer at all in the New Testament and of course we went over verses 14 and 15 let me finish up with verse 16 here Moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear into men to Fast verily I say unto you they have their reward, but thou will now fastest Anointing thine head wash thy face that thou appeared not into men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret And thy father which seeth in secret shall reward the openly fast things referring to going without food for a particular purpose And by the way, let me just say this is that fasting is not commanded of God Okay, it's not something that God commands you to do It's an accessory spiritual discipline that you can supplement with your prayer life to get a prayer answer. Okay, and You know You don't have to fast for a week or three days or a month or anything like that The the example that we see in the Bible and fasting is like a 24-hour period or even just like a meal Okay, and the reason people fast and they couple that with prayer It's because they're essentially using the time that they would typically eat to pray Understand so at lunchtime you typically eat at 12 It's like well, I'm gonna fast this meal and I'm gonna pray I'm gonna give myself over to prayer I'm gonna flick my body by not eating and then give myself to prayer and he's saying here don't be like the Pharisees that when They fast they're just kind of like, you know, what's wrong? Nothing, you know, I just haven't I can't say, you know It's like they want to tell you that they're they want you to know that they're fasting Which by the way this also applies to the Catholics because during Lent for example, you know the beginning of Lent when they fast You know some fast food, but other fat they fast, you know, like movies or something. They always some stupid, right? But we know all of us know when Catholics observe Lent Who doesn't know You say well how because you go to the grocery store to go to the coffee shop You see a bunch of people with dirt on their face you see there's just this blotch of ashes on their forehead and They're just walking around, you know, just kind of showing everyone There's all these guys Catholic This guy, you know, but but again They always do the the exact opposite what the Bible says not to do because the Bible says when you fast Anoint your head and wash your face But thou appear not unto men to fast Catholics is like nope And they keep it on there for a couple days or something, you know and and Jesus is just like You guys don't get it It literally says when you fast, you know wash yourself up anoint your head Don't have a long face Make sure you don't disfigure your face to make it look like which by the way putting ashes on your forehead It's like disfiguring your face because you're calling attention to yourself Mark Wahlberg You know and then you got Christians like backing him up and praising him for standing for his faith There's no faith there putting the faith in the Catholic Church that's gonna take him to hell when he dies Mark Wahlberg is gonna split hell wide open The Catholic Church is not Christianity my friends. The Pope is the vicar of hell Catholicism is a false religion That is teaches a works-based salvation It's wicked and it's taken millions and millions of people to hell because they have a false gospel You know, they're in their faggoty priesthood Molesting children and hiding all that stuff and putting it under the rug and stuff. You know that that religion is whack and They're all about the glitz and glamour. They want people to see you know, they're they're how how pious they are How devoted they are putting ashes on their forehead or whatever. That's not from the Bible. Jesus said himself don't do that And So, you know fasting is obviously not commanded of God It's just an accessory discipline that God encourages you to do if you need a specific need to be met greatly these things come down out by by a prayer and fasting right and so Again, he says I will reward you openly if you do it that way So we'll stop right there because I'm gonna finish the second half next week But great practical pragmatic teaching there right on prayer on almsgiving on fasting And you know, the Lord is the one who's providing this this template of preaching to where he's like This is the way you do it. And let me just call out the people who are doing it wrong So you don't do it like them. Okay, you know and by the way, that's how we want to be when I'm preaching I'm telling you don't be like the Catholics and So preachers can't be like well don't be like, you know that one church not gonna say who but you know, though You know You know the beads and stuff. I don't want anybody or whatever Say it's the Catholics We're fundamental baptism in and so great chapter here. We'll finish up next week. Let's pray father We thank you so much help us as your people not to be as the hypocrites Lord because we know that Unsafe people are definitely like this especially in religious circles But there's also temptation for even safe people to fall into this trap I pray that you'd help us as your people not to be that way Lord and To be as discreet as we possibly can when we give alms To not have vain repetition when we pray but that we may come before you with heartfelt prayer Lord and Weep in secret Lords that you may reward us openly and I pray to you bless our church Lord bless those in our church And help us Lord as your people to live a life that's pleasing unto you Help us to increase and in godliness Lord and put these principles into practice. We love you. We thank you Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen