Secret Praying (Part 1)

FULL SERVICE: See SERMON ONLY below

SERMON ONLY:

Please click on link below to download and print Lifegroup questions.

1. God wants us to know Him. What is the first thing that came into your mind?
2. The Revelation of His Word is for us to accurately understand who He is, and what His will for us is. But in helping us how to response to Him, He wants to teach us about prayer, and how to pray. I think God is serious about how much He wants us to know Him, right? He is active in both directions! Why would God really want that? Is it for His benefit or ours? If that’s true, what keeps us from getting exactly what He wants? 
3. Before we look at what to pray (next week’s message), Jesus wants to teach us how to pray. Why do you think we need both?
4. I boldly said that “it will bless us to open our hearts to Him, and He will delight our souls with His words.” Is that just a warm sentiment? Be honest, is that our daily delight?
5. Jesus gives us two examples of how not to pray (v5 & v7). I said that they were “fake” praying and “empty” prayer. What are they in your own words?
6. I said that “because it is a command not to be like the hypocrites, it might be felt negatively, but in fact, it is coming from a place of jealousy.” Think about that for a while. Why would I say jealousy?
7. Fake praying, Charles Quarles calls, “idolatry masquerading as piety.” We also called the person an “internal imposter.” How is that? Is Jesus being overly insensitive? If so, how? If not, why not?
8. Mark 1:35, and Luke 5:16 tells us something about the praying life of Jesus. Describe it, and why you think Jesus had a life like that?
9. What is the antidote to “empty” praying? (Matthew 6:7)
10. I said that “Lengthy praying does not guarantee the attention of a listen God.” But isn’t that a contradiction to the encouragement to spending more time with Jesus? What’s the difference?
11. In the section on how to pray (v6, v8), Jesus says to “go into your inner room, close your door and pray.” What’s that all about?
12. Jesus mentions “the Father”, or your heavenly Father, 17 times in the Sermon on the Mount. Is there anything significant about that to you?
13. What does that make you, in Christ? So, in the inner room, the only listener is the Father Himself. It’s a secret place in the sense that absolutely no in the world can interfere. That’s pretty intimate, isn’t it? But why would He want you there?
14. No one will sit in judgment of you. You have a private audience with the Sovereign God of Grace. And in that kind of intimacy, He will hear you. Does that do anything to make you think different about prayer?
15. My application focused on two foundational but essential principles. (1) Remember your Audience. What do I mean? And (2) Believe that you have the Father’s Attention. How would that change your prayer habits?
16. I said, “We don’t have to get His attention.” Why not?
17. Lastly, He already knows you, and your needs, even before you ask! Why does He know? Does He know you? Does He know your needs, right now? Even before we ask, He knows, yet He bids us come? There is mystery and majesty in these things, isn’t there? Today we may be encouraged to bring our concerns to Him, but do you think Jesus is asking for more? Discuss this with your loved one or your small group.