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[0:00] All right, for the next 10 minutes or so, let's look at Matthew chapter number 6 together and learn some things. So what do we mean when we say corporate prayer? We're just praying together.

[0:10] That's all we're talking about is praying together. Simply when we go to prayer to God together, we can say we when we are together. Our Father which are in heaven. Paul mostly says our Lord.

[0:21] And so when we pray, today in the high school class, I believe Grant was praying, and as he was praying, somebody, he couldn't think of a name, and Cameron said the name. And all of us thought, well, you know, that seems a little bit odd.

[0:35] But it's most certainly not odd because Grant was going on our behalf to the Lord. And so for that person to say that other name was not out of place, was not inappropriate, made what is completely would make sense because we are coming to the Lord together.

[0:50] But I would say it's different than public prayer. Wayne, I've been on a couple occasions. I went and prayed for the city of Milton before they start their city council meeting. And when I did that, that wasn't praying together.

[1:01] That was me praying publicly in front of a group of people. I didn't know if they agreed with me. I assume they probably didn't. I just wanted to see how many times I could say Jesus, all right? I think I said it 57 out of 60 words. Very, very odd prayer, right?

[1:13] And so as I was saying that, that wasn't corporate prayer. That was a public prayer. But when we pray corporately, we are praying together, which means that you want to be heard by the other people. John 17, Jesus is praying to the Father, but he's also being heard by those people that are in the room.

[1:27] So the fact that you know that you're being heard is appropriate. And we should be in agreement together. And so I didn't grow up saying yes and amen. I said, if I'm enjoying a service or if I'm not enjoying a service, you won't really know.

[1:41] I just look the same about most times. But that's not the way it should be in the case when we're praying together. We should affirm what the other person's saying, saying yes and amen are wonderful ways to demonstrate that.

[1:52] And in doing this, it builds a unity together. The Spirit plants the same desires in our heart for the church to grow in love, for the lost to be found, for the broken to be made hold, for God's glory to be revealed.

[2:03] And as we listen to the others pray, we get the opportunity to say amen. So the first thought that you may have, which was my first thought, Matthew 6, 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into the closet, and when thou shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

[2:22] As I was finishing these notes, I got a phone call from a pastor that says, hey, a lot of us are going to get, this is a voicemail, a lot of us are going to get together, and we're going to pray about something together, and we would like for you to come.

[2:34] Well, I don't like to drive in the city of Atlanta, all right? And so when I hear something's on the south side of Atlanta, I'm like, it might as well be in another country, all right? I can't get there in the middle of the week. And as I thought about that, I thought, well, I don't need to come meet with you guys and pray.

[2:47] I can stay where I'm at, which was quite the problem, seeing that I was studying this lesson here about the value of praying together. The question I don't have to ask them is, are we going to be praying in agreement?

[2:59] I don't know who they are, so I'll probably send Greg. All right. And so the examples of corporate prayer together in the Old Testament. So we see that.

[3:10] It says, here's a prayer in the book of Nehemiah 933. It says, How be it thou art just, and all that brought us upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. So that's a prayer that is public.

[3:21] And though it shouldn't be, sometimes we might dismiss what's happening there in the Old Testament. The New Testament, Acts 114. When Jesus ascends into heaven, they all continue together in one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus together.

[3:34] Luke, when he's describing life together in Acts 2.42, he says, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Colossians 1.3, We give thanks to God our Father and our Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

[3:48] It's saying, we. I guess it could have been that they were all surveyed. How many of you individually prayed for them this week? Would you raise your hand? That isn't what's being said here. They knew he gave testimony that we prayed for you because they had done it together as they met.

[4:03] 1 Timothy 2.1. I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and the giving of thanks be made for all men. Paul is using almost every word we have for prayer.

[4:14] Prayer, supplication, intercession, giving of thanks. Exhort, therefore. His purpose is to highlight the need for prayer in the church. God is highlighting the need for prayer in the church as Paul is speaking to Timothy.

[4:26] Encouraging him to lead his church in prayer, including prayers, as we see in that book, for the government, for world leaders, and for one another throughout it. Even our model prayer, when we are taught, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, is an invitation not only to pray, but to pray together with other believers.

[4:45] And so in this passage where it's speaking about don't pray to be seen publicly, it is not telling us that we're not allowed to pray together, but it's admonishing us to be aware of a few things when we come together.

[4:57] It's giving us some warnings of things that shouldn't happen. We should learn to avoid them. And when, verse 5, it says of Matthew 6, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and the corners of the street, that they may be seen to men.

[5:13] Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. This verse is teaching us that praying together must never be motivated by a desire to be admired by other people for how good we are.

[5:24] And so that's something we're mindful of. We're not auditioning for a role in something else, right, when we're praying. We are coming together to speak unto the Father. Matthew, verse 6, which I've read, it says, Going into your closet and shut the door.

[5:38] This verse is teaching that this private prayer is indispensable and that praying together should never take the place of praying alone. That even though we do have the joy of coming together and praying, it doesn't replace the fact that we can come to him in our secret place to him.

[5:55] But the rest of the verses surrounding this chapter, the prayer uses plural pronouns. And so that verse serves as a caution to say, We got to get together. We got to pray. And this is how you do it.

[6:06] But don't believe that just because we are supposed to pray together doesn't mean that you're supposed to neglect the fact that we pray individually. Verse 7 warns us of vain reputations, which the heathen do, which would be pagan religions.

[6:18] Other religions would just repeat mantras. And they'd pray through jewelry and different things that remind them of that. Let's not be like that. They think they'd be heard by their much speaking. And it tells us not to use careless words.

[6:31] To not use careless words. All of us had somebody, if you grew up in church, that had some type of prayer that was unique, right? I would count how many times that Brother Floyd would say Lord when he prayed, right?

[6:43] He would just use that all the time like that. And we want to be careful that our words are not just, that they're not empty and vain. We want to be thinking about the words that we are saying, which means we don't pray in cliches.

[6:57] We don't say things that don't mean anything. As we went and speak to one another in words that don't mean anything. Verse 8, be not therefore likened to them. In that book by Spurgeon, he's talking about one of the cliches that was so common.

[7:09] God, but we are of dust. That was a common thing in his day. And so people would say that. And one guy who was really trying to impress people, he said, Lord, we are of dust and our kids are of dust and our grandkids are the dustiest or something like that.

[7:23] And I forget how it went, but he's like, can we just get rid of that? Because we're taking a passage here and we're not applying it appropriately here. But you just kind of hear things from other people and you apply it to your prayer life. And that's what they were doing.

[7:34] And that can be a wonderful thing as well. As we listen to other people pray, we can learn how to communicate in that. But we want to be mindful of what it is that we're saying. And then verse number 8, And that same passage, he's saying, remember, this is a relationship.

[7:54] This is our father. This isn't a mortgage broker. Sorry, Chuck. This is not an ATM, all right? This isn't somebody that we're always going to just asking to receive something from them.

[8:05] But this is somebody that we have a relationship with, which means that we ought to be speaking in that manner. We most certainly can ask prayer, as has been said by John R. Rice, one of Greg's favorite people to read after.

[8:19] I always tell people that when me and Greg will meet people, we'll say, of the two of us, one of us is a big fan of John R. Rice, and one of us was a great basketball player in high school. Can you guess which one it is, all right? And they normally get it wrong.

[8:30] But asking and receiving of the Lord. And so that took a moment for him, Greg. And so asking and receiving. I'm not saying we're not asking and receiving, but I'm saying in the manner in which we are, we're children going to a father asking for requests.

[8:44] We're children saying, Father, you know my life. Father, you know everything going on. So I'm asking only what you would have for me. Not as the Gentiles knoweth not what you have need of.

[8:55] And so the Father knoweth that you have need of all these things in Matthew 6, 32. And so those are some cautions for us. Those are some instructions. But it's such a wonderful thing. We have, I spoke to some of our missionary friends not long ago.

[9:10] And when they left for the field, they were just dealing with something, a loss of a loved one. And typically inside of a church, they would have the opportunity to have a meal together. They'd have an opportunity to pray.

[9:22] But now they're in a country that has very few believers. They were in a place that just has very few believers. And the thing that they were communicating is that their heart just ached for an opportunity to join somebody and pray to God with them.

[9:35] And we are just so blessed to be able to do that. So it's not just a prayer meeting. It is just an incredible privilege that we would have as a church to have people pray with us. And I pray that you will. There's things that are heavy upon your heart.