Please be seated. Our sermon tonight comes from Matthew 14, continuing through the Gospel of Matthew. Sermon tonight comes from verse 23, move back to verse 22. Consider how God teaches us and how God instructs us. I've been excited to start to understand that he teaches us by instruction and example. He gave us the Sabbath, he gave us the Sabbath first by example, and then he gave us the Sabbath by instruction. We look at the way he has sought to teach us. Initially, we see that God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden when he had given them instruction. I remind you that Jesus is the one who is God with us. that all things were made specifically by Jesus, as the scripture tells us. So when man was formed in the dust of the ground, it would have been Jesus, the pre-incarnate Jesus, before he came as the mediator. He came, he was God with us, the maker of all things. He taught by instruction at that point, saying from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. Mankind, I imagine mankind has always made excuses about listening to or following or obeying God. Perhaps they would have said, or mankind would say, if you showed up and you spoke to us in the beginning, we would have done what you said. But he did. If you had chastised us and warned us, we would have obeyed you. But he did. Mankind could even say, if you gave us a solid law to follow, say engraved it on stone, we would obey you. But he did. and we have still rejected his law. If you gave us prophets to speak from your word, people that demonstrated your power and your authority with great miracles, then we would obey you. But he did. Through all of that, God has demonstrated our depravity, our corruption. But when we come to the gospels, it's as if he has said, Let me come and show you now one more time before I come in judgment. And Christ came and he has walked the earth. He has shown us exactly, exactly what it looks like to love the Father. He has shown us exactly what it looks like to love our fellow man. We read in Matthew 14 after we saw the corruption of Herod and his crimes, his self-exaltation, seeking his own desire, seeing his corruption, we saw then the heart of Christ as he came and he saw the crowds and he felt compassion for them and healed their sick. seeing the compassion of Christ and feeding the 5,000. And then we move to see what Christ does immediately following that. Look with me at verse 22 and verse 23. Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away. After he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone. Pray with me now. Father, we thank you for Jesus, who has come once again in peace. Thank you for Jesus, who came as our example and as our sacrifice. Father, help us as your children to look and to see how Jesus Christ, the first fruit of those who have been born again from the dead, walks and lives and loves. And Father, please bless us now in accordance with our vows to submit ourselves to Jesus's teaching and example, that he will be being glorified in us. It is in Jesus' name we pray, amen. A good question for us to be asking one another is, how is your prayer life? How is it that you are praying? What are you doing? What is your practice? How have you been meeting with Christ? We see that it was Jesus' habit to be in the place of prayer. I would say that this is because of his relationship with the father. He loved the father. He loves the father. It is right to be in a relationship in which conversation is taking place between people who love and respect one another. We have been loved by Christ Jesus. It is very clear that he has loved you. as he has laid his life down for you. From that place, it is appropriate now for you to love, because he first loved you. To be in relationship with him, to be speaking with him, and as we love Christ and as we trust Christ with our immortal souls, that as we trust him to hold our souls forever and ever, It is right for us then to trust him with our lives. It is the way that we walk. It is specifically the way that we conduct ourselves in this world, in our lives. And as we see Jesus has taught us by his teaching, we see here him teaching us by example. So the call for you tonight is follow Jesus in a robust prayer life. Wouldn't it be fun if someone asked you, how is your prayer life? And you got to respond, robust. Our first step is pray in isolation. Verse 23, after he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone. Luke 5.16 tells us, but Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Jesus speaks to us in Matthew 6.6, but you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. It is a blessing for you to go and pray by yourself. When you are doing that, you can be confident and sure you are not doing it for anyone else's glory, anyone else's pleasure. You are not going to be exalted by anyone else when you go and pray. But your father, who sees what you are doing in secret, you are promised here that he will reward you. Praying in isolation is not the only way to pray, but it is a way that you are commanded to pray. It is certain. Jesus tells you to do this. And if you are not doing what he says here, you are actively disobeying him. And you must ask yourself why. Why would I be so obstinate? to actively disobey Jesus? Is it because you think your other activities in life are more important than obeying Jesus? Is it thinking that you can get further ahead spiritually by figuring out your spiritual life by yourself? Is it because you've packed your life so full of other things that you could or would put aside time alone speaking to Jesus. There is no good reason not to go and speak to Jesus alone. You cannot neglect this without actively sinning. and it will take its toll on you. You will be weakened. You will feel isolated. He will feel his hand heavy upon you every time you are actively disobeying him. I think we've been corrupted a little bit or led astray by the idea of praying without ceasing. as we translate it and we consider it to mean never, ever, ever, ever, ever be in a condition where you are not actively praying. I thought that's not what that means. That can't be what it means. I thought it must be something like let nothing stop you from praying. You can't go on any period of time in your life where you're not going back to pray. It was one of those times it was very gratifying to check the commentaries, and the soundest people agree with me. Let nothing stop you. Let nothing stop you from praying. I always hesitate to point towards Old Testament examples, but they have been given to us as examples. Daniel is a great picture for us. He did please the Lord in what he was doing. He would not yield to men. He would not yield to fear. He would not even yield to save his own life. Daniel did actively pray. Our next step is go to Jesus. It is a wonderful truth that when you go to pray, you are going to Jesus. you are actively going to Him. Jesus Christ, we are told, He is God with us. When you meet with God, you meet with Christ. When you are rejecting that time, you are turning away from Him. Going to Jesus looks like stopping and talking to Him. Talking to Him is good. We ought to always be doing it. Turning to Him is good. But it's always going to be best, always going to be better to stop, to turn, and to talk. To make your moments intentional with the Lord Jesus. All of us can do things and drive. Most of us have probably driven and texted. You can drive and you can talk and pray. It's so much better to completely stop everything else and talk to him. As Mrs. Ramsey and I are studying better ways to be a husband and wife, it's been demonstrated or spoken to us in the book that we're reading, we have to actually stop and turn towards the other person so that they actually sense that they are being heard. There's not much point in multitasking. You must stop. You must turn. You must see it as going to Jesus. How much more powerful will you be in your Christian life and in your being sanctified when you are being tempted to sin or you find yourself in sin if you actually stop and turn and run to Jesus and say, Jesus, help me. Jesus, rescue me in a moment of anger or a moment of strife, a moment of temptation of any kind, a moment of weakness, a moment of fear, to stop, turn, and talk. Say, Jesus, help me. Our third step is pray out loud. Praying out loud is a powerful device. Prayer is normally said. It is spoken out loud in the scripture because it is specifically talking to God. It is not the only way to pray, but it is a way to pray that has great benefits. You can pray in your heart, you can pray silently, but that is actually even not the norm in scripture. You'll find as you read through the Bible, people say things to God, people speak things to God. The Psalms are given to us in a written language that we are to proclaim out loud. It is the norm. Jesus prayed and he spoke out loud. He gave us that example. When there are exceptions in the scripture, they're stated. They are semi-rare that someone was speaking in their heart. First Samuel 1.13 being an example. But that's the rarity. Praying out loud, here are some of the benefits for you. Praying out loud makes you formulate your feelings and thoughts. It might help you realize how unbiblical your feelings and thoughts are. Have you ever thought something, felt something, and then when someone pursues you and asks you what you're thinking, and as soon as you say it out loud, you realize, oh, that was stupid. Can't believe I said that out loud, let alone thought it. Praying out loud makes you formulate your feelings into thoughts and can help you realize how unbiblical your feelings and your thoughts are. Praying out loud helps you to take courage and to put off your doubt. There are things in you and parts of you that are stopping you from praying out loud. What sort of things would stop you from that? What sort of fear? What sort of self-will would stop you from that? What would keep you from enunciating and speaking out loud your love for God and your desire to be heard by Him? What would it be? Whatever it is, isn't it something you should kill? something that you should throw off, that you would proclaim, that you would speak out loud, that you would be putting off any doubt, that you would have a courage to speak to him and to pray to him. Perhaps it's fear of man that would keep you from praying out loud. For me, often I think it's more just an obstinance, that I would resist him, that I would resist doing what he's telling me to do like some obnoxious little child. Praying out loud, next. Praying out loud is a testimony of your faith in Christ. Whenever you are in front of someone and you decide to pray out loud, you're showing that you care more about what Christ thinks than what they think. They will hear you. They will know that you are putting your trust in Christ. They will know that you are loving Him. They will know that you are seeking Him, beseeching Him, asking Him for what is good and that you are relying on Him. Isn't that a bit of what your testimony is about in this world? That you have been saved for this very purpose, to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Next, praying out loud can spur others on in prayer. What courage can it give others if you are praying out loud? If they hear you and say, I can pray out loud too. When I was a child, I actually had a grade school principal who came in who was a Christian. And his name, believe it or not, was Mr. Virtue. And at mealtime, he would bow his head, clasp his hands, and he would pray. At that time in my life, I was not spurred on in love and good deeds. To my shame, we mocked him. And that will probably be a reality for you as well. But I'm here now, 43 years later, to tell you I still remember Mr. Virtue bowing his head in front of all of us and praying out loud before his meal. Praying out loud can encourage others. if they hear about your faith, that is, if they hear the expression of your faith in Christ and your love for them. I've heard the great benefits of parents praying out loud for their children, that their children would hear and know that they love them and that they love the Lord and that they are seeking the Lord on their behalf. The same can be true in every one of our relationships. as we assemble together on Wednesday night, praying for one another. This can be an encouragement to others. Praying out loud, it is not the only way to pray, but it is a way to pray that has great benefits. Our next step, number four, has immediate application for you. It is today, schedule a time to pray in your dominions. We see that it is right and good to schedule holy events. God scheduled a holy event from creation. He scheduled the Sabbath for us to be a time set apart to cease or to rest. It is described to us the benefit of keeping the Sabbath in Isaiah 58, 13 through 14, If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure, and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. I'm not suggesting that we can initiate a holy day of our own, but I am saying that it is right and good to set time apart for good things, and it is right and good for you to set time apart for prayer, to pray about specific things. If you need help with your prayer, I call upon you now, as you look even in your outline, to schedule a time. I will pray about my heart. You can schedule a day and an hour of the day. I will pray about my house. I will pray about my church. I will pray for the lost. I will pray for my leaders. is right and good and holy. I am directing you in this way. I am admonishing you in this way to give your heart and your life to prayer. This looks like following Jesus who kept the perfect law. Our next step, number five, is pray in your dominions. You have been given specific dominions in your life, your heart that you are to watch over. the love that you are to have in your heart towards God and your neighbor. You are to be praying in your heart. It is necessary. Also, you are to pray in your family. This may be your actual household. It used to be the case in our churches that fathers or heads of household were so expected to do family worship that they would be brought under discipline if they didn't. It also used to be the case that fathers had to write their own catechisms for their children and to teach them that they would be disciplined if they didn't. Bring in your dominions, first your heart and then your family. This can be your actual household. For those of us who don't have other members existing in the midst of our household, you can seek a father or mother. You can seek brothers or sisters. You can seek out children. in our midst who don't have fathers, or mothers, or brothers, or sisters. There are people just even in this small assembly for all of us. Every one of us has a void somewhere in our hearts or in our families. Above us, below us, or beside us, we are to pray in the midst of our families even as they are or as we gather them. It is our calling. In fact, it's even true in undefiled religion to love orphans and widows in their distress. That is God's view of religion, that in keeping oneself unstained by the world. Pray in your church. That is, get together as we pray with and for one another. Ephesians 6.17 gives us that instruction that is even a part of the spiritual armor, the spiritual warfare. Running through the armor and then it says, and pray for all of the saints. We understand that as Jesus taught us to pray, our father, it teaches us that we were to pray with and for one another. Galatians 6.10 tells us to especially do good to the church This is us assembling together, praying with and for one another. It's just one of the applications. And pray for the world. What opportunities do you have to pray for the lost? Do you have people sharing their burdens with you? Do you have people sharing their sorrows? Have you sought people's burdens? Have you sought to hear people's sorrows? to reach out to them, to care for them, to bless them, as we are the body of Christ in this world. We are told in Galatians 6.10, while we have opportunity, do good to all people. You were called and saved for this very purpose. You have the opportunity to be pursuing this. the opportunity now to pursue a robust prayer life. It's an opportunity to follow Jesus. Isn't it wonderful that you and I have the time now. You and I have been informed by both Jesus's teaching and his example. All of you, all of you, have the opportunity to have a robust prayer life, following Jesus, speaking with Jesus, meeting with Jesus, and bringing others to him. Pray with me. Our Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for his teaching. We thank you for his example. We thank you that you give each of us here the opportunity to repent, to live out a beautiful and robust prayer life, beautiful time with Christ, meeting with him. Father, as you bless this flock, as you bless these sheep, Father, may your hand be upon them. May you bring them close to you. May they experience new and wonderful times with you. May they be strengthened. May they be encouraged by their time with you. May they be strengthened and may they be encouraged by times with brothers and sisters, either in their home or in our church. May they be encouraged and blessed as they pray for the lost. May people be found. Please call them and rescue them, and please add to the number here in our church. We love you, Father, and we thank you for the marvelous opportunity that you give us to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in his name that we pray, amen.