WHO DO WE IMPRESS?

Matthew 6:1-18

By David Turnerwww. BibleStudies-Online.com

Impress Others!

The World Says: “If you’ve got it, why hide it? Go ahead and flaunt it.”

Impress Others!

The World Says: “If you’ve got it, why hide it? Go ahead and flaunt it.”

If you’ve got the body, show it!

Impress Others!

The World Says: “If you’ve got it, why hide it? Go ahead and flaunt it.”

If you’ve got the body, show it!If you’ve got the brains, let everyone know it!

Impress Others!

The World Says: “If you’ve got it, why hide it? Go ahead and flaunt it.”

If you’ve got the body, show it!If you’ve got the brains, let everyone know it!If you’ve got money, spend it so everyone knows you’re loaded.

Impress Others!

The World Says: “If you’ve got it, why hide it? Go ahead and flaunt it.”

If you’ve got the body, show it!If you’ve got the brains, let everyone know it!If you’ve got money, spend it so everyone knows you’re loaded.If you’ve got talent, tell us about it.

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Christians aren’t Spiritual smug.

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Express Spiritual smugness.Elaborate prayers

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Express Spiritual smugness.Elaborate prayersBrag about how much we serve.

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Express Spiritual smugness.Elaborate prayersBrag about how much we serve.Brag about how we have built the church.

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Express Spiritual smugness.Elaborate prayersBrag about how much we serve.Brag about how we have built the church.Let everyone know about how much we

pray, study our Bible, how spiritual we are.

Christians don’t do this? Right?

Does everyone have to know what and to whom we give?

Express Spiritual smugness.Elaborate prayersBrag about how much we serve.Brag about how we have built the church.Let everyone know about how much we

pray, study our Bible, how spiritual we are.Do we only associate with spiritual

Christians like us?

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before

other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Give Without Applause!

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Don’t seek applause when giving!•Not to everyone around you.•Not even to the one receiving the gift.

Pray Without Pride!

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Pray upward, not outward!

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent. •Prayer isn’t gossip.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent. •Prayer isn’t gossip.•Prayer isn’t a means to promote an agenda.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent. •Prayer isn’t gossip.•Prayer isn’t a means to promote an agenda.•Private prayer is no less effective than public prayer.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent. •Prayer isn’t gossip.•Prayer isn’t a means to promote an agenda.•Private prayer is no less effective than public prayer.•The prayer of one person with a right relationship is more effective than a community with a poor relationship.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent. •Prayer isn’t gossip.•Prayer isn’t a means to promote an agenda.•Private prayer is no less effective than public prayer.•The prayer of one person with a right relationship is more effective than a community with a poor relationship.•Mountain Top prayer is no more effective than closet prayer.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

•Prayer doesn’t have to be loud to be heard. •Prayer doesn’t have to be eloquent. •Prayer isn’t gossip.•Prayer isn’t a means to promote an agenda.•Private prayer is no less effective than public prayer.•The prayer of one person with a right relationship is more effective than a community with a poor relationship.•Mountain Top prayer is no more effective than closet prayer.•You don’t need to broadcast all your prayers. God answers prayer, not people.

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

•Repetition and Nagging is manipulative prayer.•He responds to the relationship, motivation, and responsible nature of the prayer of the one praying, not the repetitiveness.

Pray with Humility!

Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10  Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11  Give us this day our daily bread,

12  and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13  And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Fasting is Prayer.

Fast Upward, not Outward.

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.    

 Andrew Murray

Real prayer is communion with God, so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts, and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him.

A. W. Pink

Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude - an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God.

A. W Pink

“My worth to God in public is what I am in private.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)