A Messiah's House Series

2. The Church is built upon prayer.

a. 1 Kings 9:3 (NLT)

The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

b. Without prayer we are no more than a social club.

c. Prayer will grow the church.

d. Prayer will empower the church.

e. Prayer will encourage the church.

f. When we pray God hears us!

3. The Church needs to be devoted to prayer

a. Acts 2:42 (NLT)

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

b. Everything we do needs to be bathed in prayer.

c. We should pray before we get here.

d. Prayer should be the first thing we do when we get here.

e. Prayer should be what we do as long as we are here.

f. Prayer should be what we do before we leave.

4. The Church will be shaken through prayer.

a. Acts 4:24, 31 (NLT)

When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God...After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

b. Prayer will shake us up.

c. Prayer will wake us up.

d. Prayer will take us up.

e. It will make us hungry for God.

f. It will make us hungry for His Word.

g. It will make us hungry for more of the Holy Spirit.

h. It will give us a burden for the lost.

i. God increase our hunger for prayer!

Transition: God's house should also be a...

II. House of Miracles (14-15).

A. He Healed Them

1. After making the point of what the Temple was not intended for, Jesus now illustrates by his actions what should take place there.

2. Matthew tells us that, "The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them."

a. Just moments before, Jesus was filled with righteous zeal; now he overflows with compassion.

b. He did not turn the needy away or delay healing them. There among the overturned tables, he met their needs (Horton, 445).

c. The diseased and the crippled, most of whom were necessarily beggars, continually gathered at the Temple, hoping at the least for the gift of a few denarii and at the most for a miracle of healing.

d. They were despised and ignored by most of their countrymen, in great part because they were considered to be suffering as the direct result of sins either they or their parents had committed.

e. The selfish leaders of the Temple had little compassion for them (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 16-23).

f. Even hereditary priests who were blind or lame were not permitted in the sanctuary; this rule was extended in time to exclude all the blind and lame (Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).

3. Even young children could recognize the power and authority of Jesus. As Jesus was healing and ministering to needs of people, "The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.”