On one of His final trips to Jerusalem, prior to the crucifixion, "Jesus went into the temple complex and drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers' tables and chairs of those selling doves . . . My house will be called a house of prayer" (Matthew 21:12&13). Needless to say that Jesus was not happy. He expected to find God's people praying and instead found them cheating one another, trying to make a profit in the name of religion. That is the main thrust of these verses. The activity of money changing and selling was sinful. It violated God's law; specifically in the areas of lying, cheating and even stealing.
How do these verses speak to us today? Well certainly we must not allow the local church to become something that is involved in the activity described above. But there is more. We need to be know as a house of prayer. To be a house of prayer we must believe in the power of prayer, practice the position of prayer, and pray. That may sound simplistic. You may even say: "we are doing those things?"
The sad truth is that the quickest way to see the attendance drop in many local churches is to announce that you will be having a prayer meeting instead of the normal activities. This happens too often. Instead, prayer meetings should be some of the most populated meetings we have. After all, we are people of prayer - right? The challenge this morning is simple - be the people of prayer that God desires and see to it that all we do as the local church is dependent and saturated in prayer. May it be said that God's house is truly a house of prayer.
Praying today for:
(1) Lake O' the Pines = Crestwood
(2) State = Ohio
(3) People Group = Central Asian Peoples
(4) Nation = Djibouti
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