A Temple Full of Prayer: Why Leaders Must Pray First

Sermon outline

Believers are God's temple and must be a house of prayer, and true leadership starts with leaders who pray, live consecrated lives and receive correction.

1. Leaders must bring their people to pray

   When leaders bring their people to a prayer meeting, there is an impartation of spirituality, but when they stay away they teach their churches that prayer is optional. He prays for every church twice a day, and he asks where the hunger is, when believers will fly thousands of miles to receive from God. He honours a couple who drove from Richards Bay to be there and says that people will follow their leaders.

   Illustration: A pastoral couple left at six o'clock to drive all the way from Richards Bay to the meeting.

   “We are not playing games. We are serious about God's business.”

2. The devil is plotting your fall

   We live in wicked times, and any pastor, cell leader or mature believer can fall tomorrow, because the enemy is plotting their downfall with temptations to divorce, adultery and giving up. As God sends angels to help, the devil sends his own to bring believers down, and the only counter is prayer and authority. There is ranking in the spirit, and leaders carry a level of authority that fires up the whole church when they come.

   “He's plotting your fall.”

   • Ephesians 6:11

3. My house shall be called a house of prayer

   Jesus cleansed the temple because the zeal of God's house consumed Him, declaring that it was a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. He expects pastors and leaders to be on fire and bring their people, and he even apologises to the church, saying he has somehow missed it as pastor, because biblical leadership starts with men and women of God leading people to pray. Every cell group and meeting should start with prayer.

   “Biblical leadership first starts with men of God, women of God, leading people to pray.”

   • Matthew 21:12-13
   • John 2:17

4. Motivation must be balanced with discipline

   It is easy to be popular and say only what people want to hear, but like Paul in a strait between two, a pastor must balance motivating people with sound teaching and discipline, as a parent praises and also corrects. Their pastor is a praying man who drags himself out of bed to pray however late he went to sleep, because the Lord told him not to preach without prayer. Without prayer, believers have no weapon against the devil.

   Illustration: His wife asks why he never rests in the morning; even if he goes to bed at two, he gets up to pray.

   “With motivation comes spiritual discipline.”

   • Philippians 1:23-24

5. No condemnation is not a licence

   He has a problem with the teaching that because there is no condemnation in Christ, believers can do anything. It means the devil may not condemn you for your past, not that you may live as you like; if you sin, the blood cleanses you and you walk free, but you must not dwell in it. He leads the church in praying for consecrated hearts, minds, hands and feet, for the zeal of God's house to catch them, and then for their families, finances and churches.

   “You've got to live a clean life, a holy life, a life that's consecrated to God.”

   • Romans 8:1
   • 1 John 1:7
   • Isaiah 54:17
   • Psalm 34:7

6. A spirit of prayer has come on you

   He explains that his rebuke was a prophetic act led by the Spirit, not anger, and that a spirit of prayer has now descended on them, so they will be driven to pray in bed, on waking and while driving. One word under the Spirit carries power, while many words without the anointing do not. Believers are God's temple, so how can a temple be without prayer? Prayer brings visions, dreams and words from God, it is more powerful than money, and it is behind every healing and salvation people see.

   Illustration: Before the meeting he knelt and wept, asking God to keep him from arrogance and pride, because if he falls everyone around him falls.

   “The thing that's more powerful than money is prayer.”

   • 1 Corinthians 3:16
   • 1 Corinthians 10:12

7. Fear God, not man, and live consecrated

   A well-known American pastor who disciplined an influential member lost many people, yet God told him he had done the right thing; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the fear of man ensnares. When a fellow pastor urged him to take up golf, the Lord told him he was called to a life of consecration, like Samson the Nazarite. The church belongs to God, not the pastor, who must not lord it over God's heritage; the title of pastor will not carry anyone, only prayer, and the more spiritual you are, the more humble you become.

   Illustration: A pastor told him all the pastors were playing golf now; the Lord told him, 'You are not all the pastors.'

   “The title of pastor will not carry you.”

   • Proverbs 9:10
   • Proverbs 29:25
   • Judges 13:5
   • Matthew 16:18
   • 1 Peter 5:3
   • Mark 12:30
   • 1 Timothy 3:6

8. How fickle is human love: receive correction

   Many have told him he is their spiritual father, then left at the first small correction. Teachers, parents, traffic police and supervisors all corrected us for our good, and people accept correction at work for a salary; for the love of God, believers should receive good leadership. He himself is often corrected by God and has to repent, so he urges them to be teachable and walk in humility, then prays over those facing financial hardship, saying true prosperity is God meeting any need in any situation.

   Illustration: At the Catholic school he attended, a nun would rap their fingers with a ruler; he did not like it then, but years later he could see where it had helped.

   “When you cannot be corrected in any way, you will be a spiritual dwarf.”

   • Hebrews 5:14