I Thank My God

Driving home: And when he enters his closet to pray, all that grace has done in giving him that large, active, tender, pulsing heart, all that grace has done in giving him that large, active, tender, pulsing heart, all that grace has …

Martin uses the analogy of being hidden behind a curtain in Paul's prayer chamber to emphasize the authenticity and intimacy of Paul's prayer, contrasting it with hypocritical ostentation.

Many of you will remember the words of our Lord Jesus, recorded in the Sermon on the Mount, who, when speaking on the subject of prayer, said, When ye pray, don't be like the hypocrites, but when you pray, enter into your closet and pray in secret, and the Father who sees in secret shall himself openly reward you. And because any form of ostentation in prayer is clearly forbidden in the word of God, how grateful to God we should be that the Holy Spirit has, as it were, taken us by the hand and led us into the very prayer chamber of the Apostle Paul, hidden us, as it were, behind a curtain, and...

2:37 - 4:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And when he enters his closet to pray, all that grace has done in giving him that large, active, tender, pulsing heart, all that grace has done in giving him that large, active, tender, pulsing heart, all that grace has …

Martin uses two analogies—an eagle soaring into the sun (mind) and a dam bursting its walls (heart)—to illustrate the intertwined and sometimes overwhelming nature of Paul's intellectual and emotional expressions in prayer.

in the thoughts that govern him when he prays. And so you find that mind reaching out for words with which to clothe those thoughts. But just when it seems that the mind has found the right words to express the thoughts, there is an outgushing of that large, throbbing heart, and it clamors for words. So when you get that expansive mind, and that large, active, tender, pulsing heart, both clamoring for their own means of expression, and that it's all mingled together in sentences and phrases, there are times when you sit there and scratch your head and say, What in the world is he driving at? W...

8:14 - 9:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize God as your Father through Jesus Christ for your prayers to be acceptable.

Martin humorously notes Paul's use of 'you all' as a 'southern phrase' but with a 'Yankee accent' (referring to the spelling), highlighting a minor linguistic observation.

I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all, making my supplication with joy. And some would say also with southern phrase, because he says you all, but notice he doesn't put Y apostrophe A-L-L. So he uses southern terminology with a Yankee accent. He gives thanks for you all.

11:56 - 12:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider if your mind rises above earthly concerns to lofty thoughts of God and His ways.

Martin uses the analogy of a beautiful home filled with stinking garbage to represent the human heart and mind before Christ cleanses and indwells them, emphasizing the pitiable state of the unconverted.

Can you imagine the tragedy you would feel if you were ushered into a beautiful home and there in a parlor fitted out with furniture that cost into the thousands of dollars. You saw nothing but stinking garbage poured all over that furniture and piled up in the center of the floor. My friend, that's the human, the human heart and the human mind until Christ has come and cleansed it in his own precious blood and indwells them by his spirit. When we enter Paul's closet of prayer and sneak behind the curtain and listen, we are seeing the human mind, the human spirit in terms of what it ought to b...

47:20 - 48:04 Read in full sermon

The point: View the church building as a place for gospel furtherance (military barracks, armory, delivery room, classroom) rather than a place of ease.

Martin uses metaphors of a 'military barracks,' 'armory,' 'delivery room,' and 'classroom' for the new church building to convey a vision of active gospel furtherance, rather than a place of ease or retirement.

As we anticipate entering that new building in Montville, may God have mercy upon us if we look upon it as a retirement home or a vacation village. No, let's look upon it as a military barracks and as an armory and as a delivery room. And as a classroom, every imagery that will cause us to think in terms furthering the gospel. So when we get together, instead of finding our lips engaged in sinful criticism of one another and of our leaders and of everything in general, we'll be able to say, oh, my brother, my sister, won't you pray with me?

50:41 - 51:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Move beyond a 'baby and infantile stage' of self-centeredness, where the church is seen as a private counselor for every emotional or psychological need.

Martin uses the metaphor of bringing the whole church into one's room to be a 'private counselor and confidant and suckerer of our every need' to illustrate the self-centered, infantile stage of spiritual life that believers must move beyond.

Oh Lord, only your grace can make us such. Left to ourselves, we are self-centered. We want the whole world to dance and jig as it were, around every little twitch and every little itch that we may have emotionally or psychologically. Left to ourselves, we would bring the whole church into our room to be as it were our private counselor and confidant and suckerer of our every need.

56:45 - 57:14 Read in full sermon