Today at church, we watched a video of a sermon from a praise conference. I don't remember who the preacher was and I don't know when it was taped, but I know it had a powerful effect.
Without getting into details about why it was such a moving sermon, just know that a Southern Baptist congregation of mostly senior citizens were standing on their feet in resopnse to the preacher's testimony about the power of prayer.
The bottom line of the sermon was simple and convicting: above all else, God's house is to be a house of prayer. It doesn't matter what your denomination (or lack thereof) dictates about how a service should go. The music was never meant to be the focal point, and neither was the preaching. The temple in Jerusalem had both, but the ultimate purpose for all of it is to encourage prayer.
The preacher said that it is through prayer that we meet God, that prayer is the channel of all God wants to give us or remove from our lives. Prayer is how we approach the Throne of Grace.
We can think of the Throne of Grace as God's opperating table. That's where he transplants the old man for the new man. It's where he removes the cancer of sin from our lives. It's where He gives us the transfusion of Jesus' blood. Our whole relationship with God starts and survives on prayer.
Without downplaying any of the parts of a typical service (music, preaching, tithes and offerings, bpatisms, the Lord's Supper, etc.), the whole purpose of our public gatherings is to ensure that each individual has that intimate, individual, private moment with God where He holds us, corrects us, comforts us, saves us, fixes us, does all that He would do with us. That place is only accessable through prayer.
"My House Shall Be Called A House of Prayer"
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