"Woe to you, Pharisees, because for a pretence you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation" (Matthew 23:14).
I have observed through the years, that those who pray the longest in public are those who are prayerless in private. They are all Pharisees. Next time you hear a man giving a long oration in public prayer, recognise that he is a Pharisee. In a time of public praise, if the leader asks everyone to limit their praising to one or two minutes each, everyone must do that. But Pharisees will not listen or obey. They feel their prayers must be longer than that of others. The only reason for that is their arrogance, their pride and their fantastically high opinion of themselves!
The Bible commands preachers to "prophesy according to the proportion of their faith" (Romans 12:6). That means that the length of our sermons should be proportionate to the maturity of our life. But 90% of the church-leaders I have met preach long, boring sermons and disobey this command every Sunday. Once again, the only reason for such disobedience is their fantastically high opinion of themselves!
Be the first to react on this!
Zac Poonen ( - Present)
God called brother Zac Poonen to a new work early on in his Christian experience. The movement is now called Christian Fellowship Churches where the New Covenant of New Testament Christianity is clearly preached.Brother Zac Poonen has written 25 books most of them being on the deeper Christian life. Many of these have been translated into a number of languages and have been circulated widely around the world. He clearly and passionately shares the narrow way of Christian discipleship that is neglected by so many modern preachers.
Recommends these books by Zac Poonen:
Through The Bible by Zac Poonen
The Final Triumph-A verse by verse study of the book of Revelation by Zac Poonen
Beauty for Ashes by Zac Poonen
Zac Poonen is a former Indian Naval Officer who has been in full time ministry in India for nearly 50 years as a Bible teacher and preacher. He holds responsibility for a number of churches in India and abroad. He currently pastors the Christian Fellowship Church in Bangalore, Karnataka.
He has written more than 25 books and numerous articles in English - which have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages. His messages are available on audio and video format.
Like the other elders in his church, Zac Poonen also supports himself and his family through what he describes as "tent-making" and does not receive any salary for his services. He does not receive any royalties for any of his books, CDs or DVDs, that are published by Christian Fellowship Centre, Bangalore.