In his sermon titled 'The Pearl Of Great Price (Part 2)', Steve Hopkins emphasizes the significance of prayer as a vital component of a Christian's life. Addressing his congregation, including children, Hopkins challenges them to reflect on their prayer life and its value. He encourages believers to make prayer a priority in 2025, suggesting that it should be as essential to the soul as air is to the body. The sermon acknowledges that many individuals already have a consistent prayer routine but urges them to persevere and pray for others who have not yet experienced the profound blessings of prayer. Hopkins references the biblical examples of Jesus' instructions on private prayer in Matthew 6 and Mark 1:35, advocating for daily morning prayer as a means of grace that strengthens one's spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. He warns against the distractions of modern life and the tendency to prioritize busyness over spiritual communion. Hopkins concludes by inviting those who have neglected prayer to realign their priorities, assuring them of God's blessings when they obey Christ's command and follow His example.

As we enter the new year, I would ask each member of this church to ask himself, herself a question. Children, listen to me because this question is for you also. I see many children looking up here. If someone were to take a snapshot of your prayer life, let's say from 2024, what would it look like? Is it possible that that snapshot could be an indicator of the value we place on our personal communion with God?

This afternoon I want to talk about prayer, about communing in prayer with our treasure of treasures, our pearl of great price. And I want to encourage everyone to resolve in 2025 to pray like you've never prayed before, to pray as if your life depended on it, to pray like you would pray if each day were your last day, to resolve to commit to schedule daily communion with God in prayer. And I know When I say this, I know that when I talk about things like this, I talk about prayer and encourage, you know, greater communion with the Lord in our lives, that I'm preaching to the choir in many cases. You know, I don't know. But I'm like a man preaching to the choir because, you know, with many of you, your prayer life is consistent.

You roll out of bed on your knees every morning and you take hold of God with all your might. Before you eat, you pray. Before you do anything else, you pray. You can't help yourself. If you miss your morning prayer, You feel like you can't go on.

Before you throw yourself into your work, you throw yourself down before God. And if you ever miss that time, you sense a void. You sense a vacuum that cannot be filled until your knees are making contact with the floor again. As air is to your body, so prayer is to your soul. If that's you today, I thank God for bringing you to that place because no one gets there on their own.

I thank God for bringing you to that place. Your treasure of treasures, your pearl of great price is so precious to you that you cannot go long without communing with Him in prayer. You just can't do it. To those who can say this, I encourage perseverance. I encourage you to persevere.

And in your prayer time, please hear me, to pray for others. Please, if that's you and your prayer time, remember to pray for others. Because many do not know the blessings that you know. And If they ever get a taste of it, if they ever got a taste of it, they would trade places with you like a shot. Prayer is a means of grace, and you can testify to the fact of it.

Communion with God and prayer every morning, for many of you, has so blessed your life, so blessed your marriage, so blessed you in so many ways, your family, that your return to your old habit of neglecting that great means of grace seems unthinkable to you. It's just unthinkable. You can't imagine going back. Pray for others that they might be so blessed as you have been blessed. And I would also admonish those whose snapshot of 2024 and even before is biblical, is a picture of obedience to Christ in Matthew six and his example in Mark 135 to hold tight, Hold tight to that means of grace.

That grace that today you can't imagine beginning a day without. And remember, you know the Bible always is telling us to remember. Calling us to remember, the children of Israel, remember, Remember the days of old, remember what God did for you. Remember what God brought you through, over and over again. Remember, remember, remember.

God always calls us to remember. And I would ask you to remember the former days when your mornings were void of communion with God in prayer. Please listen to this. How your life was more difficult, your thoughts more worldly, your temptations more strong, your temptations more strong, your peace more tenuous, and your relationships more strained. And I would encourage you to pray that God will never let you return to your former days of neglecting that great and precious means of grace that has been such a blessing to your soul.

Now, that's the first category. To those who have gotten off track, You say, well, I've had times in my life when that was me, but now I'm at a different place and I long to get back. I want to get back on track. It happens. I know it happens because it's happened to me.

I know from experience it happens. And I would encourage you to return quickly, to steer your prayer life back onto the tracks. Embracing once again your treasure of all treasures and your pearl of great price in personal prayer. And to those who have never gotten on track, say I've never even been there, never. Never been on track.

Today can be a new day for you in 2025, a new year. I encourage you to consider Jesus' command to his disciples to pray in Matthew 6. I know as one of the Puritans once said that of all the Christian duties, prayer is the most difficult. Every power of the underworld is hell bent on keeping you from prayer, from private communion with God, and from the blessings of it, and from the blessings of it, which I'm going to talk more about in a moment. Jesus commands first, Jesus commands private prayer, and so the devil hates it.

Satan and his minions will do everything in their power to distract you from it, to divert your attention to other things, even things that are not evil in and of themselves. To make sure you have every excuse available to you as to why it's different with you and why you therefore can't spend time alone with God every morning communing with Him like others. Almost universally, people complain of the busyness of their lives. This is from a Table Talk article on prayer as a means of grace. Almost universally, people complain of the busyness of their lives.

We have the best of modern conveniences, and yet we run ourselves ragged with never-ending appointments. The restlessness of our age is an indication of priorities gone wrong. We spend time doing what we value the most, but prayer is not at the top of the list." Close quote. The writer laments, we run ourselves ragged with never-ending appointments. The restlessness of our ages is an indication of priorities gone wrong.

Priorities. Please think about priorities for a moment. That's typically the issue with us, isn't it? What things do we prioritize in our lives? Whether we've gotten off track or whether we've never set our wheels to the rails.

We have other priorities. It's a sad commentary that the busyness of our lives takes priority over our chief business. There's nothing more important for the spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being of believers than getting alone with God in prayer. Everyone might say, you know, if I put these headings up here, so my spiritual well-being, my emotional well-being, my physical well-being, You might be able to put some checks underneath that and say, you know, I suffer in these areas. There's nothing more important for our spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being than getting alone with God in prayer.

The article goes on, God gives his grace to those who pray. When the disciples came to Jesus and asked him to teach them to pray, Jesus answered by saying, when you pray. The Lord expressed that prayer would be a normal discipline in the Christian life. The great need for Christians in our day is to recover the conviction and motivation to pray." I wonder what would happen to us individually with our relationships, with our marriages, with our families, with our church if we all got our priorities in line with the expressed will of God for us. What about our employment, our finances?

Do you think things go better when we give our first moments of our day, our first thoughts to God and commune with Him? Would anyone think that their marriage would suffer, that their marriage would suffer, their employment would be hazarded, their finances brought to ruin, their relationships suffer if they set apart time every morning to get alone with God. Could anyone honestly argue that that any area of their life or family life or church life would suffer if they obeyed Jesus' command in Matthew 6. On the contrary, those who have embraced Christ's command and testify, those who have embraced Christ's command in Matthew 6, get alone with God and pray to your Father in secret, testify that regular daily private prayer was the answer to what ailed them in so many areas of their life. I mean, write it down.

Here's the things I'm concerned about. Here's the things that are troubling me. Here's the things that are of concern to me. Robert Murray McShane was a man of prayer. He was a minister in the Church of Scotland in the middle 1800s.

He died at the age of 30 in the typhus epidemic that swept Scotland in 1843. In his life, he wrote often about prayer. Here's his words, a natural man that is an unbeliever still living in the natural state in which he was born, a natural man has no desire to come before God or to bow himself before the high God. There's nothing a natural man hates more than prayer. He would far rather spend half an hour every morning in bodily exercise or in even hard labor than in the presence of God.

On the other hand, an awakened soul feels that his chief happiness is in coming before God." Close quote. When Jesus commanded his disciples to pray in Matthew 6, he told them how to pray, where to pray, and even the perfect model for prayer. When you pray, he said in Matthew 6, enter into your closet, that is a place where you can get alone with God and not be disturbed. And when you've shut your door, shut out the world, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will bless you, will reward you openly. That's what that means.

Jesus assures us in this passage that if we obey him and his command to get along with God in prayer, we will be blessed. Your Father in heaven will reward you. You can't get around it. It can't be sidestepped. You will be blessed.

That's all there is to it. Brothers and sisters, do you realize that when you begin your day communing with God alone in prayer, everything changes. Your day can't go the way that it was going to go. It's an impossibility. Your entire day is set on a different course.

Your labor is more blessed, your relationships more strengthened, your afflictions more sanctified, your temptations less powerful, your emotions more stable, your peace and spiritual comforts increased. You will be blessed. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. Spiritually, emotionally, physically. The question that should come to every mind is, how could I ever dream of living in neglect of so great and precious a means of grace?

It's impossible that your day could go in the same direction as it would if you neglected the blessed means of the grace of private prayer. Mark 135, we looked at Matthew 6, the command, pray in secret. That's Christ's command to his disciples. That's his command to you. Pray in secret.

If you're not engaging in private prayer, getting alone with God, then you're being obedient to Him. That's just very simple. And here is his example, Mark 1.35. In the morning, Mark 1.35, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, Jesus went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. He's not requiring of his disciples anything that he himself was not engaging in.

In the morning, get up, get into a solitary place and pray. That's what Jesus did, and that's his example. So we're commanded to get along with God, and then his example is in the morning before we do anything else. Many who previously could find no time for morning prayer have found that if they go to bed 15 minutes earlier, they can get up 15 minutes earlier and pray. It's just a scheduling issue, a very simple scheduling issue.

David said in Psalm 5, my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee. So I want to encourage you, whoever there may be among you who have gotten off track and fallen into the habit of neglecting communion with God and private prayer every morning, to resolve in 2025 to get back on track. And I want to encourage those who have never set their wheels on the rails of daily morning communion with God and prayer, Consider the example of Jesus, and the practice of Jesus, and the command of Jesus. And commune with God every morning in private prayer. And be blessed.

Be blessed in ways you never imagined possible, and be sure of this, God sees. Your Father in heaven, Jesus said, sees what you're doing. Isn't that a wonderful thought? He's there, he sees. No one else sees, and I don't care if anyone else sees.

Remember Jesus said the hypocrites like to pray where they can be seen so they can receive the praise of men. But the one that prays in secret, only the Father sees and so he blesses you. He sees in secret and he blesses you openly. Thomas Watson some 400 years ago wrote, prayer opens the door of heaven and takes the blessings from God's hand. Prayer opens the door of heaven and takes the blessings from God's hand.

And nothing's changed since he said those words. Brothers and sisters, God doesn't take a deaf ear to those who obey Jesus' command. And when God speaks, the thing he speaks comes to pass. He comes to pass. When he responds to your prayers, the thing that he speaks comes to pass.

Ezekiel 12, 25, for I am the Lord I will speak and the words that I shall speak shall come to pass." End of story. Psalm 46, six, the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. When God speaks, watch out. And he speaks in answer to our prayers. When God speaks, when God but speaks the word in response to your prayers, the thing he speaks comes to pass.

Again, maybe you got off track in 2024. It happens, I've done it. Maybe you've never been on track. This could be a new day of blessing for you, a new year of blessing that you've never experienced before. 2025 could be different, it will be different if you obey Jesus.

It will be different if you obey Jesus and follow his example. And you may say, well, I don't even know where to begin. Maybe the person has never set their wheels to the rails of private prayer. I don't know where to begin. You know, I begin many of my morning prayers not knowing how to begin.

And I say, Father, I don't know how to begin this morning, so I'm gonna pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, because Jesus said to. I'm just gonna pray through the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, because Jesus said to. What could be more simple than that? I was talking to Eric last night about this and he said, you know, it isn't a heavy lift. I thought, yeah, that's right.

It's not really a heavy lift. The things that we're talking about, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, some more in setting aside morning communion with God in prayer as your first encounter of your day, it's not a heavy lift, it really isn't. And nothing could be more beneficial to you and your family and your marriage and your work than praying at obedience to Jesus command and following his example for morning prayer. I can guarantee you this, God will not ignore obedience to his son's commands. He won't ignore it.

Give your waking thoughts to him. Give the first part of your day to the Lord. Offer your waking thoughts and worship and petitions to the Lord and see what happens. Just just see what happens. You know sometimes people go on these crazy diets, right, and they're going to do this new fangled diet or whatever, this new thing, and then they wait to see what's going to happen.

You know, I'll do this for two weeks. Okay. Maybe if you've never begun, just say I'm gonna do this for two weeks. I can't resolve, God, that I'm just gonna do this for the whole year, I don't trust myself. But I'm gonna commit to two weeks.

I'm just gonna do two weeks, I'm gonna Just come to you first thing in the morning, and I'm gonna see what you do, God, with me, spiritually, emotionally, physically, with my work, with my relationships, with my marriage, with my home life, with my interactions with those in the world. I'm just gonna put you to the test, God, your word, and just see what you do. Again, do you think things could go possibly better if you didn't? Your activities, your relationships with your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your brother, your sister, could any of these suffer if you resolve this day to obey Jesus' command in Matthew 6, to commune with God in private prayer, or if you resolve to follow Jesus' example, to pray before you do anything else in the morning in Mark 1.35. Would anyone think that if they take off on their own, leaving off communion with God in prayer, that their day would go better?

Of course, no Christian would ever say that or even think that. Has anything ever turned out better for anyone because they set aside morning prayer thinking that if I just get to it, if I just jump into my tasks, if I just jump into my duties, if I just pursue my plans, I'm gonna get more done and my things are, Things are gonna go better in my day because I skipped God. I was talking to a brother last night who told me that every time he jumped into his day thinking he didn't have time to pray, he regretted it. Any of you ever thought, I don't have enough time to spend five minutes in the morning with my Lord in prayer today. How did that work out for you?

How did that go? Do you think that your day went better? I've often said five minutes of prayer is more productive than five hours of labor without it. As I close here, come to a close, brothers and sisters, when you begin your day communing with God in prayer, you're trusting God's word and acknowledging Him, and you're leaning on Him. That's what's happening.

In Proverbs 3, 6 says, he will direct your paths. Put your trust in him, you acknowledge him, you're resting on him, you're leaning on him, he's gonna direct your paths. In private prayer, God sees you acknowledging your dependence upon him, confessing yourself as one who is weak. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, nine that his power is made perfect in our weakness. Just admit it, I'm weak, God.

I don't have it all figured out. I don't have this whole day even figured out. I've got so much to do, I can't even begin to get it all done. Lord, I'm just gonna take this time and commit it all to you, and worship you, and praise you, and thank you, and then I'm gonna get up off of my knees and go after this day. Jesus said to pray, give us this day our daily bread.

That is the things we need. The imprints of that passage is that a person is praying in the morning. Have you ever thought about that? If you pray, Lord, give us this day our daily bread. That is the things we need.

The inference of that passage is that a person is praying in the morning. You ever thought about that? If you pray, Lord, give us this day our daily bread, at the end of the day, it infers that this is morning prayer. Lord, we're about to start off on this day. Give us these things that we need for our bodies and for our souls and for our lives.

Give us this day our daily bread. This day, It's a daily prayer. Give us this day. It's a daily prayer. It's a morning prayer.

Seek God first in prayer and know that God will provide for your every need. Matthew 6.33, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all your needs will be supplied, right? It's amazing the testimony of those who commit the first part of their day to the Lord in prayer, how concerns and issues and problems and difficulties that seemed insurmountable Resolve. And they resolve in ways that only God can receive the glory for. And with this, don't worry, don't fear that you might, you may not be praying just right.

To be at peace, Romans 8.26 says, The Spirit helps in our infirmities, that's our weaknesses, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us. So don't worry about it. It isn't the quality of your prayer time or even the quantity of your prayer time that matters, but your heart before God and God knows your heart. 2025 can be different than 2024. If you begin your day communing with God in prayer after the example of Christ in Mark 135 and in obedience to his command in Matthew 6, God's word guarantees it.

Would you stop right now and say, Lord, I want to obey you in 2025 in a way that I didn't, more than I did in 2024. My prayer life hasn't been what it ought to be. I'm weak and I need your help. And I'm gonna just trust your word and commit to pray to you in secret in 2025 because Jesus said to. And I'm gonna commit to pray in the morning before I do anything else because that's what Jesus did in Mark 1.35.

I'm just gonna follow his example. Just gonna obey him, what he said in Matthew 6, and follow his example in Mark 1.35. I'm just gonna do it, God. He's my treasure, Christ is my treasure of treasures. I found the pearl of greatest price and I'm willing to give up anything and everything that interferes with my communion with you God in prayer, even a few extra minutes of sleep.

God will bless you openly if you do, you can't get around it, you have God's word on it. And whatever God requires of his people, he gives them grace, he gives us grace to perform when we come to him, humbly. Let's pray. Father, as Thomas Watson once said, a godly man will soon live without food is without prayer. Oh, help us to be like that.

To rather live without food than without prayer. Help us to know, oh God, that on our knees in prayer is the place where mountains by faith are cast into the sea. Help us, Lord, to ask and receive, to seek and find and dock and see the doors opened. And Lord, help us to take Jesus at his word in 2025. Help us, God, to find no satisfaction, satiation, or repose of mind, or rest even, apart from obedience to your word.

And bless, Lord, all those who will obey Christ and follow in his example. We know your word says that you will. Oh Lord keep our hearts open to you God And help us in 2025 Lord to resolve to do things different than in 2024 for your glory and for our own good. And help us God to treasure our treasure of treasures, our Lord Jesus Christ above all else, our pearl of great price for whom we would give up anything. Help us Lord to put our trust in him alone who suffered and died for our sins and rose again the third day.

For we ask it in his holy name, amen. Amen.