Prayer

And read verse 9 with me. Exalt the Lord our God. And worship at his holy hill. For holy is the Lord our God. And Father we do exalt you this morning. And just praise your name. For being God. The God who loves us. The God who cares for us. The God who has seen fit Lord to make us your own people. And so Father I just pray that you would be with us now. As we spend time in your word.

I pray that you would minister to us through the power of your Holy Spirit. And speak to us in the way that only you can. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of. First Timothy chapter 2. First Timothy chapter 2. We're looking at a new. New section this morning. We said that really ultimately. First Timothy and all of the pastoral epistles.

We could put one main theme on all of them. And that theme would be. Be faithful. And chapter 1 he told us to be faithful to the word. Well as we move into this first section of chapter 2. About being faithful to prayer. And that's the subject that we will really deal with. This morning. And so picking up in chapter 2 of. First Timothy in verse 1 it says this.

First of all then. I urge that in treaties. And prayers. Petitions and thanksgivings. Be made on behalf of all men. For kings and all who are in authority. So that we may lead a tranquil. And quiet life. In all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable. To God our savior. Who desires all men to be saved. And to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God.

And one mediator also. Between God and men. The man Christ Jesus. Who gave himself as a ransom for all. The testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher. And an apostle. I am telling the truth. I am not lying. As a teacher of the gentiles. In faith and truth. In the holy hands. Without wrath and dissension. So we discussed this morning.

The subject of prayer. Probably one of the keys. One of the greatest keys. To walking with Jesus Christ. Is a prayer life. And it's kind of interesting. I've been kind of thinking and praying about this. Over the past few days. And as I did. I just kind of started thinking through the word. And thinking through all of the places in scripture. And really prayer is one of the major themes.

Throughout all of scripture. As we look at it in the old testament. We find that Adam and Eve. In the garden. Before they fell into sin. Prayer was a part of their life. As a matter of fact we find that God would come. And meet with them every day in the cool of the day. And he would talk with them. So that prayer life. That communication between man and God.

Was really God's original intent. And very much a part of Adam and Eve. And the life that they spent there in the garden. And throughout the old testament. The great men and women of God. That God would use throughout the old testament. You saw that prayer was a major part of their life. That they were always. Interceding for others. Or they were praising God for his power.

Or they were pouring out their hearts. And their complaints to the Lord. Or their anxieties to the Lord. Or they were making requests of the Lord. And this prayer life. Seemed to encapsulate the lives. Of those old testament saints. Well then as you move into the new testament. Even Jesus himself. Had an intense prayer life. As a matter of fact. Before Jesus chose his 12 apostles.

He spent all night long praying. Seeking God's will. For who he was to choose to be his apostles. Throughout his earthly ministry. When the disciples couldn't find him. They would realize that he was probably off somewhere praying. As a matter of fact. When the disciples were in the middle of the water. That Jesus would eventually end up walking on. Jesus was up on the mountain praying.

It was. So great that eventually his disciples came to him. And they said teach us how to pray. Because we don't really understand what it looks like. And that gives a great deal of comfort to me. As one of his disciples. To know that the original 12 still had to come to him. And say teach us how to pray. And when Jesus went into the temple. And he saw that the temple.

Had been turned into a place of merchandise. Where there were money changers. And merchandisers. He drove them all out. And if you remember when he drove them out. He called a house of prayer. To all men. A house of prayer for all nations. And then of course before Jesus went to the cross. He spent that evening. In prayer to the Father. As he was surrendering his own will.

To the will of the Father. Well as you follow the disciples lives. After Jesus was. After Jesus ascended into heaven. You find that when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples. There in Acts chapter 2. In order for them to do the work of the ministry. They were in prayer. They were in prayer upon them. Matter of fact we read in the book of Acts. That they had devoted themselves to prayer.

The disciples went on to teach us about it. In their writings. To example it for us in their ministries. And it became a subject. Of many of the epistles. That they would go on to write. And as a matter of fact. Just to wrap up all of the thoughts on scripture. When you get all the way to Revelation. In Revelation chapter 5. When we go into the throne room of heaven.

We see that there is a bowl of incense. And it is the bowl of the prayers. Of the saints. Prayer is truly a theme that runs through all of scripture. Because it is why God saved us. It is why God created us. And it is the greatest source of strength that we have in our lives. And so as we come to chapter 2. In these first 8 verses. He addresses our prayer life.

And as he writes to a young pastor. And as he writes to a struggling church. And all churches that would follow. He tells them you need to pray. And there is two things he is going to tell us. About the heart of the Father. And so we start off with the heart of prayer. And we pick up in chapter 2 verse 1. It says this. First of all then. I urge that entreaties.

And prayers. Petitions and thanksgivings. Be made on behalf of all men. He gives a universal call to prayer. To pray for all men. To pray for everyone. And the idea behind the word men there. Is not men like what we think of. But it is humanity. To pray for all men. To pray for all of humanity. And he gives this instruction. And in his instruction. He gives four things that they are to do.

In their prayer for all people. Four words that I think we need to pay attention to. The first word is the word entreaties. Now I can almost guarantee. You have never used the word entreaties in your life. At least not in a proper context. Knowing what you were talking about. Right? Because that is just not the way we speak anymore. So what does the word entreaties mean?

It is a word that you have never used. In your entire life. So what does it mean? The idea is making specific requests of God. For all men. You should start making some specific requests of God for them. The second word that he gives us. Is that he says. And that you would offer prayers for all men. It is a general word. Speaking of any aspect of your communication with God.

The third word that he gives us. Is the word petition. The word petition can also be translated intercession. The idea of intercession. Is to pray on behalf of others. Let me give you a little bit of an example. Again I told first service this too. I don't remember who I share things with anymore. Because I talk to too many groups throughout the week. And so if I have shared this.

Please forgive me. But I ran across this article the other day. About a prisoner. That ended up coming to know the Lord. And this man was living in prison. And he just lived in the prison life. And didn't really care too much about the things of God. And then an evangelist came to the prison. And there was a church there. And this guy ends up getting saved.

And ends up getting baptized. In front of 200 of his fellow inmates. And in his own mind. A miracle took place that day. But what he didn't know. Is that three months prior to that. There were 15 guys. That all knew Jesus. They were prisoners that had come to faith in Jesus Christ. And they committed to pray every day for this man. They committed to pray every day for his salvation.

And so what he didn't see. Was the three months before of intercession. Of them going to God. On behalf of him. In order for him to come to faith in Jesus Christ. That's intercession. That's going before God on behalf of someone else. And then of course the last word that he uses. Is the word thanksgiving. And I loved what Believer's Bible Commentary said about this.

It says. Thanksgiving describes prayer. In which we rehearse the grace. And the kindness of our Lord. And we pour out our hearts. In gratitude to him. The kind of prayer where we rehearse. The grace and kindness of our Lord. And we pour out our hearts. And gratitude to him. He says. I want this to be done for all men. Now as I was thinking about this. I know that.

I know that it's important to make sure. That we really understand prayer life. And what God has impressed upon me a lot. In the past six months. Is that there is no such thing as too basic. And there is no such thing as repeating it. Too many times. And so I got to thinking. How many people understand how to pray. Because I can't tell you how many young people.

Especially that I've talked to. And I say well how's your prayer life. And they're like I don't even know what that means. I don't even know how to do that. I'm like okay let's talk about that. So I never want to take for granted. That people know what prayer is. Or how to do it. So I've put up here a little acronym. That I think kind of helps with prayer. And it's not new to me.

It's not even the first time I've shared it here. It's a pattern for prayer okay. So I want to go through each of these. So first of all the A in Acts is adoration. Adoration is simply praise to God. Praise to God for who he is. Praise to God for what he's done. Praise to God for his might. For his power. All those kinds of things. Now one of the hardest things about praising God.

And truly having adoration. Is that sometimes we don't know where to start. I don't know how to praise God. I don't know what to say to God. If I'm going to take time to praise him. I'm going to take time to praise the Psalms. Psalm 99 that we just read. Had a lot of praise to God for who he is. And so one of the things that you should do. Is you should incorporate the Psalms into a lot of your daily reading time.

Even if you just read a portion of it. Because it's going to teach you how to praise God. Because the Psalmist David was known for praising God. And so if you really want to praise God. Get into the Psalms. But this aspect of adoration. This aspect of praising God. Is one of the most important parts of our prayer time. You know why? Because praise, adoration resets our perspective.

It resets our perspective. Again an illustration I've used before. But I don't know if you can see my hand or not. Because it's really small. But there's my hand and there's that TV. And I bet just looking you'd say his hand is a lot smaller than that TV. And you'd be 100% right. Actually you're probably going that guy's got really small hands. And it's true I do.

But if I hold my hand up close to my face. I can't see that TV. Even though that TV is ten times the size of my hand. Why? Because my perspective is off. My perspective doesn't see the actual size of the TV. Well that's how most of us deal with the issues that we have in our lives. Is our perspective is off. It's too close to us. And so that's all that we can see is the problem.

All that we can see is the problem that's right in front of us. Well when I take time to praise God. I reset the perspective. And when I reset the perspective. I remember how big God is. And how small my problem is. Because I have all of a sudden started to praise God for who he is. And it resets my perspective. So the first thing we want to do. Is we want to take time to praise God.

That's adoration. Number two or the C is confession. Now. If you're here this morning. And you've never come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. There's only one prayer that you need to start with. And the prayer that you need to start with. Is confessing to God that you're a sinner. And accepting that he has saved you. Because that's the only prayer he's going to hear from you.

Because we're told that sin separates us from God. So the first prayer that you need to pray starts right here. Confessing your sins to the Lord. We've all been there. And I want to tell us that every person in this room. That's a believer in Jesus Christ. That's where they had to start. They had to start off by saying. Man I'm a sinner. And not only am I a sinner.

But I was really really good at sinning. And I just need to lay all those things before you. And confess those sins to the Lord. But if you're a believer in Jesus Christ here this morning. Confession is one of the keys to your walk with Jesus Christ. It's one of the keys to your prayer. Because it says. His arm is not short that he cannot save. But your sins have separated you from God.

And Jesus Christ. We can't lose our salvation. But what we can do. Is we can cut off the fellowship that we have with God. Let me give you a little bit of an example. One time. Anybody ever notice that phones aren't nearly as like. Fragile as they used to be. We were just talking about this the other day. I watched somebody drop a phone on the ground. And they just picked that thing up.

Dusted off and went on with life. I'm like. Man I remember when you used to drop a phone on the ground. And I had a cold. And I'm drinking a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon. Nothing does me better when I have a cold. Than a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon. So I'm scrolling through my phone. As I'm enjoying my cup of hot tea with honey and lemon. And my phone slips out of my hand.

Because my hands are small. And I'm clumsy. And my phone slips out of my hand. And it lands in the tea. And I'm like. Well that's not good. And I pull my phone out. And it belongs to me. But my communication has been cut off. Because there was a problem. Well that's what sin does to us. You still have the phone plan. But your communication is cut off. And confession restores communication.

Confession restores fellowship. And brothers and sisters. One of the best things you can do is go to God. And when you start to pray. Just start confessing your sins to him. He's going to forgive you. But just start confessing. And as I like to say. Confess wholesale. We sin in all these lots of ways. And at the end of the day we're like. Dear Jesus I sin please forgive me.

He's like get specific. Because I think that's important for us. To get specific with God about the things that we've done. I can't tell God that. Why? He watched. He saw it happen. It's not like you're going to shock him. I can't believe you did that. He was there. And so we confess it. You know why? Because now there's nothing between you and God. And so you take that time to confess your sins.

So adoration. We take time to praise God. Confession. We take time to restore our communication with God. The T is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Again just like Believer's Bible Commentary said. It describes prayer. In which we rehearse the grace and the kindness of our Lord. And pour out our hearts in gratitude to him. So I was thinking about this. And I want to challenge you to do something.

So. This last weekend. Well all day Friday. And half the day Saturday. I went to a very unique pastor's conference. Up in Kansas City. And it was nothing but Calvary Chapel pastors from all over the Midwest. I think there was about 30 of us. So it wasn't all of them. But there was a good number of us. And we all literally just sat in a great big rectangle. And we just talked.

We talked about the issues we have with church. We talked about things that we need to talk through with ministry. We talked about ministry hurt. And it was a fantastic time. Of just being able to share with each other. Encourage each other. Pray for each other. It was fantastic. But Friday night. The guy that was leading it. Sandy Adams. He said I want everybody to do something kind of unique tonight.

He said I want everybody after dinner to come with a story. I want you to come with a story. Someone from your church. And how God's grace worked in their life. Somebody that maybe you worked personally with. But how God's grace has worked in their lives. And for two and a half hours. We went. We went around the table. And we just shared stories. Sometimes we laughed.

A lot of it was us crying. Like I am not the only pastor that cries. I want you to know that. Right? Men much rougher and tougher looking than me. Were all crying at this table. Because they're stories of God's grace. They're stories of how God took someone from death to life. Of how God took someone from death to life. Of how God restored marriages. Of how God restored people.

Of how God restored careers. Of how God restored relationships. Of how God saves. And so as I was thinking about this yesterday studying. I actually thought about it on the way home. Before I even got sat back down to start studying. I told Aaron. I said I think I'm going to challenge everybody to do something. This is what I want you to do. I want you to write out your testimony.

I want you to write out. Not what Calvary Chapel has done in your life. Not what I've done in your life. I want you to write out what God has done in your life. Just write it all out. Who you were. Who you are. How Jesus got you there. I think it's a fantastic exercise. You know why? Because when we take the time to write that out. And think about what God has done in our lives.

We come to a place where we rehearse the grace. And the kindness of our Lord. And then we pour out our gratitude to Him. You see if you want to have a heart of praise. A heart of praise is response. A heart of thanksgiving is response. To what God has done for us. Well the best way to start that is to remind yourself. Of what God has done for you. Now. If you're an incredibly private person.

And you don't want anybody else in the world to see this. Write it out. Crumple it up. Burn it. Throw it away. Whatever you need to do. If you're willing for anybody else to read it. Give it to me. Because I would love to read more stories of God's grace. Now, this was the day I entered into the world of faith. Knowing what God had done in all of the other churches too.

Because it's a reminder that God is alive. And God is at work. And God is still in the business of restoring lives. Amen. And that's where a heart of thanksgiving comes from. The fact that God still changes lives. And so. Adoration. And confession. And thanksgiving. And last comes supplication. requests to the Lord. Sometimes these specific requests are personal. They're things I need in

my life, but intercession could fit into this too. This is where you're going to go before God on behalf of other people. But I want you to think about how much greater your time of supplication is if you've started off with remembering how big God is, dealing with anything that's between you and God, and thanking him for the great power that he has exercised, not only in your life, but in the life of other people. Man, by that point in time, you're just geeked to bring everything to him, right? Because you know my God is bigger than anything that I could ever

imagine. He's bigger than anything that I could bring to him, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, God can handle it. And so if you're here this morning, you're like, I don't know how to pray. I don't know what it's supposed to look like. I don't know what to say. Follow that pattern. Start by praising God. Confess your sins to God. Thank God for what he's done, and then ask him

for what's heavy on your heart. Amen? So he says, On behalf of all men. But then he gets a little bit specific. Notice what he says in verse 2. For kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. For kings and all who are in authority. In other words, pray for everybody in charge, right? Pray for all the people who have any kind of authority in your life, whether you

like them or not. Whether you agree with them or not. Whether you think they're a tyrant or not. Whether you think they deserve it or not. Whether you think they need to be destroyed or not. We always start big scale with this, right? Like the previous four years, I bet there were some of us that had a hard time praying for the president, right? This current four years, I bet there are some people

that are having a hard time praying for the president. And whatever it is, whoever's in charge, because there's always two different ways that people think. We have a hard time praying for whoever the president is. And we think, how can I pray for that guy? He's so evil. How can I pray for that person? I disagree with him. I want to remind you, the situation going on when Paul is writing this to Timothy, Paul is living under the thumb of the

Roman Empire, who believed that Caesar was God and was to be prayed to. And the specific Caesar in charge at the time that Paul is writing this was a man by the name of Nero, who was not exactly friendly towards Christians. And he told him, pray for the king and for all who are in authority over you. Brothers and sisters, this is something we are commanded to do. It has nothing to do with your

opinion. And your opinion has to be left outside because we are to pray for the people that are in charge of us. Why? So that we can live, notice what it says, so that we can live a tranquil and quiet life. What does that mean? How does praying for the people in charge mean that I get to live a tranquil and quiet life? Well, first of all, because we know that if we want to live a happy life, then the government

or whoever the governing authorities are need to be following God. So we need to be praying for them, right? But even if they're not, how can we lead a tranquil and quiet life by praying for the people that are in charge? Well, because at that point in time, anything that they do is God's problem, not my problem. I hate all of the decisions. I hate Doge and all of the decisions that are being made by Doge. Well, you know what? If you

pray about it, then it's God's problem, not yours, right? But people are losing jobs. God's problem, not yours. See, you can lead a tranquil and quiet life because all of a sudden you put all of those issues in God's hands and you say, Lord, that's yours to solve, not mine. And all of a sudden I can go, hey, I don't need to worry about how that's all going to work out. I can just lead myself a

real peaceful, quiet life. I can just lead myself a real peaceful, quiet life. I can just lead myself a real peaceful, quiet life because God's in charge, not me. After all, what did we learn from Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar? With Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, remember, God told him, until you realize that God is the one who rules in the affairs of man and he puts in charge whoever he wants to.

If I can surrender to that, then I can lead a pretty tranquil and quiet life. And I can go, it's okay. God's going to take care of it. I just have to keep doing what God has called me to do. And so he says, pray, pray for all men, but especially for those who are in any kind of authority because they need the prayer. And so he gives us this heart of prayer, the heart of prayer that we bring our requests to the Lord, whether they be

general for all men or even specific like for leaders. And then he begins to tell us about the heart of God. Notice what it says in verse three. He says, this is good news. Good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. What's good and acceptable? You praying for all men and you praying for those in leadership is good and acceptable to God, our Savior.

In other words, it's a good thing because it's pleasing to God like incense. It's pleasing to God like incense. Remember, I'll take you back to that scene in Revelation chapter five in the throne room of heaven, that there's this bowl of incense and those are the prayers of the saints. And you can just imagine every time people pray, God just kind of goes, man, it smells good. I love

hearing people pray. But let me give you an even better illustration than that. Those of you that have raised teenagers or are in the process of raising teenagers, I want you to think about something. How excited are you on the day that your kids want to come talk to you? Right? Like I got these two beautiful daughters and I'm not a cool dad anymore. I'm, you know, it's not like

they were five and they're just like, dad's great. And it's like, now they're 16 and almost 13. They're like, dad doesn't know anything. And so, and so anytime my kids come to me and they're like, can we just talk? I'm like, yes, right now. Let's do it. Let's talk. What's up? Because I think it's the greatest thing in the world, right? Because they don't always want to talk to me, especially

because they're girls. They want to talk to their mom. So when they want to come talk to dad, I'm like, yay. Two or three weeks ago, I was getting ready to go to bed on a Saturday night. And I told dad, it's, uh, I got to get up early in the morning. And, and they're like, okay. And they follow me to my bedroom and I sit down on the edge of the bed and they just sit down and proceed to

talk to me for the next 45 minutes. At that point in time, I don't care how tired I am. I'm talking to my daughters because that's the greatest thing that can ever happen to a dad, right? Like your kids want to talk to you. Imagine how God feels when you pull up next to him, you sit on the edge of his bed and you say, can I just tell you about my day? Can I just tell you about what's going on?

And he's like, because this is the greatest joy that I have in my life. I have understood more about who God is as a father ever since having kids more than I could have ever imagined in any Bible study I ever taught. And this is one of the biggest things that's making me understand prayer is when my girls just want to spend time talking to me. I go, man, that must be what God feels like.

It is good. And it is acceptable to God. But not only is it good and acceptable because God loves it so much, but ultimately it's the best thing that you can do. As we cast all of our anxieties upon him, there is no more peaceful place to be than when you have taken all of these things to the Lord in prayer. Amen. And so he says, first of all, God's heart is that you do it because it's good and acceptable in his sight. But I want you to notice what he

says. Let's read verse three one more time. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior. And that segues him into verse four, which says, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of God. I'm going to read it to you again. Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I think one of the greatest things that we can learn about God is his love for

humanity. See, you and I have people we would love to see come to know Jesus, right? And they're usually the people that we care about. They're usually the people that we're close to. And maybe they're caught up in something, maybe even heinous, but we love them. But do you know that God wants to see the people that you don't love come to know him? He wants to see the people that

you don't like come to know him because God, God desires all men to be saved. He wants to see everybody caught up in the LGBTQ plus whatever lifestyle. He wants to see them come to know Jesus. He wants to see anybody caught up in the, uh, um, in the transgender lifestyle. He wants to see them come to salvation. He wants to see the average sinner who's just living and having

sex with his boy, with a boyfriend, a girlfriend. He wants to see them come to know Jesus. He wants to see the alcoholic comes to know Jesus, the drug addict. He wants to see the self-righteous person who sits in church every Sunday, judging all of those people come to know Jesus. He wants to, he wants that to happen. Now we didn't understand that doesn't mean everyone's, this

is not a universal salvation thing. This doesn't mean everyone will be saved, but it means it's his desire. His desire is to see everyone. He is longing for people to come to know him. Every now and then there are sermons that are preached by pastors that just get lodged in your brain, right? In the best way possible. I think I've probably got a few that are lodged in people's brains for the, not the good way, but, but, but for the most part,

sometimes there are those sermons that get stuck in your brain. And, and I have one for me that I heard preached over 15 years ago, probably 17, 18 years ago now by a man named Xavier Reese. It's Raul Reese's brother up at Calvary Chapel in Johnson County. He, he spoke at a conference there and he, he gave this message and he called it God's strange work. That was the name of the,

of the passage. And I thought, hmm, where's he going with this one? And he began a process of going through scripture and showing us that mercy is always God's default. Like that's what God always wants to show. God, God will default to mercy if there's any opportunity for him to default to mercy. Judgment is the strange work that God does. Judgment, judgment is the thing that God does

not like to do, which is why God foregoes judgment as long as he possibly can. He keeps giving opportunity after opportunity and chance after chance for people to, to come to salvation. For people to, to come to repentance because, because judgment is his strange work and mercy is his default. Let me show you one of the places he took us in scripture. Go with me, if you will,

to the book of Ezekiel chapter 18, about the middle of the Old Testament, right before Daniel. Ezekiel chapter 18, and I want you to start in verse 21. 23 is what I want to focus on, but 21 is going to build context. Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 21. I'll get a drink of water while you people turn. Keep flipping pages. It's okay. Ezekiel 18, 21 says this. But if the wicked man turns from all of his sins which he has committed, and he observes my statutes

and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him because of his righteousness which he practiced, he will live. Pay attention close. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord, rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? Jump down to verse 32,

very last part. First in the chapter. For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord. Therefore, repent and live. Why are we praying for all men? Why are we praying for everyone, no matter who they are, even the worst of the kings and the authorities? Why are we praying for all of them? Because it's pleasing to God, our Savior, who desires all men to be saved,

because he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in the death of those who oppose to him. Judgment is his strange work, mercy is his default. Therefore, pray for all men so that they can experience the mercy of God, so that he doesn't have to bring judgment, so that the death of the wicked is not something that will plague his heart, because it's his great desire.

In the book of Joel, when God is pronouncing a judgment, Joel says, we should turn that we may live. Who knows that God will not relent and instead send a blessing to us? And he says, send a blessing. And then John chapter 3, verse 17, you might mark that in the margin of your Bible. Everybody knows John 3, 16, right? Most everybody does. I've learned that's not always

true. Most everybody knows John 3, 16, which says this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Then you jump into John chapter 3, verse 17. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him. Might be saved. And so, my brothers and sisters, how is your heart towards the world?

How is your heart towards the worst of sinners? At least what you consider the worst of sinners. Bear in mind, what you consider the worst of sinners, they might consider you the worst of sinners, if you're self-righteous and judgmental, because it's God's desire that all would come to repentance. Back to 1 Timothy. He goes on to say, for there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all,

the testimony given at the proper time. He says there's one God. There's one God, and there is one way to God. Matter of fact, that's the next little section here. One way. There's one way to God. There is one mediator between God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. The word mediator means a go-between. Go back into the book of Job, you know, Job went through all of those terrible testings

and all of the difficulties of life and Job cried out at the end of one of the chapters where he was defending himself, he said, "'Oh, that there was one to stand in the gap "'between me and God, one to mediate between me and God.'" That's who Jesus is. Jesus is the answer to Job's prayer. Jesus is the answer to who will stand between me and God. And we are reminded, first of all, that there is only one way.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me because there's only one mediator. Listen, we have to understand something. There's only one God, there's not a lot of different gods, and there's only one way to God. There's not a lot of different ways to God. Everybody likes to say, you know what I mean, we pretty much all believe the same thing, don't we?

Can't we just stop arguing about things? Aren't we all pretty much believing the same thing? When I worked at Lakeview Village, I sat around the shop with a group of guys, and I'm not always real bold in these situations. I actually can kind of be a little bit of a coward in these situations, but every now and then, God just lights a fire up in me, and I just gotta say what I think.

And we were having a discussion about God, because even though you're not supposed to talk about God in politics, every work site, everybody talks about, wait for it, God in politics, right? And so we're all sitting around talking about God, and everybody's giving their opinions, and I told them what the Bible said, and Lou Holtz, he goes, ah, pretty much, we're all just saying the same thing, right? Don't we all pretty much just believe the same thing? We just have different names for it?

And I was like, okay, I gotta say it. I said, no, no, we don't all believe the same thing, because the Bible says all those other ways, they lead to death, and Jesus is the only way that leads to life. So we can't all be saying the same thing, because my Bible says something way different than that. And everybody got really quiet, and we quit talking about God.

But it is, there's only one way. But you know what, we're also reminded of something in this. Not only is there just one way, but we have one way. You don't have to now go through a priest. You don't have to go through a saint. You don't have to go through Mary. You don't need the Pope, right? And listen, I know this is unpopular, everybody's like, oh, you gotta be really friendly

about these things, do I? So I'm having a conversation with a Catholic guy one time, and he's trying to convince me, giving me all the arguments about Catholicism, and finally, I said, so what do you do with 1 Timothy, it says there's one mediator between God and man, and that's the man Jesus Christ. And he goes, that's a good question. And we stopped. You know why?

Because this does away with all of that thinking. You don't need to go through someone else. You don't need someone else to interpret your prayers for you. You don't need someone else to give your prayers for you. You don't need the saint of whatever to pray for you. You can go directly to God because of Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews, it says we can now go boldly

before the throne of grace by the new and living way, which is Jesus. It means every day, I can get up, and I can go and have a direct conversation with the creator of the heavens and the earth. Is that not the most fascinating thing you've ever heard in your entire life? I know some people are like, man, I'd love to meet somebody famous someday, right? I'd love to be able to talk to this famous guy.

Well, you get to talk to a famous guy every single day, the one, the creator of the famous guys. And Jesus died so you could do it. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom, a ransom as a payment made for the release of another, who paid the ransom, and he came at the proper time. He came at exactly the right time.

Notice what it says in verse six, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. In other words, he showed up right on time. And Paul goes on to say in verse seven, this, meaning this message of reconciliation, for this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Paul says, this is the reason why I'm the apostle to the Gentiles.

Now, I wanna take a quick sidebar here and get away from prayer and talk about how God's really funny, okay? That God loves doing funny things that make everybody else go, huh, I wouldn't have done it that way, but I guess that makes sense now. Let me explain to you what I mean. So Paul grew up a very devout Jewish man. As a very devout Jewish man, he would have hated Gentiles, right?

Because they're not God's chosen people. So he would have hated them because the Jewish mentality is that the Gentiles were used to stoke the fires of hell. They referred to them as Gentile dogs. They would cross the street so that they would not have to walk on the same side of the street as a Gentile. As a matter of fact, they would take the robe and pull it a little bit closer

so that they would not be defiled by the dust that came off of a Gentile. That would have been Paul because he was as orthodox as they came. And then Paul gets saved and God says, follow me on this, you're gonna think it's funny. It's gonna be great. Gabriel, keep your mouth shut. This is, you're gonna love it. You're gonna be the apostle to the Gentiles, to the people that you used to hate,

to the people that you thought were dogs, to the people that you thought stoke the fires of hell, to the people that you wouldn't even walk on the same side of the street. That's who you're gonna preach the gospel to. And then God kind of laughed and Gabriel kind of laughed and Paul went, fine, right? And everybody thought it was great. And I just love how God has a sense of humor like that.

Let me give you an illustration from my own life. Do you know what my philosophy in high school was? I grew up right here in Arkansas City, Kansas. I graduated from Arkansas City High School. You know what my philosophy was? Nobody lets friends stay in Ark City. Friends do not let friends stay in Ark City. And I wanted to get as far away from this town as I possibly could.

I never wanted to come back to Ark City. And then about 15 years ago, I started going, I think I wanna move back. And God was like, it's funny, right? Like, I'm pretty good at this. I'm really good at doing funny things. Because that's what God does, man, when God gets ahold of your heart with his grace. You just gotta let him guide you wherever you're gonna go.

And that's what God does with people. And so he says, for this reason, I was appointed an apostle to the Gentiles. Let's wrap this up with verse eight. Still means I got five minutes left. Don't close your Bibles yet. Therefore, I want many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension.

He says, I want men everywhere. Now we need to understand that when he says men here, he's actually talking about biological men. And I think this is a point that needs to be made. Because really, these first eight verses have to do with prayer in the church. And what he says here is I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer. You know what that means, men?

And listen closely to me. You're supposed to take the lead in prayer. Okay? guarantee every household represented here, almost every household represented here, your wife is the one that always suggests praying. Your wife is the one that leads in prayer. And fellas, ladies, if your husband won't do it, somebody's got to, take the lead. But encourage your husband to do it, because it's time, men, for us to take the lead in prayer.

For far too long, we have relegated all of the spiritual things to the women, and we have gone and drank beer and watched sports. It's time that it changes, because what he's telling us right here, as a command, is that men should lift up holy hands in prayer. Therefore, it starts with you. And I know all the excuses from men. Well, you know, I'm a pretty private guy. I don't really like to share my faith. I don't care. It says you're

supposed to take the lead. It doesn't say, oh, if you're not a private person, take the lead. No, it says men, take the lead in prayer. And some of you men are just like, oh, you know, I mean, I don't really, I don't really know what to say. I just gave you a format, so follow. Follow that format. Well, what if I say something stupid? You will. It's okay. You will.

One of the things that we all did is we sat around, and I was the late guy. I was the last guy to show up, and there were three questions that we were supposed to answer the first night. And they were like, here's the three questions and your most embarrassing moment. And everybody's like, we didn't have to do that. And they're like, shh. So we all went around and shared embarrassing

moments too. Stupid things we said from the pulpit. Listen, if I say dumb things from the pulpit, and I do, I'm going to say dumb things in prayer. And I do. It's okay. You're going to say something stupid. Everybody's going to laugh about it. You're going to move on. Oh, well, you know, I just, I don't, I don't think I'm fit to lead in prayer. You're not. That's why God's grace is so

good. Because you're not doing it because of how good you are. You're doing it because God's grace is empowering you and he's given you a job to do. Men, lead your families in prayer. Lead in the church in prayer. We have a prayer meeting before first service back here at eight o'clock. We have a prayer before second service at 10 o'clock. Me and one other guy show up and it's

a whole bunch of ladies. That's all I'm saying. Fellas, we got to step up. We got to step up. Men, lift up holy hands in prayer. So he says to lift up holy hands in prayer. Now that doesn't mean that every time you pray, your hands have to be up. I think that there are moments where you to the Lord and your physical position in prayer is important, right? Like sometimes throwing up

your hands like this and just saying, Lord, I just can't do it anymore, right? April 1998 when I really gave my heart to Jesus, I had my hands up because I'm like, Lord, I just can't do it. I'm screwing up royally and you got to take it. There are times when you need to do that. There's times where you need to be on your knees in prayer and then there's times where you need to be walking

around while you pray. You know why? Because if you don't, you'll fall asleep, right? Like if I start praying first thing in the morning, I either do it or I don't. I either do it or I don't. I either need to be sitting up really, really straight or I need to be walking around. Otherwise, I will start praying in the spirit and not in a positive way. I will, right? Listen, the position that

you're in physically is not as important as the position that your heart is in before the Lord. He says, lift up holy hands in prayer without wrath and dissension. Brothers and sisters, God is calling us to pray, but more than that, God has gifted us with prayer. He died so that we could have this life with him. Take the fullest advantage of it. It's our greatest strength as individuals and it's our

greatest strength as the church. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I do praise you for who you are. Lord, the God who hears and answers prayers. Father, the God who speaks to us through your word. The God who has changed lives. The God who is changing lives and the God who will continue to change lives. And Father, I pray that we would become men and women who are constantly coming before you. And I

just especially want to pray for the men, Lord, who sometimes hear these challenges and go, well, I'll do that later. Lord, would we as men step up and begin to lead our families in this way? Father, I know that there's a blessing to it. I know that there's a blessing behind it. And so, Father, give us the grace that we need because I know hearts will start pounding and

and fear. Fear will take over. And so, Lord, make us the men that you've created for us to be. And God, for all of us here, may your words sink deeply into our hearts. Lord, may the love of Jesus Christ that desires all to be saved continue to sink deeply into us and change the fabric of who we are. And Lord, may we become men and women of prayer. Father, we just thank you for who you are. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Father's love for us is beyond all measure. That he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure.

The father turns his face away. The chosen one. His sons to glory show.

Lord God, I just thank you for the. Day, Lord, and we thank you for your word or that I pray that we would we we would be a people of praise to you or a people on our knees, Lord, in constant prayer. What I pray is we leave here today that you ask that your Holy Spirit go with us and continue to minister to us. Lord, continue to do your mighty work in our lives.

Lord, we love you and we praise you and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.