Prayer of the First Order

The Scriptures exhort us continually to be people of prayer, but what exactly does that look like? What does it mean? How should we pray? Open with us to 1 Timothy chapter 2 and follow along as we learn those things together.

Good morning and welcome to Cross Connection. I'm supposed to tell the youth they can go next door, so high school and junior high students, you can head on out. The rest of you, would you stand and take out your Bibles with me? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Open it to the New Testament, near the end of your Bible, to the book of 1 Timothy. If you open to the very last book, the book of Revelation, and turn to the left, you'll ultimately find 1 Timothy chapter 2.

We finally made it out of chapter 1; it only took us about four weeks, so it might take us a while to get through this book. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1, Paul writes, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of 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 between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire therefore that men everywhere pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting."

Father, we stand in Your presence today, and we ask that You would speak to us by Your word and that You would minister by Your Spirit the things that we will see in this passage. Use Your word to be transformative in our lives, and as we go on through the rest of this week, may we see the effect of Your work and the working of Your Spirit in our lives, continuing to make us more and more into the likeness of Your children.

Lord, transform us by the renewing of our minds, that we would display what is Your good and perfect will in our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.

I'm sure that many of you had the very same experience that I did this last week. On Monday morning, when I got up, one of the first things I was greeted with was a long list of text messages from people asking, "Did you see what happened in Las Vegas?" I hadn't yet, so I went online to see what was going on. Unfortunately, I have to say I wasn't entirely shocked. These things that happen are absolutely horrific; they are terrible. However, I think it's almost more horrific that it's become so normative to us that we're not as surprised by it anymore. The dreadful things that happen remind us that we live in a broken and fallen world.

It feels like, for pretty much all of my adult life, I anticipate almost every single morning seeing some dreadful thing that happened the night before in the news. It's heavy and hard to see. There are people in our church who are affected personally by it; there are people in our community who are affected personally by it—loved ones who were injured or even killed. When we see these things, it weighs upon us, highlighting the reality of the brokenness of our world.

One of the interesting responses that has emerged, probably really only in the last five or six years, has become the standard reaction by a lot of people in our society to these events. Their response, in solidarity with those affected, is to go on their social media—Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, whatever it is—and change their cover picture to something that identifies with the situation. Almost all the time, what is connected to that cover picture change is a hashtag: "Pray for..." I find it interesting that even people who are not necessarily churchgoers and would not identify as religious will put "Pray for Nice," "Pray for..." and so on.

Pray for Paris, pray for London, pray for Manchester, pray for Orlando, and now pray for Vegas. People in our society and culture who really wouldn't say much about faith, Christianity, or religion often hear newscasters say, "Our hearts and prayers are with all the people in Vegas." Politicians will stand up and exhort, "Would you please pray for the people affected by the things that are going on?"

It's an interesting reaction in response that we see. What we have here in the passage before us today is an apostolic exhortation to do the exact same thing: to pray. The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, who is the pastor of the church in the city of Ephesus, is called upon to exhort those who are under his care. As a shepherd and a pastor, he is urged to pray.

This passage before us urges our prayers and tells us that the Apostles' desire, and therefore God's desire, is that we be a people who pray. It instructs us on the kind of prayer that we should pray. Our prayers should not be for ourselves only, but also for others. They should not only be private but also public. We are told that our prayers should be for people, and we should pray certain kinds of things for those people.

The context of this exhortation is important for us to remember. If you look back at verse 3 of chapter 1, you'll understand the context. In 1 Timothy 1:3, Paul said, "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine." The word "urged" in verse 3 is the same Greek word that is translated as "exhort" in chapter 2, verse 1.

Paul says to Timothy, the overseer of this church in Ephesus, "I am coming alongside you." The Greek words "para Kaleo" mean to come alongside, to call you to something. In chapter 1, he says, "Pastor Timothy, you pastor this church; you oversee the church." The overseers of that church are to be called to stand strong in sound doctrine and to preach proper doctrine. That was the whole exhortation of chapter 1, which we spent four weeks studying.

Through that, they be a people and a church that practice and preach proper doctrine. But now, as we come to chapter 2, verse 1, he shifts from proper preaching to proper prayer. He says that the church should be a place where prayers are offered. I want you, Timothy, to establish right practices within the church: right practices of preaching and now right practices of prayer.

He accordingly says, "I exhort, I come alongside you and I call you that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made."

Number one on your outline: public prayer should be of significant importance in the church. We know that because Paul says, "first of all, I exhort." In one sense, one of the byproducts of sound doctrine being preached in a church is that the group of people—a church is just a gathering of people, not a place—will be a people who make prayer a priority. It holds a prime position in their lives. Prayer should be of high value and of great importance to us individually as Christians, followers of Jesus, if that's what you are today.

As a church, we should be those who are committed to prayer. In many ways, we at Cross-Connection Church do a good job of this. We make it an important part of our service every single week. Whoever does announcements, whether it's Garrett, Pastor Mark, or someone else, stands up, and one of the first things we talk about is this prayer card. Every single week, eighty to a hundred of you fill this out and put down very detailed and specific prayer requests for yourself, for others, for healing, for salvation, for provision of a job—whatever it may be. You give these to us, and we take these, and as a staff, we pray for them on Tuesday. There's another group of people who pray for these on Wednesday. Throughout the week, people are praying for these, so we put a high value on this.

However, when you really consider the exhortations of Scripture towards prayer, you realize that we could always do better. We could always do better individually as it relates to prayer, and we could always do better corporately as it relates to prayer. Prayer is one of those things that, though it is called upon to...

Be a priority. We are called upon to make it a priority in our lives. It can slide by the wayside, and so we should be those who place a high value on it. We should put it at the top of our list of things to do. Sadly, though we kind of intellectually know it should be a high part of our lives, it can easily find a very low practice in our lives. There is a high priority internally, mentally, and intellectually, but it becomes a practical side issue of the things that we do.

One great Christian author, John Bunyan, who wrote "Pilgrim's Progress," said of prayer, "You can't do more than pray until you have prayed." However, so many of us do so much before we pray. Even I, as a pastor, have to be reminded that we should pray. I can't tell you how many times my wife has reminded me that we should pray about an issue. I often respond, "Yeah, we'll get to that," but then we never actually do. I say this as a way of confession; this is something that should be a high priority in my life more so than it is.

Paul here exhorts that, first of all, prayer be of the first order. It should be high on our list of things to do. Notice that point number one says public prayer. Public prayer should be of significant importance to the church because the context of this passage in 1 Timothy 2 is not the private life of the Christian; it is the public life of Christians gathered together in what we call church. In the public life of Christians gathered together, public prayer should be a part of our lives.

Timothy, as the overseeing elder or pastor of the church in Ephesus, was left by Paul to set things right because things apparently were not as they should be. They were not in order; the church was not on course. Paul tells Timothy that he has to get this back in order and back on course. He must ensure that good preaching and sound doctrine are prime for the church.

The early church was described in Acts 2:42, which states, "And they continued steadfastly, earnestly, continuously in the apostles' doctrine, sound doctrine, preaching, and the breaking of bread and fellowship, and prayers." That was the public and private practice of the early church: to gather together for sound doctrine, to gather together for fellowship, and to break bread together.

Both in what we call the Eucharist, the partaking of the Lord's Supper, and in hospitality together, the early church prioritized these values. They continued together in prayer, which should not change for us in our day. Paul is seeking to reorder an out-of-order church in Ephesus, and he says to Timothy, "This is your job. Make sure that they preach sound doctrine and make sure that they are engaged in prayer."

If prayer is to be the priority of the church in its public worship, it should also be a priority for the pastor. Timothy should make it a significant part of his life. I will be the first to admit that it needs to be of higher priority in my own life. I was convicted by this as I studied through this last week. The Apostolic exhortation states, "I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made." He goes on to say in verse 8, "I desire therefore that men pray everywhere."

Before we delve into the specifics of the prayer that he exhorts, we must address some objections. Sometimes, there is an objection to the concept of prayer. Perhaps you have had this objection yourself. You might think, "Why should I pray? God is so far away; He can't possibly hear or be interested in the things I am going through right now."

Alternatively, you might say, "Why should I pray? God has much bigger issues to deal with in this world than my trivial problems." Some might think, "Why should I pray? God is far more interested in the important people in the church, so He doesn't have time for me, a little person in the church." Others may feel, "God doesn't really give me the things I ask for anyway, so why should I ask for anything?"

I have heard this sentiment quite regularly lately, and I have been somewhat shocked by it. Some people tell me, "Why should I even pray? God is going to do what He wants to do; He is sovereign. What does it matter?" However, that perspective does not align with the teaching of Scripture regarding our call to prayer.

Maybe you don't express that objection verbally, but one identifiable attitude among many American Christians today is, "I don't need to pray; I have everything I need. What am I going to need? I have it all."

This is a danger that we can fall into. One of the churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation fell into that very thing: they had everything, they were rich, and they had need of nothing. It is a danger to fall into this pattern.

Now, Paul doesn't even spend any time on these objections to God. God was intimately interested in the issues of our lives on a daily basis. This wasn't just from Paul; it is something that Jesus himself taught his disciples, his earliest followers. He said that we are to pray to God as Father. We are in a relational context with God as Father, and as our Father, He knows the things that we have need of. He desires that we, His children, would come and ask Him for our daily bread, for our provision for the day.

We are taught by Jesus, by Paul, and by the Apostles to come and bring our prayers before God. Paul talks about four different kinds of prayer here, and there are others, but he mentions supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. I say probably three kinds of prayer because the word "prayers" is kind of like a catch-all; it is an overarching term for these other things that are prayer.

It would be right to say that while all supplications are prayers, not all prayers are supplications. Similarly, while all intercessions are prayers, not all prayers are intercessions. Prayer is the overarching terminology. You can be praying and not offering an intercessory prayer; you can be praying and not offering a supplication. So, prayer is kind of a catch-all.

What is supplication? Well, supplication is generally the kind of prayer where you are personally asking God for provision for your own needs or your own cares. If we are honest, that probably occupies 80 percent of our prayers: supplication. Sometimes we can fall into a pattern where our prayers are like our order with the barista at Starbucks. It becomes just, "I want this and this and this, hold the whipped cream, and I want it at this temperature." We can get into a pattern where supplication dominates our prayers.

Now, supplication is not a bad thing. In fact, we are instructed to bring our supplications, our petitions, to God—to bring the requests to God, the things that we have need of. We are instructed in the Bible to do that.

Unfortunately, there are ways in which prayer can dominate our entire prayer life. Paul here says, "I exhort first of all that with the corporate structure of the church, supplications be made." But not just supplications; intercessions are also important. If supplication is a prayer of petition for your own needs and cares, then intercession is a prayer and petition for the needs of others.

As Christians, and as a church, we are exhorted to pray for the needs of others. That's what we do with our prayer cards. We invite you to share with us your needs or the needs of those in your life so that we can be praying with you and interceding on your behalf. Paul emphasizes that in the church, there should be supplications being prayed—praying for your own personal needs and cares—but there should also be intercessions, praying for the needs and cares of others. This probably dominates the largest scope of our prayer life.

However, we must be careful not to neglect the last thing that Paul calls us to: the prayer of giving thanks. What do you do when you have received that which you have prayed for? Do you come before God and give Him honest praise, adoration, and thanksgiving for what He has given to you? It is such an important and valuable aspect of prayer to acknowledge that it was by God's hand that He dealt with this issue or problem in your life and in the life of someone else.

Paul says, "I exhort as a first order of business that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all." For whom? Look at what he says in verses 1 and 2: "Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority."

Point number two on your outline: the church should pray for all without distinction. Now, let's quickly address what has become a stumbling block for some in very recent times: the gender-specific language of the verse. Paul says, "I exhort that prayer be made for all men." Some object, saying, "We have a problem with this; it is too gender-specific. It says all men. Where are the women that are talked about here in this passage? It just says all men."

Now, listen, if you have a real issue with some of the biblical issues regarding the...

Positions and roles of gender will be addressed in next week's passage, but this is not the main issue. This passage speaks about humanity. I exhort that prayers be made for all humanity. He is not just saying that one side of the gender is all that is being prayed for; it is prayer for all humanity.

We should be committed to prayer for all without distinction. There are 7.5 billion people that occupy this planet, according to estimates as of April 2017. If we prayed for each individual person without exception, we might find it challenging. However, when he says we are to pray for all humanity, we are praying without distinction. What does that mean? In other words, it means there is no one beyond the scope and focus of our prayers. Our prayers are not to be ethnocentric, monocultural, or demographically divided, limited to those who are like us.

One commentator noted that our prayers should be without distinction of race, nationality, or social position. In many ways, our prayers for other people demonstrate devotion and love. When we pray for someone else, we are showing our devotion and love for them, unless we are praying one of the forms of prayer called imprecatory prayers. These are prayers of judgment on people. You may have experienced this when someone cut you off on the freeway, and you thought, "Oh God, blank them." That is a prayer, but it may not be one you truly considered.

Here, Paul says we are to pray for all humanity without distinction at every level. This prayer is a form of devotion. If we only pray the kind of loving, devoted prayers for people who are like us, we must remember what Jesus said: "If you love those who love you, what reward is there?" Do not also the sinners do the same? We are called to be different. We are to pray for all humanity. Paul emphasizes that we should pray for kings and all who are in authority. Among the many people we could and should pray for, Paul places those in authority high on our list.

We are to pray for those in authority over us, whether those civil authorities are perverted or not, whether they are godly or not. They are to be the subjects of our prayer. One commentator said that Christian citizens may influence the course of national affairs through prayer.

How many of you sometimes feel a little bit helpless regarding the affairs of our nation and where it is going? Come on, be honest. You talked about getting your emails; I talked with someone who is really concerned about these things. What is the best thing you can do? I know a lot of people say to vote, but many of you don’t even feel that your vote is worthwhile, especially if you live in the state of California. You might think that your vote doesn’t matter.

We can affect the national affairs of our nation through prayer. Paul instructs us to pray for all those who are in authority over us. What is the goal of this prayer for those in leadership? Notice what he says in verse two: "for kings and all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." He doesn’t say that they may change their actions; rather, our prayer for them is that it would change us or our experience in the nation in which we live. The goal is that we would lead a peaceable life, a quiet life, in all godliness and reverence.

Point number three on your outline: the prayer warrior should seek to be a peacemaker. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God." The prayer warrior should seek to be a peacemaker. This letter was written somewhere between AD 63 and AD 64, probably in the later part of AD 63 or the early part of AD 64. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy with the hope that the church might lead a quiet and peaceable life in the Roman Empire in which they were living.

Paul wanted them to be able to lead a quiet and peaceable life because he realized that Rome in the first century was a very pluralistic society. There were all kinds of different groups, subgroups, and temple worship. So, there were all these different groups, and Paul's hope was that...

An apostle, Paul, had a hope for the church at Ephesus: that they might lead a quiet and peaceful life. If you know anything about the ministry of Paul, there was nothing quiet or peaceable in most of the places where he brought the gospel. However, his hope was that they would be able to lead a quiet and peaceable life.

The prayer for the rulers is recommended. One preacher said it was necessary in order to obtain for Christians a tranquil life, undisturbed by persecution and molestation, despite their peculiar way of life. Their wish was to be allowed to live their faith in obedience to the gospel without being interfered with by the magistrates who were over them. This was the hope of Paul, but it was a hope that would not be realized.

About ten years before Paul wrote this letter, a new emperor showed up in Rome. He was a man of only seventeen years old at the time, named Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. He is commonly known simply as Nero. Nero ruled from about AD 54 until AD 68, when he died. However, not before, in the last four years of his rule as emperor of Rome, he brought about the first wave of mass Christian persecution upon the church.

This letter was written around AD 63 or 64. In the summer of AD 64, historians tell us that there was a great fire in the city of Rome. There were fourteen districts in the city, and only four of those districts were not affected by the fire. It was a massive fire that devastated Rome, and suspicions quickly zeroed in on Nero himself as the one who started or had the fires started. He had ambitions to remake Rome in his image and for his honor. Many people of the day believed, and many historians still believe, that he was the one who actually had these fires set.

By the end of the summer of AD 64, Nero had a publicity problem; people were not happy with him in Rome. When people were not happy with the emperor, they didn't live long. In fact, after Nero, in AD 68, 69, and 70, there were four emperors in two years. Good people didn't like them, and if you weren't liked, you died. You just disappeared or committed suicide.

Outside the city, Nero had a problem in AD 64. People were not happy with his leadership. It doesn't happen often; good leadership usually keeps people satisfied. To create a diversion, he focused his attention on two groups as scapegoats for the fires of Rome: the Jews and the Christians. Why? Because they were outsiders, a minority that didn't live like the rest of the people. They didn't go to the temples of Rome, they didn't attend the theaters, and they didn't watch the gladiators. They lived separate lives, making them an easy target.

Nero directed the attention of the Roman people toward the Christians in Rome. From 64 to 68 AD, there was massive persecution. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in 115 AD, tells us that during this period, Christians were mocked, and the mockery was added to their deaths. They were covered with the skins of beasts, torn to pieces by dogs, and perished while being nailed to crosses. They were doomed to the flames, given to the gladiators, and burned alive. It was a horrific practice for Nero to take Christians still alive, dip them in pitch, and put them on stakes to light the night and the city. This kind of persecution changes the meaning of the words "let your light so shine."

The Roman persecution under Nero was devastating; it was the first wave of government-sanctioned persecution, but not the last. Paul's hope would not be realized for the church. Just months before this persecution began, he called the church to wage war and fight the good fight of faith. But how does a Christian wage war? Paul explains that we wage war with God in prayer. In 2 Corinthians 10:3, he states, "We do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; they are mighty in God for the tearing down of strongholds."

Do you realize that prayer is a weapon? It is hard for us to grasp that, but the Scriptures speak of prayer as a weapon in the armor and arsenal of the Christian, as written in Ephesians chapter 6. Maybe you remember the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness...

Righteousness shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel. True, put on a belt of righteousness, the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Then he says, "Praying always with all prayer and supplications with the saints." Prayer is a weapon. The weapons of our warfare are not earthly, but they are mighty, and they tear down strongholds.

Now, the Christian soldier is called upon to fight the good fight, but they are to wage this fight with the mighty weapons of prayer. We have a hard time with that because there is residence in every single one of us, and more so in men generally than in women. There is an inclination within every single one of us to fight and to take up actual weapons. Virtually every time I've given a message like this on passages in the Bible, I will have people who come up to me afterward and say, "What should we do when the government turns against us? Should we rise up and fight?"

Jesus spoke to this when He was being arrested by the Roman military of the day to be condemned to die by Pontius Pilate. One of His disciples, named Peter, decided to take up a weapon. He pulled out a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Notice that he didn't go for the trained Roman soldiers that were there, an entire garrison. He was a little bit more wise than that, this fisherman from up in Galilee.

But he cut off the ear of this servant of the high priest, and Jesus stopped him, telling him to put away the sword. The very next morning, Jesus was standing before the Roman governor, Pilate, who asked, "Are you really a king?" Jesus affirmed that He is a king, but He said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." The implication is that they were not called to rise up like that.

That grates against you and me because, in my nature, I have a somewhat militant inclination. I see it in my sons, especially Eliot. That kid is militant, and it's a good thing he only weighs about 40 pounds because he could be dangerous. He has an incredibly solid right hook, and he's at the wrong height for the right hook.

The Christian soldier is to wage war in the spirit by prayer. Notice what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:3: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Point number four on your outline is that acceptable prayer aligns my desires with God's desire for the salvation of all. I will confess, and I think that you will agree this is true for many of you as well, that many times we come to God in prayer with the desire to try and swing His will towards our will. Sometimes, in our prayers, we come before God and try to explain all the reasons why it would be a really good plan to give us the things we are praying for. We attempt to influence Him, as if we are talking with a senator, trying to sway their vote towards our camp.

If it’s not working, we might think, "Fine, I’m just going to fast. I’ll go on a hunger strike until You do what I want You to do." But that’s not what prayer is about. Prayer is meant to bring my will into alignment with God's will. This is why we are instructed to pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Sometimes, we need to pray, "Your will be done in my life as it is in heaven."

We struggle with this, but I want to encourage you because Jesus struggled with this in His humanity. Jesus was fully God and fully man; He had humanity like you and I have humanity. We see that humanity come through in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He would be killed. He is praying to the Father three times, saying, "If there is any other way, let this cup, this crucifixion, pass from me. But not my will, Your will be done."

What is He doing in His humanity? He is expressing that He does not desire the suffering of the cross, but He submits His will to the will of the Father. Prayer brings my desire, my will, into alignment with God's desire.

Acceptable prayer aligns my desires with God's desire for the salvation of all. What do you pray for when your governing authorities are Antichrist, like Nero? My natural desire is to pray for their damnation, to pray for their destruction. A little imprecation—imprecatory prayers, like "break their teeth in their mouths"—would be my prayers in the natural.

However, we are directed here to pray not for their damnation but for their salvation. Therefore, if I am going to pray a prayer that is in alignment with the nature of God, what do we learn about the nature of God in these verses? Look at it carefully with me. At the end of verse 3, it states that this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. His very nature is that He is Savior.

Not only does this reveal His nature, but it also reveals His will. Verse 4 states that He desires all men to be saved. So, if I am going to pray in line with God's nature—He is Savior—and His will, which desires salvation for all people, then I must pray for the salvation of all people. "All" here means all, and it includes those who are in opposition to Christ, as well as those we might consider Antichrist. Therefore, we are to pray for their salvation.

Since we are exhorted to pray for the salvation of any and everyone, we can assume and understand that God's desire is for the salvation of any and everyone. This leads me to one of my strong convictions about God's nature, His will, and the Scriptures: any teaching that limits the salvific power, the saving power of God, to one chosen group is against the Scriptures and the nature of God.

So, not only should we pray for the salvation of all men, but we should also work for the salvation of all men. We see this in the text. How do we see this in the text? Notice what it says in verses 3 and 4: this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved. That's His desire.

Come to the knowledge of the truth. God's desire is for the salvation of all; therefore, He has sent us to bring to the people of this world the knowledge of the truth. If they are going to know the truth, how are they going to know it? They are going to know the truth because you and I share that truth with them.

This is why Paul looked down in verse 8. In verse 7, he says, "For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." He states that God appointed him to the task of being an apostle—one sent with a message—and a preacher and a teacher telling people of the truth.

What truth do we tell them? Look at verses 5 and 6: "For there is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." The truth that you and I are to bring to the people in need of salvation is this: there is one God and one way to that God, and Jesus died for you so that you could come to God.

What does that sound like? The gospel! He gave Himself a ransom to be testified. We have to go and tell people this truth, and He did this for all, not for some, but for all.

So, he goes on in verse 7: "For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle." I am speaking the truth in Christ, not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith. Why does Paul have to parenthetically say, "I'm telling you the truth"? Because there was some severe division between people groups, classifications, and ethnicities in his day. There were people among the Jewish Christians who did not like Gentiles and did not feel that Gentiles could receive the grace of Jesus.

He says, "No, I have to tell you the truth. God appointed me to take the gospel to Gentiles." Pretty much all of us here today are Gentiles, and we are very thankful that God appointed him to do that.

So, God has appointed me a preacher and an apostle, a teacher of the truth of faith. I desire, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting. Point number 5 on your outline: God's desire for salvation.

God's desire for salvation compels our desire for prayer. You see it there: God desires all men to be saved. Paul says, "I desire therefore that men pray everywhere." What's the first step of evangelism? Prayer.

At the beginning of September, we handed out cards here on a Sunday morning. In your bulletin, there was a little orange card that said "You Connect" on it. On the back side, there were three blanks where you could write the names of three individuals. Many of you did; we collected about 800 names that you wrote down. We've been praying for those people, and hopefully, you've been praying too. Why? Because the first step of the evangelist is to pray that God would tear down strongholds of every vain thing that exalts itself against the truth of who God is and what He has done for us.

We pray that God would begin to move in the hearts of individuals who have been hardened by sin, suffering, anger, and all kinds of things they have gone through. They become hardened because of the brokenness and fallenness of this world, and they don't want to come to the knowledge of the truth because men love darkness rather than light. So, how do we move in the heavenlies? By prayer.

We have been praying, and hopefully, God has given you opportunities to invite and share with the people we have been praying for. If not, there are still opportunities to share with them. I am still looking for the right opportunity to share with one of the individuals whose name I wrote down. I am still praying for that opportunity; it hasn't happened yet. But God, would You move in power to give me that opportunity to share the good news of who You are with this person?

God's desire for salvation should compel my desire for prayer. Paul says, "I desire therefore that men pray everywhere," not just quietly at home or gathered in a room like this, but everywhere. We should be beacons of prayer for the salvation of all people.

So, that's what we're going to do. We're going to stand together. Stand with me, and we're going to do what Paul says here: "I desire that men and women pray everywhere with lifted hands." Holy hands lifted high. You may wonder what that means. God said to do it, so we're going to lift our hands. You might feel uncomfortable, but if you close your eyes, you won't see anyone, and you'll feel fine.

This is also a good way to keep prayer short because your arms will get tired. If you have a person who prays long all the time, you can say, "Let's just lift up our hands while we're praying." That will stop them because their arms will get tired. So, we're going to pray. What does it mean to have holy hands? Hands that have been sanctified by...

The washing and regeneration of the blood of Jesus Christ is a profound truth. If you're a Christian today, you've been made holy before God. He says, "I want you to lift up your hands and pray for what? For the salvation of all people, even those in your life who might have been, up to this point, Antichrist, like Nero."

So, let us lift our hands or close our eyes. Father, we stand in Your presence. What an awesome reality! The Scriptures say, "Wherever two or more are gathered in Your name, there You are in their midst." We trust, based on the promise of Your Word, that You are here in this place. What an amazing and awesome opportunity it is to stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One who is holy, holy, holy, separate from sinners. We are able to lift our hands because of the work that You did. They are holy hands; our sin has been dealt with, purged, and cleansed. Thank You, Jesus, for Your salvation.

God, every single one of us standing here today knows people—friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors—who don't know You. They lack the knowledge of the truth. They might even know something about Jesus; they may have gone to church as a kid, but they don't truly know You. Their lives are broken, broken because of the sin they have committed and the sin that has been done to them. There are hurts, pains, angers, unforgiveness, frustration, adultery, fornication, and all kinds of things that hold us back from You and keep them back from You.

But You are the Savior; that's Your nature. You desire their salvation. Jesus, You put it all on the line for their salvation. How will He, Father, who spared not His only Son, not freely give all things? God, You gave it all for us. We pray for those individuals, those names that we wrote down, or maybe some other names that have come to mind now. We ask, God, that You would move in power mightily in their lives. Do whatever You need to do to bring them to the place where they recognize their need for Your saving grace.

God, help us to be there with boldness to share the truth of who You are at that moment—the right word, at the right time, in the right way.

Not to be fearful, Jesus. Give your church boldness. Pour out your Spirit upon us as our hands are lifted high in surrender. As they are lifted high in an attitude and a position of accepting and asking, give to us your grace and your boldness.

Lord, help us to pour it out. You have placed every single one of the people in this room in a specific mission field that I will never have an opportunity to reach apart from your grace. They are on school campuses, in office buildings, on construction sites, in police cars—wherever they are, you have placed them there to be ambassadors of your kingdom. Use them as lights to a world that is in such chaos, brokenness, and need.

We pray for our leaders, those that know you and those that are opposed to you. We pray for salvation because we know that righteousness exalts a nation, and sin is a reproach to any people. But, Lord, if we want to see our nation transformed, the only thing that will transform it is your saving grace and power. Not a new tax plan, not a new health care bill, not a new president, but your grace.

God, help us to remember that we pray these things in the mighty and precious name of Jesus. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."