Prayer Propels the Gospel Message 4

Intro

I thought we were through with this study on prayer but as I looked at my notes and began to accelerate the teaching due to time, I passed over one of those light bulb overflow learning moments that is good stuff.

We will read the text yet again for context, but we will close out tonight with verses 5-7.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

1 Timothy 2:1–7 NKJV

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 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.

The Lord’s Ear and my Listening

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,”

We are to pray that Jesus intercede for us as we serve Him and that He has our ear when He speaks. And, we pray for this triune harmony at work as we serve Him.

As I studied this section involving this idea of Mediator which you will note is capitalized in your Bible, this is an important title for Jesus. A real understanding of Mediator is important because you will truly appreciate His ultimate love and interest in your life.

Before I fully grasped the term Mediator as it relates to Jesus I thought somewhere in the field of this parameter.

Genesis 2:24 “24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Whether we can distinguish that love level at times may be questionable, but we are instructed of a priority in our love.

God

Spouse

Children

Work

Church

The Bible speaks to the relationship of priority between husband and wife over children and is that not sound?

Your children are a blessed gift of God and the fruits of marriage, but they grow up and go and build upon their own lives. Grandchildren are the greatest gift the Lord gives in our empty nest years, but that window of enjoyment is so short due to how fast they hit the stage of puberty, boys & girls, cars, dating, you get the picture.

And, for those in this room along with other loved ones of mine who have lost their spouse, the depth of understanding this text is critical to the security we enjoy in Christ Jesus. We tap all around this understanding in the Scriptures, but it took this text for me and the drill down to grasp the real depth of love the Godhead has for me.

Ephesians 5:25 “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,”

This love describes Jesus’ love for us as a spousal love, no greater love have any of us encountered and that is a deep love.

Why is the understanding of this love important? When you pray and you understand that Jesus is your Mediator, you understand the depths of His motivation to be your advocate. Let’s get into this understanding of Mediator.

Mediator

New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: Updated Edition 3319 μέσος (mesos)

3319. μέσος mesos; a prim. word; middle, in the midst:—among(3), among*(5), before*(3), between(1), between*(3), center(6), forward*(3), midday*(1), middle(6), midnight*(2), midst(19), two(1), way(2), within*(1).

That’s perfectly understandable. He is objective, unbiased, He is not slighted in any way. I think about the idea of mediation in court rooms.

In tort reform in Alabama, when you enter into contractual activity in the work place, you sign an agreement to agree to mediation in handling a conflict in a given contract you enter into. I sometimes wonder if mediation really means to bring closure to the dispute as quickly as possible.

When you consider Jesus and the depths of love He expresses for the Father and the Godhead, do you really believe he loves you as much as He loves His Heavenly Father? Yes, He does and he is totally as radically interested in your affairs as He is the affairs of the Godhead.

Would you allow me to open your thinking to something deep?

When we read the Gospel of John about the relationship with the Father, have you ever considered that Jesus’ love for you is equal to His love for the Father?

Deuteronomy 6:4 “4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”

Mark 12:30-31 “30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.””

John 17:21 “21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

When a baby comes out of the womb, what actions as parents do we do to recreate that security that a baby enjoys?

Our Lord and Savior at birth was wrapped in “swaddling clothes”.

We are to pray for that harmony, that koinonia with the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit at work as we share Him with others. I want you to know a deep understanding of Jesus. He is just as vitally concerned, just as in love with you, just as motivated for your interest as He is for God Himself. Amen?

And as we deepen our understanding of how well provided for, how equipped, how strengthened we are with the full power of the Godhead at work in our lives, He prepares us as He prepared Paul for the next phase of prayer: Pray as to how you want me to share Him with others.

The Lord’s Sacrifice and My Sharing

1 Timothy 2:6 NKJV

6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

The word ransom in the Greek means:

what is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption, ransom. Dearly beloved, He took our place on the cross. Our sins should have caused us death eternal, but he was the atonement or the ransom for our sins, but the sins of the world. And, if it had been only for your sins, he would have died that you may live.

We discussed this morning and the gospel is not complete without life, death, and resurrection-He rose on the third day. But oh yes, He died, He died a horrid death that you and I could know life eternal, heaven, a home with Him.

Isaiah 53:6 “6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Mark 10:45 “45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

John 6:51 “51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.””

but notice that we are to “testify in due time”.

We are to share Jesus in His timing. When it is so clear and evident by the whisper of the Holy Spirit that He wants you to share and then you share.

I shared the priority of the message we testify in exhaustion or did I?

This text affirms this morning:

1 John 5:11-12 “11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

His Appointment and My Actions and Accuracy in Sharing

1 Timothy 2:7 “7 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.”

Each of us has been appointed to a specific task based upon our gifts, talents, abilities with the synergy of all that we are about to share Jesus.

Trivia time. Put your phones down for a moment. No cheating.

I have been preaching on Wednesday Nights of the Great Personalities of God’s Amazing Plan. We have covered several known heroes of the faith. I was going to be purposeful on Wednesday night picking someone that I am 90% certain you do not remember. We’ll see.

Exodus 31:1-5 “1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4 to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 5 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.”

Why did I pick Bezalel as one to discuss? Some people could think well, I do not have great gifts of exhortation. I never have a role in the kingdom of being front and center.

Do you believe the Lord wanted Bezelel to share in the great wisdom of God when people walked up and saw his craft and asked him what he was doing. Who are you making that for?

Ephesians 3:7-8 “7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,”

1 Timothy 1:11 “11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

Think of this verse in context to the story of the talents.

2 Timothy 1:11 “11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.”

God has appointed you with certain gifts, skills, talents, to be used of Him.

Now, I close with this question tonight to solidify what we have learned. If you could sum up in 3-5 sentences your present mission and assignment, your gifts and talents, and how God has called you to use those as a trigger in sharing Him, what would your life mission be? I read Bezelel’s. He was given a craft and God was going to use that craft to share Him with others when people inquired. How about you?

Galatians 1:15-16 “15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,