The Priority of Prayer
Notes
Transcript
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,
New Sermon series: A Culture of Prayer
1 Timothy - background
Offer the beauty of prayer, the different dimensions.. it is a wonderful privilege given to us.
Simply not asking God for something..we come to Him out of a relationship.. it plugs us into the flow of God’s grace.
The priority of prayer - “First of all..”
He further emphasizes its importance.. “I urge...”
Lessons on Prayer from 1 Tim. 2:1-5
The Different Prayers
The Objects of Prayer
The Benefits of Prayer
The Basis for Prayer
1. The Different Prayers:
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
Supplications
Prayers
Intercessions
Thanksgiving
Supplications are simply petitions or requests made for ourselves
Prayers — refers to the sacredness of prayer, that it is a divine activity. What makes it a divine activity? It is the fact that it is directed to God.. so prayer is also an act of worship --- there is reverence. not mundane or dutiful
Intercessions - are requests made on behalf of others. An act of love
Thanksgiving - not only for answered prayer — for who God is..
The greatest example of this is David, his Psalms are most notable for presenting to God thanksgiving with no petitions at all!
Psalm 103 - Bless the Lord of my soul
Psalm 9 - I will give thanks to the Lord
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
In this specific passage, Paul encourages Timothy and the church that Timothy leads in Ephesus to pray for people.
2. The objects of prayer.
“For All men” - the saved and the unsaved
Stories of people who claim “God told me not to pray for that person” (two sad things happening here, we discount the mercy of God and something else may be going on in our hearts — pride, unforgiveness.”
Verse 2a: “For kings and all who are in authority..”
Pray for those in authority..
3. The Benefits of Prayer
“that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” (verse 2b)
“…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.”
- Quiet - peace around us, undeterred, unaffected
- Peaceable - is the inner peace
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Other benefit of prayer:
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
Prayer is good and pleasing to God
Not the kind of prayer that the Pharisees prayed
We align ourselves to God’s will when we pray for the salvation of others
What is God’s will?
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
This is the heart of God
Jesus came to save the world, not all the world without exception - Not all men will be saved. But the whole world without distinction - Jews or Gentiles, male or female, rich or poor
It is not God’s desire that anyone should perish:
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Repentance..
“All men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”
to come to the knowledge of the truth.. we the church are the bearers of the truth.. we herald the Good News
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
This leads us to the basis for prayer:
4. The Basis for Prayer
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
No other person can qualify..
We must pray for empowerment to share the Gospel message
We must pray for the spread of the Gospel
The growth of our church should be a shared aspiration
Being exclusivist is not the heart of God. We are to be a church for all people.
Illustration of a family (welcoming strangers, Jesus Revolution movie - Pastor Church Smith and the hippies)
We should look at welcoming others not as admitting strangers, but our family growing by the birth of new children — no one does not welcome the birth of a new child ---- Born into the family of God.
Let God develop a culture of prayer in our church.
I’ll leave you with something about prayer
For posting on Social Media: or take a picture
Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work! (Oswald Chambers)