Alright. Okay. Take your Bibles if you would turn to first Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two. And we're going to read verses one through eight this evening.

At the conclusion of chapter one, Paul charged Timothy to war a good warfare, to be steadfast in the faith, and to keep a good clean conscience as he ministered to the church there at Ephesus. And then he begins with his instructions to Timothy concerning particular topics and needs of the church. The first one here is prayer. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto 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. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word.

Thank you for the clarity that it gives us as we seek to worship and serve the God we love and who loves all men and gave his son for their salvation. And Lord, I pray this evening that Christ would indeed be exalted as we look into it and we might be conformed to the image of your son. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen. So the first instruction he gives Timothy concerning things that the church needs to know and things the church needs to hear and things that the church needs to do is aptly prayer.

Prayer is something that all of us can do. Prayer is something that all of us should do. There are God hasn't called everyone to be preacher. God hasn't called everyone to be a singer. God hasn't called everyone to fix the air conditioner, which we've had to do at times.

But every one of us can what? Every one of us can pray and every one of us should pray. And prayer is not the ending point. Prayer is the what? Prayer is the beginning point.

It's something we can do every morning. It's something we can do every night. It's something we can do for every need and every person that God lays on our hearts. We can pray for those needs. We can pray for those people.

And prayer seeks the intervention of God in the lives of men. We can't save souls, but he can. When we pray, you we unite with him in that mission. We unite with him in the mission bringing goodness and good things into the lives of others, things that for for their good in his glory. So pray.

Not only do the following verses give instructions on prayer, but also on the attitude that Christians should embrace toward others, particularly authorities and the unsaved, friend or foe. We should pray for them. What does that entail? Well, it entails caring for them because you're if you don't care for those whom you pray for, then you're not really praying. Prayer for someone presupposes that you want.

You care. Otherwise, you wouldn't want or whether she wouldn't pray. So we not only see instructions here concerning prayer, but the attitude that is behind it is an attitude of compassion and love for the needs of others, our friends, our relatives, our foes. We need to pray for them. God can turn our foe into our friend.

God can change them, and many times he has. So it tells us here how we should pray. It it begins by describing prayer using four different words. How should I pray? All four of the following words depict different aspects of prayer.

Supplications or petitions means entreating God to meet our needs and the needs of others. Tied into that word that's translated supplication is the idea of need. There is a need. There is a burden for which we should pray. We have needs.

Our friends have needs. Our neighbors have needs. And maybe the Lord has brought a need to your heart of someone else. You should pray for that need to be met. If it is a righteous need, pray that that need be met.

In the Lord's prayer, it says, example the Lord gives us, give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses. Lead us not into temptation. Those are needs that we have that we need assistance and help with. Sometimes we need God to help supply for our sustenance and financial needs.

Sometimes, all the time, we need his help leading us not into temptation but away from it. Sometimes we need his help, helping us to forgive others and to forgive us. Supplications. Prayers. The word prayer is is the word proseuchomai.

It's the usual word for prayer. It is an act of worship before God whereby we express our faith in the Lord by humbly speaking with him. What is prayer? It's prayer is talking with God. So talk with God reverently.

It is an act of what? Worship. It is an act of worship. The word intercessions or requests means in treating God with compassion, pleading in behalf of others, particularly for their salvation. There is one who intercedes in our behalf at the right hand of the father.

Who is that? Jesus Christ, the the righteous. He is our intercessor. When we fail, he is there to say of the child of God that is under his blood. He paid for that sin.

And he intercedes and mediates as it mentions later for us in heaven. We have the unique privilege also to intercede, to bring before the Lord our concern for the lost around us and for their salvation. And we ought to do that. There is a list on our prayer list for the for souls that need a savior and the list is fairly long. Every now and then, we get to take a name off the list for a wonderful good reason.

Few weeks ago, Marine's grandson, Elias, came to Bible study on Thursdays, couple weeks in a row and at during one of em, he asked about what it meant to be saved and so I got to talk to him afterwards and he prayed and he asked Jesus to save him. So, at one name, we got to take off the salvation need prayer list. Now we need to pray for him that he'll be able to get to church and we'll be able to disciple him so that he can grow in the Lord. That's something you can pray for for him as well. And then giving of thanks.

Is giving thanks be made to all men? Thanksgiving is an important part of prayer. It's not just about asking. It's also about thanking. We talk to God.

We need to remember the wonderful things he has done, and we need to have faith for the wonderful things he will do. In first Thessalonians five eighteen, it says, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Philippians four six and seven says, be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. In this passage, it says giving thanks, giving of thanks be made for all men. God wants us to give thanks for those that we rub shoulders with, that those that he puts across our path, even those that are an obstacle it seems sometimes in our path.

God wants us to give thanks for them, to give thanks to him for all that he created and for those whom he loves. So how should I pray? Well, we should pray for the needs that we have and the needs of others. We should pray reverently as we talk with our God interceding for the lost and giving thanks for those that God puts in our life, particularly for those that bring honor to him and and assist us. For where would you be?

Where would you be without others that God put in your life? Somebody gave you the gospel. Somebody somebody counseled you from the word of God. Somebody helped you to grow in the Lord. Don't forget to thank God.

That's an important part of prayer. So that's how I should pray. And now Paul addresses for whom I should pray. He says at the end of the verse that these prayers should be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in godliness and honesty. So for whom should we pray?

Well, simply put, at the end of verse two, Tim Paul says we should pray for all men. Jew or Gentile, friend or foe, we should pray for all. Pray for all that God places in our heart, on our before our path that has a need for which we can pray. We shouldn't be choosy. We shouldn't be partial.

We should pray for all men, for all people. Matthew five forty four says this, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and what? Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Is there somebody that aggravates you? Is there somebody that rubs you the wrong way?

Is there somebody that that legitimately seems to be kind of malicious or or hateful or or doesn't like you or is against you, now don't pray for them. Just pray for the people who love you. No. You need to pray for them too because you in praying for them, you learn to care. And in praying for them, you seek God's help to change them because they need to change.

And I don't know. Maybe you need to change a little too. That could be true also. So pray for them. Pray for all people.

Pray for their salvation. Pray that the Lord will meet their needs. Pray that the Lord will change their heart. Pray the Lord will help you to react in a Christ like manner. But he goes on in verse two to say, for kings and for all that are in authority.

Did kings have a really good name in Jesus' day, in Paul's day? Were kings beloved by by the masses? Were kings kind and malevolent people or were they more mean and malevolent people? Well, they had they tended to be more of the mean and malevolent than the kind and benevolent type. And so a lot of people would thought, well, I'm not going to pray for the for that king or that authority that that mistreats me and stands in my way, that persecutes me, that that I'm gonna be mad at them and I'm not gonna pray for them.

And what does Paul say? You especially need to pray for who? For those who have authority over you. Don't root against them. Root for God to change them because that's what they need and God can.

Sometimes we see that happen in the lives of people, authorities. We see the difference that God can make. And he says here, pray for them that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. Pray for them that God will change or pray for them that they'll make wise decisions. Pray for them that God will direct them even, yes, in the Old Testament, God directed Nebuchadnezzar and others.

Even you had Pharaoh on one hand that fought God tooth and nail to the end. On the other hand, you had Nebuchadnezzar that ended up making a a grand decree throughout his kingdom to worship and praise the God of Daniel. I'm quite sure God changed his heart for the better and it likely made it a little easier on the righteous to live in the kingdom of Babylon. So God says, pray for those in authority. Our government authorities in particular, is what he is addressing here.

Because they need they need God's intervention in their life, not only for their good, but also but also for ours. Paul spends a good bit of time in Romans talking about our responsibilities when it comes to submitting to the authorities that God has placed in our life. And he gets down to verse seven. He says this, render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, owe no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Does that include our authorities?

Of course, it does. Whether you like the president, whether you're happy at the decisions he's making, and you're really upset at the decisions he's making, once he's in office, there's pretty much only one thing you can do to change his heart. What is that? Pray for him. Pray for your authorities.

Pray that God will bend their will and direct their decisions because sometimes even the most wicked people can make the most surprising decisions when God is involved. So pray for them. I think we have a tendency when we like the president to say in prayer meeting, let's pray for president so and so that, you know but when we don't like the president, you don't hear prayers so much for pray for so and so. When more likely, it almost needs to be the opposite when it's the guy we don't like. We need to be saying pray for so and so that God will direct him away from the wrong and to the right for their good.

The what greater thing could God do in their life than save their soul? And what a difference it would make in the lives of many in our country. Turn if you turn if you would with me to first Peter chapter two, just a few pages over to your right, first Peter chapter two, just to see in another passage what God has to say about this. It seems like God has quite a bit to say about it, so I guess we should take notice. First Peter two thirteen.

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it to be the king, the supreme, or under governors as to them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For this is the will of God that with well doing, we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using our liberty, your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.

Honor the king. That's what Peter had to say. Was, again, the king. Who was particularly the king when Peter and Paul wrote? Caesar, the emperor of Rome.

None of them in this day were the least bit kind to Christians. Some of them were just outright terrible when some of these were being written Nero was on the throne in Rome. And what did Peter say? Honor the king. How do you honor the king?

You obey the laws of land and you pray. Obey the laws of land and you pray. When the laws of the king on earth conflict with the laws of God in heaven, well, you know which one you have to follow. But unless that be the case, then you're responsible to follow what? Both.

And to pray for those in authority over us. Our interactions with our government and our authority should be considerate. It should be obedient. Our interactions with others should be honest and truthful, not violent, not rude. We should never be committing civil disobedience just to commit civil disobedience.

Christians should not be the one shouting down others, blocking roads, or blocking buildings. Our protest should only put ourselves in harm or injury and not others. We just simply need to obey the Lord and the Lord isn't gonna tell us to get violent. Why? Well, Peter pulled out his sword and he cut off the high priest servant's ear and what did Jesus say?

Put the sword back in the sheath. Now if you're in the army, that's you got a job to do to protect this land. But otherwise, we need to be a different kind of people. I am thankful. Though there are a lot of angry Christians and conservatives in the last few days that they haven't shut down roads and they haven't shut down bridges and they haven't got violent and they haven't shouted down people, they've been praying and singing and holding prayer vigils, which is exactly what I believe the person who died, I believe, mostly for his faith than his political beliefs this week would have wanted them to do, to be peaceful, to magnify the Lord Jesus and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I thank the Lord that that indeed is happening this week, and I pray that it will continue. So what are we to do for our authorities? How do we seek mainly to change their mind and heart? Pray for them. It's okay to speak up and say the truth, but do it in love and pray for them.

Pray for them. Why should I pray for them? Well, he mentions here in back in Timothy, he mentions here that we should pray for them for our first of all, for those in authority for our own good because if God changes their heart and moves them, then that will result in in our good that we might live a quiet and peaceful life and godliness and honesty. We also need to pray for them not only for our own good but because it is a good thing in the eyes of God that really do we need anything else? It says in verse three, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior.

Do do we really have to have the following verses? Or is it enough that God said, this is good and acceptable? Well, that's enough, but but God explains further because that's just kinda God he is. He isn't the one that usually tells us like some of us told our kids, you know, when they say why? You say, well, because I told you so.

God yeah. Because I said so. God says so and then he actually takes the time to tell us why he said so. He doesn't have to do that. We should pray for them for our own good.

We should pray because it is good in the eyes of God. He desires that we do it. Number three, each one of these builds on the other. These are not different things. This is all basically the same thing.

Okay? And God is just going deeper as we go through. It's for our own good. It's for because it's good in the eyes of God because God does not desire that any should, what? Perish.

Verse four, who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. What is that? The truth of the gospel. That is the truth that there is salvation in Jesus Christ. That is the most important truth that we should be sharing.

And I'm thankful once again that the one who died this week more and more and more in his meetings was sharing his faith. And it's what we ought to be doing. What does the Bible say? Share it with your children, with others when you're in the way, when you're sitting down, when you stand when wherever and what you're doing, you should be sharing especially with your children. But we should take advantage of the opportunity we're given.

No matter where we are when that opportunity comes to speak of Jesus Christ. You may not be able to sit down and go through a track. You may not have time to go through the Romans road, but they need to hear who has made a difference in your life, and that's Jesus. They need to know who you believe in. They need to know where to find it, and they need to be encouraged to read it.

Speak the truth. Tell them the truth because they need it. The truth will set them free and they need to hear it. God desires that they be saved, and so we should desire it too. Let that be the driving motivation behind what we do.

Second Peter three nine, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. I know sometimes you keep praying and nothing's happened. You look we look at the world around us and we think when is God gonna put a stop to this? But the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness. In other words, God remembers.

God hasn't forgot the promise he made. He's gonna keep it. Then why does he tarry? When he tells us here, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to what? Repentance.

Why does God wait? Why does he tarry? Because there's another soul that's gonna come to him and it's worth the wait. It's worth the wait. It's worth the wait for us too.

Let's let's join hands with the Lord. Let's partner with him. Let's get on the bandwagon here. It's worth the wait And we need to be part of the solution. Part of that solution is speaking the truth in love and part of it is getting down on our knees in what?

In prayer. For our relatives, our friends, our neighbors, our governors, that they come to know Christ as savior. Because God doesn't desire that anybody be lost. He desires that all men be saved, but he doesn't make them, he doesn't force them, but he does want them to hear. And that part he's left up to who?

He's left up to us. We need to do our part in bringing others to Christ, and we need to be down on our knees praying for them. It's not enough just to tell them when you get home, you need to remember to what? To pray that the seeds you planted will come to bear fruit. Why?

Because Jesus died for all. Number four. Number one, for our own good. Number two, because good in the eyes of God. Number three, because God does not desire that any should perish.

Number four, because Jesus died for all. For there is one mediator, verse five, between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Notice in verse six, the word all. Notice in verse four, the word all. Notice in verse one, the word all.

Do you think God is trying to tell us something? Don't be partial. Don't be prejudiced. Don't just pray for the people you like. Make it a point to pray for the people you don't and pray for the people who need Christ that God will change their life and change their heart and change their eternity.

For there's one mediator who died for all. There's one who can bring salvation to all, and that is Jesus Christ. Now, side note, that's not the pope, and that's not Mary, and that's not anybody else. It's not the priest. There's one mediator between God and man, that's who?

Jesus Christ. Only one that can save your soul, only one who died for your sins on the cross and rose again. One mediator between God and man who died for all. He is the one who gave himself for the ransom. He is the one that took upon him that incredible mission and followed through with it.

Knowing what was coming in the garden, he said, not my will, but what? But thine be done. And he died for us. And he died for them if they will but believe. He gave his life a ransom for all.

It's not up for us to decide who we think deserves it and who doesn't because guess what? You don't deserve it. But yet, in his grace and mercy, he made a way for you. It is by his grace, not by your works. We are not we are not the judge and the jury.

That belongs to God. We need to be his witness and point others to the solution. Titus two eleven, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. There's that word all again. John two two, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole, what?

World. Yeah. But they got accepted. What did the Bible say in Romans 10? How shall they believe on him of whom they have not what?

Heard. And how shall they hear unless there be a preacher? Someone to what? The word preacher there doesn't mean someone that stands in a pulpit. It means someone to tell them.

Someone to tell them. And we have that joy. Tell them and pray for them. Don't write them off. You let God worry about that.

You just do. You plant the seed. You let God be responsible for bringing in the harvest. Paul then concludes by reminding Timothy that it is for this purpose, the salvation of all men, that God called Paul a gent apostle and a preacher to the Gentiles. Verse seven, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle.

I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Paul says, for this reason, God called me into the ministry to preach the gospel to Jew and Gentile to friend and foe, to tell them about Jesus that they might be saved. And it only is only right that we should join him in that mission. And if nothing else, you can participate in that mission through what?

Through prayer. Through prayer. Everyone. Everyone can pray. And you can participate in that mission for praying for them, for praying for Paul that God would give him boldness as he asked in Ephesians chapter six as he preaches the word of God.

Therefore, we should all be praying with genuine love for the lost in particular for whom Christ died and had called Paul to be a missionary too. I'd like to conclude with this verse this evening, Luke ten two. The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Before Jesus said to his disciples, as the father has sent me, so send I you.

Before Jesus said to his disciples, all power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Before Jesus said, go and preach the gospel to every creature, Jesus said, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you, Lord, for the mission that we have the privilege to be a part of, to reach the lost for Jesus, to encourage our brothers and sisters in the Lord, to lift them up in prayer, to point people to the savior.

And Lord, I pray that we will not take that lightly. And Lord, that we will not take that list on our prayer list lightly. That we will pray for those we work with. That we will pray for those that we come in contact with. We'll pray for our neighbors and pray for our relatives who need Jesus, that they will come to know Christ, that we will pray for our brother and sister in Christ who is struggling, that we won't kick them when we're we're down but we will lift them up in prayer and with a kind and edifying word that we will speak truth and pray that the truth will have sway in the hearts of men and women and boys and girls to change their mind and to change their heart and to bring them to to the savior.

Lord, thank you for this privilege that you have given to us. And Lord, I pray that we would take it more seriously than we often do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.