SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Celebration Baptist Church Podcast, where we help people connect with God and others.
SPEAKER_00: Each week you'll find biblical teaching, practical encouragement, and conversations designed to help you follow Jesus in everyday life.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Celebration Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, visit iCelebration.org.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's get started.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so today we are in the book of First Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: We are in chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: So go ahead and grab your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: If you brought a print Bible with you, great.
SPEAKER_01: Open it up to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: If you didn't bring a print Bible with you, no worries.
SPEAKER_01: You've probably got a phone that's got a Bible app on it.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and fire that up.
SPEAKER_01: Find 1 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got our church app on your phone, it has a Bible feature.
SPEAKER_01: You can use it to find 1 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, the verses will also be up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: So there's lots of ways for you to follow along.
SPEAKER_01: But I do think it's best if you've got your Bible out and available and open.
SPEAKER_01: So while you're looking for 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 2, or 1 Timothy chapter 2, we're going to be in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: While we're when we get there, or as you're looking for that, let me just catch you what's going on in the book, okay?
SPEAKER_01: In 1 Timothy, uh you've got a letter written by a man named Paul.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is a key leader in the church.
SPEAKER_01: He's known as an apostle.
SPEAKER_01: He's one of the greatest leaders in the history of the church.
SPEAKER_01: He's a missionary, he's a church planter, he's extremely well educated.
SPEAKER_01: It's very clear that the power of the Holy Spirit is at work in his life.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes about traveling through the Roman Empire, planting churches.
SPEAKER_01: And then as those churches grow, he writes letters to encourage and correct and strengthen them.
SPEAKER_01: And he does this so frequently.
SPEAKER_01: He writes so frequently that much of the New Testament is made up of letters written by Paul.
SPEAKER_01: You come to 1 Timothy and you're looking at a letter written by Paul to a young man named Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: That's right, I figured you guys would get that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: He's a young apprentice, he's a trusted ministry partner.
SPEAKER_01: Paul has left him in the city of Ephesus to help turn around a church that sort of lost its way.
SPEAKER_01: The Ephesus church is in trouble because they've allowed the wrong people to get involved in leadership.
SPEAKER_01: And these wrong leaders are teaching false doctrine.
SPEAKER_01: In particular, they're teaching this real kind of bizarre view of salvation that says that only some people will actually be able to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: They just kind of cobbled together some Judaism, some Christianity, and kind of just really distorted the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So they're creating barriers to the gospel, whereas Jesus is opening doors through his saving work.
SPEAKER_01: And to make matters worse, in addition to the false teaching, as if that wasn't enough, in addition to the false teaching, their lifestyle is just running really contrary to what Christ would have you and I do and how we conduct ourselves, how we live our life.
SPEAKER_01: And so, because of this, they're they're kind of eroding the church from the inside with their false doctrine, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then they're eroding the church from the outside with their lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a really big problem.
SPEAKER_01: And you all, it's not just some niche internal thing just for the local church.
SPEAKER_01: This is a really big deal because if the church doesn't get this turned around, it's their friends, their neighbors, their families, they're going to lose the only gospel witness that they have.
SPEAKER_01: They won't hear the truth that through Jesus God offers rescue from sin and from judgment.
SPEAKER_01: And uh He has a way to deal with the eternal separation from Him that's been caused by our sin.
SPEAKER_01: The entire city, just imagine this.
SPEAKER_01: The entire city is gonna miss out on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So when Paul writes to Timothy, who's leading this church, the stakes could not be higher.
SPEAKER_01: And so right off the bat in 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul just hits it with a real serious tone.
SPEAKER_01: You get you get the idea that, man, this is a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of chapter one, um Paul, Paul kicks two leaders out of the church.
SPEAKER_01: He actually says, I'm turning them over to Satan, I'm done with them, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty heavy stuff, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then he's gonna come along, and in chapters in two and chapter three, he's gonna tell Timothy, and by extension, the Ephesian church, he's gonna say, Okay, we're not gonna do this nonsense anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you, he basically says, a guidebook, a church handbook on how you ought to operate.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what uh 1 Timothy chapters 2 and 3 basically are.
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's like a handbook for the way that a healthy church ought to operate.
SPEAKER_01: And the very first section, which is what we're gonna look at today, 1 Timothy chapter 2, the very first section is about prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: The second section, following that prayer section, is the role of women in the church.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna get to that next week.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, you may want to bring popcorn for that one, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I can see all the men in the church is going, I can't wait to see how Dave's gonna navigate this, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that's next week.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna look at that.
SPEAKER_01: And y'all, that's been actually in the news.
SPEAKER_01: If you follow religious news at all of the United States, that's been in the news like right now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's pretty timely that we're gonna get there.
SPEAKER_01: That's next week.
SPEAKER_01: And then chapter three, Paul deals with the character and the qualifications of church leaders, and it's just an incredible list of character.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna really settle down and spend some time in chapter three.
SPEAKER_01: We'll be in chapter three actually for a few weeks.
SPEAKER_01: But today, today, Paul is gonna show us what a healthy church must do if it's gonna push back against lostness and really take the gospel to its community.
SPEAKER_01: So he's gonna talk about what we have to do, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And then he's gonna talk about why we have to do it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna look at the what first.
SPEAKER_01: Here we are in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: He says, first of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to look at right there at the very first few words there.
SPEAKER_01: He says, first of all, Paul isn't just saying, hey, this is the first thing that I can remember.
SPEAKER_01: He's not doing that.
SPEAKER_01: He's emphasizing priority here.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Timothy, make prayer a top priority in the church.
SPEAKER_01: This is key, this is important, this is essential.
SPEAKER_01: And then to drive the point home, Paul just stacks up four different kinds of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see it?
SPEAKER_01: Petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's saying, listen, man, I want you all to pray every way that you know how.
SPEAKER_01: Throw the kitchen sink at it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, don't leave anything out.
SPEAKER_01: If there's a way that you can think of to pray for the lost, I want you praying for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: Go for it, do it.
SPEAKER_01: Then who is it that we're supposed to pray for?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the very end of the verse.
SPEAKER_01: Who is it, what's it say?
SPEAKER_01: For who?
SPEAKER_01: For everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Every neighbor, every coworker, every family member, every leader, every person that you know that is without Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for them.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for them every way you can think of.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because every person that you know without Jesus is lost.
SPEAKER_01: And lostness is serious business.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all want you to think about losses for just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: It's more than just living without purpose, it's more than just making bad decisions because the Holy Spirit's not at work in your life.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm lost, you all, I'm living under the just judgment that my sin deserves.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm living under.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that everyone who's living apart from Jesus is spiritually dead.
SPEAKER_01: And you all, the clock is ticking.
SPEAKER_01: The clock is ticking.
SPEAKER_01: Every passing day brings the lost just one step closer to a forever that cannot be undone.
SPEAKER_01: So lostness is an urgent problem and has eternal consequences.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the great dangers of being in the church, of being saved, is that we forget just how serious lostness really is.
SPEAKER_01: A few years back, I was on a bike ride.
SPEAKER_01: You all know I enjoy doing that.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm on a 50-mile bike ride with a brand new friend of mine, and we're riding gravel.
SPEAKER_01: We're out on dirt roads.
SPEAKER_01: And this guy shows up.
SPEAKER_01: He, you know, we we meet here in church, and and he's like, Yeah, I hear you like to ride bikes.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I do, I enjoy that.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I like to ride bikes too.
SPEAKER_01: And that's great.
SPEAKER_01: We want to go for some time.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Yeah, let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, do you ever ride gravel?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love to ride gravel.
SPEAKER_01: I really enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: Great.
SPEAKER_01: How far?
SPEAKER_01: What would be a good distance, you know, for you?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, we can go as far as you want to go.
SPEAKER_01: I can I can go.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Okay, well, how about how about 50?
SPEAKER_01: We'll do a 50-mile ride.
SPEAKER_01: He said, No problem.
SPEAKER_01: We we got it, we'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: We get there.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he shows up, but we're gonna start off, and he's got an e-bike.
SPEAKER_01: In case you don't know, that's cheating.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now this is a bias of mine, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I think it should be against the law for anybody under the age of 70 to have an e-bike.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, we take off.
SPEAKER_01: We're grinding away.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going up, we're going up.
SPEAKER_01: It's a hilly route.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and I'm going, we're going up these hills, and he's over here, and I'm I'm pumping, and he's up there just wee.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, surprisingly, he's keeping up with me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: He looks over at me, he says, You know, you're doing pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, shut up.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, we we do the ride.
SPEAKER_01: We've got about 10 miles to go.
SPEAKER_01: We're on our way home.
SPEAKER_01: Forecast that day was to be gorgeous.
SPEAKER_01: The weather was, it was really perfect.
SPEAKER_01: But we live in Florida, man.
SPEAKER_01: What's it gonna do in the summertime then?
SPEAKER_01: You know, y'all know what happens, right?
SPEAKER_01: Last 10 miles, dirt roads, the bottom just falls out.
SPEAKER_01: I'm soaked.
SPEAKER_01: It's gross.
SPEAKER_01: I've got mud all over me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I I wore a white jersey that day, too.
SPEAKER_01: It was a bad move.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I look over there at my my partner on his e-bike.
SPEAKER_01: He's got an umbrella, I think, as I recall.
SPEAKER_01: He looks at me like, hey, you want some hot chocolates?
SPEAKER_01: You look miserable, right?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm running along, and all I can think about is what?
SPEAKER_01: Getting out of the rain.
SPEAKER_01: Getting home, getting a hot shower, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's all I can, that's all I can think about.
SPEAKER_01: But guess what, guys?
SPEAKER_01: Once I got home, once I got the hot shower, once I got dry and warm, you know, it didn't take me that long to forget just how miserable I was.
SPEAKER_01: I was able to put that behind me.
SPEAKER_01: Now, listen, obviously being caught in a rainstorm isn't even remotely comparable to being lost without Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But here's what is comparable.
SPEAKER_01: Once you've been rescued from something awful, once you're safe and comfortable and warm, it's amazing how quickly you forget what it was like before.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, church, don't forget.
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget what's at stake.
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget what Jesus saved you from.
SPEAKER_01: Your neighbors are still without Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So pray, pray fervently.
SPEAKER_01: Throw everything but the kitchen sink at it.
SPEAKER_01: Pray every way you know how, for everybody that you know.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for them all.
SPEAKER_01: Because lostness, lostness is serious business.
SPEAKER_01: And then it's to help us understand the full scope of our prayer, right?
SPEAKER_01: To help us get the magnitude of it, we come to verse two.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, pray for, this is what the idea is, pray for, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul says, We're not just to pray for our friends or our family, we're to pray for people uh who are governing us and who lead us.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for them.
SPEAKER_01: Pray that they might be saved, pray that they might make godly decisions.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, I you know, we're here in this government town, and I often laugh and remark about how ironic it is that God dropped me off here 20 years ago in this government town, because I am like the least politically interested person that you've ever met in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Yet here we are in this government town, and so many of you all work in government.
SPEAKER_01: And as I talk to you all, you all tell me, and I'm so excited by this truth that you say, you know what, David, so many of the people in the department where I work, they're born-again believers in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just delighted.
SPEAKER_01: I'm delighted that so many people who work in our government are born-again believers in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God for that, right?
SPEAKER_01: Praise God for that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad, I'm glad that you work there.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad that you're you know sharing the gospel with your co-workers, and so praise God for that.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to think about how radical Paul's command would have sounded to the early church.
SPEAKER_01: Their rulers were not Christians, far from it.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't Christians far from it.
SPEAKER_01: Many of them were openly hostile to the gospel, many of them persecuted the church severely.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is speaking to them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, What is your what is your attitude toward those who lead you, toward toward those who persecute you?
SPEAKER_01: Well, while you're praying for everybody that you can think of that's lost, be sure to pray for them too.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, hey, church, you need to fight.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, hey, church, you need to strive and contend or curse.
SPEAKER_01: He says, you need to pray for them, pray that they would come to know Jesus, that God would give them wisdom, that God would work through them to restrain evil and preserve peace.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: So that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.
SPEAKER_01: Now, is he saying that we should pray for a government that allows Christians to live an invisible life?
SPEAKER_01: It kind of sounds like that if you read that.
SPEAKER_01: I just kind of glance at it.
SPEAKER_01: Is Paul saying, hey, listen, just pray they'll leave us alone.
SPEAKER_01: Just so that they'll leave us alone, so that we can be wallflowers and invisible, seldom seen, seldom heard.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what he means?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: It means we're to pray that God gives us a government under which we can freely worship, faithfully live for Him, and boldly share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Remember where this comes from.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's talking about the seriousness of lostness here.
SPEAKER_01: So, what must a church do if it's going to push back against darkness and against lostness?
SPEAKER_01: Or you're going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to pray for the lost, and you're going to pray for the lost with everything you've got.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to throw the kitchen sink at it.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to pray for your neighbors, your coworkers, your family, your leaders.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to pray that they come to know Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to pray that God will give the church the freedom it needs to boldly proclaim the gospel to everyone.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the what.
SPEAKER_01: That's the what.
SPEAKER_01: You want to be a healthy church?
SPEAKER_01: Start right here.
SPEAKER_01: That's the what.
SPEAKER_01: Then as we continue on these next few verses, he's going to give us the why.
SPEAKER_01: So what?
SPEAKER_01: We need to be praying and praying boldly every way that we can think of for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: And I think this is important because I think that for some, some of us, we we try to pray, right?
SPEAKER_01: We we kind of get running a little running started prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We say, okay, I'm gonna pray every day.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give this puppy 10 whole minutes and I'm gonna go for it.
SPEAKER_01: And then before you know it, two weeks go by and we're praying like for our food again, and that's it.
SPEAKER_01: We're really challenging God, right?
SPEAKER_01: Do something with this pizza, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: We're done, we're tapped out.
SPEAKER_01: I think the reason is we don't really understand why we're to pray.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's there's some fatalism here.
SPEAKER_01: We well, God knows everything, does everything, so forget about it, right?
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't really matter, but that's not true.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we pray?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's get a picture of that.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first reason that we come to that Paul gives us.
SPEAKER_01: When I pray for the lost, I experience God's pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that for just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it.
SPEAKER_01: Here it is in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: This is good, and it pleases God, our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: It's really that simple.
SPEAKER_01: It's really that basic.
SPEAKER_01: When I pray for the lost, my family, my friends, my neighbors, my co-workers, my leaders, I please God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's such a simple little statement.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's easy for us to just blow right by it and miss how amazing it is.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to consider what you see there on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: God, the creator of the universe, absolutely is delighted when you bring the lost people that you love, that you care about, that you know before him in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: God is delighted by that.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we pray for the lost?
SPEAKER_01: Because it pleases God.
SPEAKER_01: You might be thinking, well, why?
SPEAKER_01: Why is God pleased by that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, because prayer is not our idea.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer is whose idea?
SPEAKER_01: It's God's idea, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: God actually commands us to pray.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we obey God, it pleases him.
SPEAKER_01: And not only does God command us to pray, it goes more further than that.
SPEAKER_01: He lovingly invites us to pray.
SPEAKER_01: He calls us to bring our hopes and aspirations to him, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he creates this expectation that when we pray, he answers.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jesus says, you have not because you ask not, right?
SPEAKER_01: James says the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about that for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: God is completely sovereign, he is all-powerful, he can accomplish every single purpose that he has without us.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, and yet, in his wisdom, God has chosen to accomplish many of his purposes through our prayers.
SPEAKER_01: So, what do we do?
SPEAKER_01: We pray.
SPEAKER_01: We pray because God invites you to pray.
SPEAKER_01: We pray because he has chosen to use the prayers of his people to accomplish real and eternal change.
SPEAKER_01: And above all, we pray because it pleases our heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the first reason that we pray for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a second.
SPEAKER_01: When I pray for the lost, I embrace God's purpose.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at verse four.
SPEAKER_01: This is speaking of God again, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to just look at that verse and just let it kind of soak in for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: What does it tell us that God wants for all people?
SPEAKER_01: What does he want for all people?
SPEAKER_01: He wants all people to be what?
SPEAKER_01: Saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now, does this mean that all people will be saved?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: No, it doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: God has provided salvation through his son, and he calls every single person to repent, believe the gospel, and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But God has also given every single one of us a real choice to make about accepting him.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how Jesus puts it in John 3, 36.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, the one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when we look at that verse, I don't know about you, I can only speak for myself, my eyes just naturally rest on the end of that because it's such a stern warning.
SPEAKER_01: Are you are you with me?
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I'm the only one like that.
SPEAKER_01: So when I look at it, I just see that last phrase.
SPEAKER_01: The one who rejects the sun will not see life.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
SPEAKER_01: And I just look at that warning as oh.
SPEAKER_01: But don't miss the first half of the verse because you're focused on the second.
SPEAKER_01: Look, the one who believes in the Son has what?
SPEAKER_01: Eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: You see what we catch there in that first part of the verse?
SPEAKER_01: We capture here the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: God did not leave us in our sin, he saw us in our sin and he did something about it.
SPEAKER_01: He sent Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's how deeply God desires that we be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now, now go back to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Who is it that God wants to be saved?
SPEAKER_01: We said it before.
SPEAKER_01: Who is it?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody, right?
SPEAKER_01: God wants everyone to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: What about your difficult neighbor?
SPEAKER_01: The one that you wish would move?
SPEAKER_01: I would love for him to be saved in another state.
SPEAKER_01: That would be awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Does God want that neighbor to be saved?
SPEAKER_01: You'd better believe it.
SPEAKER_01: What about your frustrating coworker?
SPEAKER_01: Does God want him to be saved?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: What about your political opponent?
SPEAKER_01: Red, blue, you get the idea.
SPEAKER_01: Does God want them to be saved?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: What about the Stranger that just makes you uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: God wants everyone to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth.
SPEAKER_01: So what happens then when I'm praying for the lost?
SPEAKER_01: I begin to want what God wants, right?
SPEAKER_01: You see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: I begin to align with God.
SPEAKER_01: I begin to see people the way that God sees them.
SPEAKER_01: I begin to see them through the heart of God as people He desperately desires to save.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I'm praying for the lost, I'm embracing God's purpose.
SPEAKER_01: That's the second reason.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you one more reason here that we find here in the text.
SPEAKER_01: When I pray for the lost, I engage in God's mission.
SPEAKER_01: We get this here in verses five and six.
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at it.
SPEAKER_01: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.
SPEAKER_01: Why did Jesus give up the glory of heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he take on flesh?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he willingly go to the cross?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because God was on a mission.
SPEAKER_01: And his mission was to rescue the lost and reconcile them to himself.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to think about that idea of being reconciled, of having a relationship that's been broken be made right.
SPEAKER_01: I would assume that most all of us in this room have been in a relationship that has been broken, been fragmented, conflict and so, right?
SPEAKER_01: And we all know the value of a mediator, right?
SPEAKER_01: When the right person with the right skill set steps in and says, hey man, let me help you guys pull this thing back together.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a mediator does.
SPEAKER_01: A mediator is someone who stands between two estranged parties and brings them back together.
SPEAKER_01: So in our relationship with God, sin has separated us from him.
SPEAKER_01: And we need somebody who can fix that.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, fully God, fully man, is the only one qualified for the job.
SPEAKER_01: There is no one else who fully understands both parties.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul says Jesus is the mediator who stands in the gap between God and humanity.
SPEAKER_01: You go to the Old Testament, you find one of the oldest books in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's the book of Job.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the story, you all know his story?
SPEAKER_01: It's the story of this guy who is a righteous and godly man, but he loses everything and he suffers profoundly.
SPEAKER_01: And in the midst of it, and just in the depths of his suffering, Job feels utterly cut off from God.
SPEAKER_01: And listen to what he cries out in Job chapter 9, verse 33.
SPEAKER_01: If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: Can you hear the longing in Job's voice?
SPEAKER_01: He's desperate.
SPEAKER_01: I want this thing put back together.
SPEAKER_01: And then generations later, Paul writes 1 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost as if he's standing besides Job saying, Hey, Job, there is a mediator.
SPEAKER_01: And his name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus didn't just simply point us to God.
SPEAKER_01: He came at the perfect time as our mediator, as our go-between, and he reconciled us to God.
SPEAKER_01: He fixed what was broken.
SPEAKER_01: He gave himself as a ransom for all.
SPEAKER_01: He willingly took our place, paying the penalty for our sin so that we could be forgiven and set free and restored.
SPEAKER_01: That was the mission that he had when he came as our mediator.
SPEAKER_01: So when I prayed for the lost, I'm joining the mission that brought Jesus from heaven to earth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm joining the mission that took him to the cross, and I'm joining the mission that is still rescuing people today.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So prayer is not separate from God's mission, is it?
SPEAKER_01: It's how we enter into God's mission.
SPEAKER_01: It's step one.
SPEAKER_01: And y'all, it's it's absolutely essential.
SPEAKER_01: You can't skip it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna say something, it's just kind of in your face, I guess.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to look at this.
SPEAKER_01: If you won't take time to talk to God about your neighbor, you won't make time to talk to your neighbor about God.
SPEAKER_01: You just won't.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're gonna be a part of the mission of Jesus Christ to redeem the world, then you've got to take prayer seriously.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, hey man, here's the handbook for a healthy church.
SPEAKER_01: And Job 1, a healthy church is a church that prays for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: They throw the kitchen sink at it.
SPEAKER_01: They pull no punches, man.
SPEAKER_01: Because they understand just how serious lostness really is.
SPEAKER_01: They get it.
SPEAKER_01: Now I gotta tell you, as I'm preparing this for today, I had to do a real gut check, right?
SPEAKER_01: So often when I'm working throughout the week, getting ready for today, there's a lot of, well, look yourself in the eye, fella, moments, right?
SPEAKER_01: As I'm working on this, I had to think about my own prayer life.
SPEAKER_01: I had to look myself in the mirror and say, does the way that I pray for the lost reflect just how serious lostness really is?
SPEAKER_01: You know, and am I in alignment with the heart of God on this?
SPEAKER_01: And it may be that just as we've been walking through this over the last just few minutes together today, you're you're asking yourself the same kind of questions, right?
SPEAKER_01: It may be that you need to say, before we go any further, before I do anything with this message, Lord, I need to repent for how little I pray for the lost in my family, among my neighbors, at my workplace, in my community, and around the world.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you uh begin by just saying, God, forgive me for having never really prayed for that frustrating neighbor, that annoying neighbor, that that irritating coworker.
SPEAKER_01: God, forgive me that I've never really took time to pray that they might be saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Please forgive me of that.
SPEAKER_01: And grant me the courage to not only pray for them, but to talk with them about Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's where you begin right now.
SPEAKER_01: And with that in mind, and in light of what Paul is teaching us, I just want to challenge every single one of us today to make a commitment to begin intentionally praying for the lost people in your family, right?
SPEAKER_01: Your friends, your neighborhood, your workplace, in our government, and around the world.
SPEAKER_01: Just to say, I'm going to make praying for the lost a top priority.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to give this to you just in a real practical way, right?
SPEAKER_01: You all know that I always think that we ought to be living scripture out, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's it's great to understand the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We must, but it's also extremely important that we live it.
SPEAKER_01: And so to help you live this, I want to just introduce you or maybe reintroduce you to a simple tool that we've been using here at Celebration for a while.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the Bless app.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so let me just tell you what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Bless.
SPEAKER_01: Many of y'all have seen this before, right?
SPEAKER_01: Bless is a simple strategy that we've embraced here at Celebration for sharing the gospel with the people around us, right?
SPEAKER_01: And it's a simple acronym, okay?
SPEAKER_01: B, begin with prayer.
SPEAKER_01: L is listen, E is E, my personal favorite on the list.
SPEAKER_01: Serve and then share.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's a simple strategy, right?
SPEAKER_01: Of how can I how do I share the gospel with my neighbor?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I begin by praying about them.
SPEAKER_01: Is that not exactly what Paul says right here?
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, hey, you want to be a healthy church?
SPEAKER_01: Job one, pray for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: And here we go.
SPEAKER_01: We've got this simple tool that we can give you that helps you do exactly what Paul tells us to do here in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And then you listen to your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: You just hear from them, right?
SPEAKER_01: You share a meal with them, you serve them, and ultimately you sit down with them and you just say, Hey, let me tell you what Jesus has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And I just love that the very first step is exactly what Paul says here in 1 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Begin with prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a little app that we use for this.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the Bless app, right?
SPEAKER_01: And you can download the app.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to leave this up on the screen here for just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: So for Apple users, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: For Android root users, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't already have the Bless app on your phone, just scan either of those two QR codes and you put that on your phone, and then you you affiliate with or connect with celebration.
SPEAKER_01: It'll walk you through that process.
SPEAKER_01: And then every single day, based on your address, it brings up five of your neighbors.
SPEAKER_01: It feels a little orwelding, a little creepy that it knows your neighbors, all right?
SPEAKER_01: But it does.
SPEAKER_01: It's all based on public records, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And it will just bring up your five of your neighbors.
SPEAKER_01: And y'all, it's really, really easy for you to go in there, in addition to those five neighbors, it's really easy for you to go in there and to add friends and family and so on.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's just really simple.
SPEAKER_01: And so you just use this as a tool to begin the process of praying every single day for the people that God has placed on your heart, your neighbors, your friends, your families, your coworkers.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now, the app the little app doesn't stop there, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: It encourages you to walk right on through those, all the steps of that acronym, right?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So it'll encourage you, hey, have you have you spent some time just listening to your neighbor today?
SPEAKER_01: Have you spent some time sharing a meal with your neighbor today?
SPEAKER_01: And so on.
SPEAKER_01: And just gives you a way to just kind of track the amount of time you invest doing those things, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And just make sharing the gospel practical.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, I just want you to know this is something that every single one of us can do.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Every single one of us, you can walk out of here today, and you can begin living 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 through 6.
SPEAKER_01: You can do that today.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to wait.
SPEAKER_01: This is something you have to say, well, maybe one day, maybe one day I'll get the curtain.
SPEAKER_01: No, you don't have to do none of that.
SPEAKER_01: You can walk out here today and say, okay, by all that is holy, I'm gonna walk in obedience to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 through 6.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pray for the lost, I'm gonna experience God's pressure, I'm gonna embrace God's purpose, and I'm gonna engage in God's mission.
SPEAKER_01: And that can begin today.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Now, before we're done, I need to speak to those of you who don't yet know Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We've spent this whole morning talking about how we need to be praying for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: It's entirely possible that you're here today and you're one of the folks that we've been talking about as we've been saying that, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's entirely possible that you're here today and you're not in a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: And if that's true, I just want you to get that.
SPEAKER_01: Get this.
SPEAKER_01: Lostness is so profound, it's so important that God sent Jesus to make a way for us to be found.
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch what I said there?
SPEAKER_01: Lostness is so profound that God sent Jesus to make a way for us to be found.
SPEAKER_01: And you all, I promise you, today God wants you to be found.
SPEAKER_01: So don't leave here today lost.
SPEAKER_01: Today, you know, as our service wraps up, go out there to the pavilion, make your way to the connect table, and just tell them, hey, listen, I hear God calling me to turn this thing around.
SPEAKER_01: I want to go from being lost to being found, from being estranged from God to being in a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask God to forgive me and to reconcile me.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be right with him.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the beautiful thing, you all, God has already done all of the heavy lifting.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus accomplished every bit of it on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: The only question is whether or not you're gonna believe him and trust him.
SPEAKER_01: There's no more important moment.
SPEAKER_01: There is no more important moment in your life than right now, today.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Let's just take a moment, let's just pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_01: We're just blessed by it.
SPEAKER_01: We recognize its power and its truth.
SPEAKER_01: And today we've just been reminded of some really important things.
SPEAKER_01: We've been reminded of the incredible uh weight and heaviness of lostness.
SPEAKER_01: And we've been reminded that you have given us a part of your mission to do something about it.
SPEAKER_01: And that mission begins by making a commitment to pray for people who are lost.
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like such a simple and small thing, and yet for most of us, it's not something that we really can say, man, I'm obedient to God in that area.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, I just pray that today you break our heart for that, that you convict us of that, that you lead us to walk in all righteousness in this area, so that we might be people who fervently, in every way that we can, we pray for the lost.
SPEAKER_01: We throw the kitchen sink at it so that we can align ourselves with your mission, with your purposes and please you as we pray for those who desperately need you.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, I know that for some in this room today, this message just it hit them very differently than it might have everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Not because they weren't paying attention or they don't care, but because if they're honest, they're lost.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that today is the day that they accept you, that they leave here differently than they came in.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, Father, and we pray this in Jesus' name.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us on the Celebration Baptist Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope today's conversation helps you take another step in your faith journey.
SPEAKER_00: For more resources, upcoming events, and to join us live, visit iCelebration.org.
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep connecting with God, connecting with others, and living on mission.