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Good morning, everyone. This
is such a glorious, glorious day, first and foremost, because
we know Jesus and we get to worship him. And I guess, am I the only
one excited about that? But also, many of you guys may
not know it, but today is actually the anniversary of the very first
day that I came up here to Clovis, during the process. And it was a very interesting
trip. And the reason is, our grandson
was born on October 31st. And so I literally had to drag
my wife out of the hospital to the car to come up here. And
what a blessing it is. Perhaps you saw my grandson's
dad. He was here to celebrate his
son's one year birthday. We have had a great, great weekend
in the Bailey household celebrating this blessing in our lives. My
dad and my mom are here, my eldest sister, young lady who's like
a daughter to us, my beautiful mother-in-law. Guys, we have
a full house and it is a great celebration. I'd also want to thank all of
you for the incredible gifts of appreciation that we received
last week. Completely unexpected, but it
has warmed our hearts and we know that we are loved by you.
Last week, we also had a young man here who was leading us in
worship. His name was Caesar. And he is
a candidate for worship leader here. And so I failed to let
you know that that's who he was. And so I apologize for that oversight.
But I ask you now to be in prayer for the elders. We need wisdom
because we really need to know if this is where God is working
with him. We don't know that. But we want
to be clear. The reason we want to be clear
is because in all things Christ is supreme. And we want him to
remain supreme by whoever comes to worship with us and leading
that area of worship. So please pray for us this week.
Next week, my family and I will not be here. We will be in Southern
California visiting family, and David Booth will be preaching
next week, so please be in prayer for David this week. And you
guys have, there's a blessing coming next week. He has a wonderful
passage that he's gonna be preaching from, and I'm looking forward
to worshiping with you guys online. And then the following week,
we have another blessing. I'm not gonna be preaching that
Sunday also. But that gentleman over there, Tony Baudinet, will
be preaching. And so please be in prayer for
Tony also. It has taken months to get Tony
to get into the pulpit. But we are grateful. God has
really blessed this man of God. And I am looking forward to hearing
what God has to say through him. If you have your Bibles with
you, I invite you to open them to 1 Timothy 2 and to stand with
me as we read the word of God. We'll be turning to 1 Timothy
2 and we'll be looking at verses one through seven. 1 Timothy 2. Verse 1. First of all, then, I urge that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for
all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that
we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in
every way. This is good, and it is pleasing
in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is
the testimony given at the proper time. For this, I was appointed
a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth, I am not
lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Let's pray. Father, once more, we thank you
for your word, and we pray that you would open up our ears, our
hearts. God, let us see and hear your
word. Speak to us now, God, to glorify
yourself and to edify your church. We praise you and we thank you
for your hearing and answering our prayer according to your
will. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. In your bulletin and perhaps
the notes that you received during the week if you're listening
online, you'll notice that the title of this message is What
God Desires for All People. The key point is God wants his
people to pray for Jesus and the gospel to be the singular
life focus of all people. The points that are derived from
this text are our involvement in God's desire in verses one
through three, God's desire revealed in verse four, and only Jesus
is qualified to achieve God's desire in verses five and six,
and finally, God's desire should define our lives found in verse
seven. Now when we read the key point
of this message, which also serves as a one-sentence summary of
the biblical passage that we're looking at. It's easy to conclude
that this statement, God wants his people to pray for Jesus
in the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people, that
this statement is what God desires for all people. But it's not. It's simply what God wants us
to do as a result of studying this passage. Moreover, when
we read this statement, God wants his people to pray for Jesus
and the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people, the
question of why does God want us people to pray in this manner? that question is raised. But
this question doesn't just come from this statement, it's actually
raised there in the text itself. For when we read, first of all,
then we are prompted to ask what precipitated this phrase. In
other words, why does God want his people to pray in this manner?
Well, the immediate three preceding verses answer this question in
chapter one, verses 18 through 20. This charge, I entrust to
you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously
made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have
made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and
Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn
not to blaspheme. Make no mistake about it. There
is a war going on in this world against Christianity, against
the gospel, and that every Christian has been drafted into this war
by God. You see, we are charged to hold
firmly to the gospel and not to reject this mandate by adding
to it or elevating any other thing or person above it. And
a good conscience is one that is affirmed in knowing we are
doing exactly what God called us to do in waging the good warfare. Now, here's how the Apostle Paul
explained this to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter four,
verses one through six. Therefore, having this ministry
by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced
disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning
or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of
the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the
sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the
God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers
to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is
not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord. with ourselves as your
servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, let light
shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, the centrality of Jesus
in the gospel that points to him should be the singular life
focus of all of humanity. That is what Satan and his demons
are fighting to prevent. And it's why God wants his people
to pray to that end. So knowing that God wants his
people to pray for Jesus in the gospel to be the singular life
focus of all people, it's also natural to ask this question.
What exactly are we supposed to pray in this prayer? Well,
Paul answers that question here in our text today and with our
first point, our involvement in God's desires, right here,
verses one through three. First of all, then, I urge that
supplications, prayers, and intercessions and thanksgivings be made for
all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that
we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in
every way. This is good and it is pleasing
in the sight of God our Savior. To be clear, In this first letter
to Timothy, the young pastor of the Ephesian church, Paul
lays out a number of things to indicate what waging the good
warfare looks like for God's people. We know this by simply
reading through this entire letter, but we especially know this when
we look at chapter three, verses 14 through 16, for the apostle
explicitly says, I hope to come to you soon, but, I am writing
these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one
ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of
the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great
indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested
in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed
among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. You see, Christ-centeredness
begins in the church. Jesus must sit at the foundation
of all of our individual and corporate lives and activities.
But we need God's help to keep him supreme. So it makes perfect
sense for the apostle to put prayer as the first thing we
do in the household of God. And things Paul gives us to pray
in our text are the types of prayers for certain people and
the reasons for prayer. The types of prayers. All of
these things are plural, which indicates the non-ceasing attribute
and activity of prayer. Also, the phrase be made speaks
to the continuous activity of these things. Here's the first
type of prayer, supplications. Supplications are simply requests
of God, but These aren't just your regular run-of-the-mill
requests. No, you see, supplications are
urgent requests to meet a specific need, and they are exclusively
addressed to God. You don't pray to anyone other
than God when you are praying a supplication. And it's an urgent,
urgent prayer. I mean, think about this. If
you or I were Peter on the boat, You know, and Jesus comes walking
on the water. And you look at him, and you
say, look at him walking on the water. Lord, if that's you, call
me, too, right? And so he says, come. Peter steps
out on the water. He starts walking towards him,
right? Then Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, starts looking at
the waves and things around him, and he starts to think. So what
did Peter do at that time? Did he say, oh, God of our father,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Did he go into all this? No,
what'd he say? Lord, help! That's a supplication. That's how we pray an urgent
request to God and we address it directly to him. Paul also
says a type of prayer is prayers. And the word he uses here is
he's just talking about conversations with God. You see, oftentimes
we talk with people about things that we should be talking with
God about. For Paul uses a word here defined as petitions addressed
to deity. Now, it sounds mighty close to
supplications, but here's the difference, is the idea of simply,
again, having a conversation with God, and in the course of
that conversation, you make requests. I think of one of my good friends,
a guy named LJ. LJ gets up every morning, and
he opens the day with a prayer, in that he says, good morning,
Father. Let's go through the day. Then
when he goes to bed at night, he says, in Jesus' name, amen. Because what LJ does is during
the day, he's just talking to God. That's prayer. That's having a conversation
with him. It's not a one-sided conversation. It's a conversation
between two people, right? You guys ever have a conversation
before? You know how they work, right? All right, that's what
prayer is, have a conversation with God. Third type, intercessions. request for others of God. You
see, when we make requests of God on behalf of others, what
we're doing is, when we're interceding for them, we're following the
example set by our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the writer to
the Hebrew says, he is able to save to the uttermost those who
draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make
intercession for them. So the idea of intercession is
praying for others about things when they are unable to and or
when it is difficult to pray for themselves. Thanksgivings,
last type that Paul mentions here, simply gratitude towards
God. It is so easy. to take for granted people who
are known for and who are always doing things for us and others.
Sometimes this could flow out of a sense of entitlement, but
more often it stems from ignorant or even deliberate self-centeredness.
Sometimes we just don't think about saying thank you. But here
in verse one of our text, the apostle Paul is speaking of that
intentional expressions of gratitude, the rendering of thanks towards
God that his people express in private and public prayer. It's these types of prayers that
Paul says must be indicative of the praying activity of God's
people. And we are to pray for certain
people. Who are those certain people? Well, according to verse
one, we're supposed to pray for all people. We're to make urgent,
specific requests, have conversations with God, intercede for and thank
God for all people. These prayers are activities
every one of God's people can engage in, from the youngest
to the most senior cognitive person among us. If we can think
and we can express ourselves with rational communication,
understandable to God, then we can pray. And if we can pray,
then we can approach the throne of God with confidence concerning
all people. Now, the reason why I emphasize
all people, you guys, is I wanna invite you into my study just
for a quick second. You see, I was gonna do this really in-depth
study of what all people meant. And then I stopped myself and
said, dude, really? All people. Not that difficult to recognize,
it's all people, right? All of humanity. That's all people
means, guys. It's not a reference to the nations,
to some ethno-linguistic people group. It's not specifically
speaking to a particular group of people. It's a general term
referring to every human being. And with that being the case
then, you guys, there's no shortage of things that we as God's people
can be praying these specific requests. But not only this,
we are also to pray for people in authority. We see that right
there in verse two, for kings and all who are in high positions.
And you see, as I studied this text, you guys, I kept asking
myself, why did God inspire Paul to include kings and all who
are in high positions of authority as people to pray for? Well,
I think It's because God is the one who's really in charge, right? And he's the one who really cares
for all people. And he knows that the manner
in which people govern affects all people. God knows that societies
around the world are where people live under God-ordained authority
of human leaders. However, in God's mind, what
He desires for all people overshadows what human leaders desire for
the people that they govern. Therefore, God wants us to pray
towards that end, that even in the midst of good, bad, indifferent
practices of this world's various governments and ruling officials,
God's desire will become true in the lives of all people. For this world and all that is
in it is transitory, but those who do the will of God will endure
forever. It's easy for people to get thrown
off center by people in authority. That's why we must pray for all
people and those in authority in specific ways for clear reasons. And Paul gives those to us. Here's
the reasons for prayer. First of all, for us, that we
may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in
every way. And just so you know, he's not
just talking about Christians here. The context is talking
about so that we, the world, right can live and lead a peaceful
quiet life godly and dignified in every way you see paul is
telling timothy all christians that god's people are to pray
for all people and for those in places of authority in order
that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly dignified in
every way the apostle has in mind the continuous manner in
which we will spend our lives with a singular life focus, a
focus worthy of an entire lifetime of devotion. We know this because
of the adjectives and nouns that Paul uses to describe this lifestyle.
He says this lifestyle is peaceful, referring to a state of quietness
without disturbance. He also says this lifestyle is
quiet, which speaks of the necessity of being able to hear God in
the midst of all the noise in the world and all the things
that always clamor for our attention. Then the apostle describes this
lifestyle as godly, talking about the awesome respect accorded
to God observed in devoutness and piety. And finally, Paul
says that this lifestyle is dignified in every way. It is here the
apostle encapsulates in one phrase the manner of behavior which
is an appropriate response to a singular life focus that is
above what is ordinary and therefore worthy of special respect. A
dignified, serious approach to life because of that which is
at the center. Interestingly, this last word
only shows up in three places in the Bible, and Paul uses them
each time. One place, he uses it to describe
how overseers, elders, pastors care for their families in 1
Timothy 3, verse 4. And in Titus 2, verse 7, Paul
uses it to describe the teaching of pastors. We also see it here in our text,
here in verse 2, being applied to the lives of all people. Yet even with these specific
descriptors, the apostle has yet to give the foundational
reason why God's people are to pray for those specific purposes.
But he's moving in that direction, which we begin to see in the
second reason for these prayers. We pray for God. It's right there.
It says, this is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God
our Savior. The question is big, what is
good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior? Is it the
lives that we lead? Is it our praying activity or
could it be both? I think it's both. You see, Christians
please God when we pray for all people and all those who govern
all people to spend our lives focused on pleasing God. This
is not some mystical spectacle of a reason to pray. It's pretty
standard Christian activity, right? Live to please God and
pray to that end. But that's the problem with a
lot of people. Folks want to be dazzled. They want the spectacular
and mind-blowing experiences they've been duped into believing
is what fulfills our greatest need. The simplicity of what
truly fulfills us is deemed unsatisfying because the devil does his job
really, really well. And Christians don't pray for
the right things enough. The Apostle Paul says, We are
to pray for all people, including us, to be able to live a particular
type of a lifestyle. Why? So that God's desire might
be revealed in the lives of all people. So what is God's desire
for all people? What is that singular focus that
is above what is ordinary and therefore worthy of special respect? Paul hints at this truth with
God our Savior, but we see it more clearly in verse four, for
that's where God's desire is revealed. Let's look at it together. Who desires all people to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth? Oftentimes, people
will ask, what is God's will? What does he want? Well, ultimately,
this is what he desires, what he wills, what he wants for all
people. It's right there, verse four. He desires all people to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. You see, when verse
four is the reality in our lives, then we are able to rightly discern
the will of God in every one of our circumstances. See, granted,
it may take a little longer in some cases, But the reality remains,
if we're saved, if we're God's people, then the means by which
we're saved influences our worldview. But let's slow down for a minute
and take a closer look at God's desire revealed in verse four.
For when we do this, we notice that there are two specific things
which make up God's desire. When we read this verse too quickly,
we are apt to combine these truths, equating them to be the same
thing. And although they are inseparable, they are not the
same thing. Here's the first one. God desires
all people to be saved. Sadly, some people go through
life thinking that because of all the bad things that happened
to them, that God must have it in for them. They view him as
some Maleficent despot in the sky, dedicated to the ruin of
all people, or at least to those who have yet to recognize him
as God. That's not true. And this verse clearly declares
that reality. God desires all people to be
saved. This is the teaching of the New
Testament. For even the Apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 3, verses
8 and 9, But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that
with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill
his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not
wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Perhaps someone is saying, yeah,
I hear you, preacher, but God still has it in for me because
of all the bad that I've done. Plus, you only quote it from
the New Testament. Well, if that happens to be you or someone
that you know, hear the word of the Lord in Ezekiel chapter
18, verses 21 through 23 in verse 32. But if a wicked person turns
away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees
and does what is just and right, that person will surely live.
They will not die. None of the offenses they have
committed will be remembered against them. Because of the
righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any
pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign
Lord? Rather am I not pleased when they turn from their ways
and live. For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares
the Lord God. So turn and live. Now, it might
be argued from this text that a person must do specific works
in order to live, but the Bible is clear that mere human works
in merit are totally insufficient to make a person righteous in
the sight of God. Remember Ephesians 2, verses
eight and nine? For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing,
it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may
boast. Today's scripture reading in
John chapter six, verse 28 and 29 tells us our part in this
transaction of faith. Remember when Ron so beautifully
read that passage. Thank you, Ron. Then they said
to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus
answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him
whom he has sent. we must turn from our sins and
turn to Jesus. Trusting in his sinless life
and death on the cross alone as sufficient payment for our
sin. Believing in Jesus, belief in the gospel is the way God
saves all people. For the apostle John says of
Jesus in 1 John 2, verse 2, he is the propitiation for our sins.
And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And this leads us perfectly into
the second truth in 1 Timothy 2, verse 4. God desires all people
to come to the knowledge of the truth. I know some people argue
that there's this process or progression toward being saved,
toward the knowledge or a set of truthful facts to base our
salvation upon. And this passage is actually
used to prove that such a process exists. Now, while there may
be valid reasons, and there are valid reasons for our Christian
faith, it's still by grace, through faith, that God saves repentant
sinners. God does not save us based on
our acknowledgement or our assent to a particular set of facts.
If that was the case, then fallen angels and demons, they would
and could be saved. For James writes in chapter two,
verse 19, you believe that God is one, you do well. Even the
demons believe and shudder. But then Matthew 25 verse 41
makes this truthful statement. Then he, being God, will say
to those on his left, depart from me, you cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. You see,
fallen angels have good theology, but they're still defeated and
they are still doomed to the eternal fire. You see, God saves
by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Salvation is wholly a work of
God in grace alone. And according to Ephesians chapter
two, verses eight and nine, again, even our faith is a gift. So this come to the knowledge
of the truth here in this passage is not talking about the process
of getting saved. However, it does reveal a progressive
recognition of a specific particular truth that has already happened.
What is that truth? I'm glad you asked that question.
You guys ask questions, good questions every week. Here it
is, that there's only one way to God. Christ Jesus, the one
appointed to save his people from our sin. That's literally
the next point, guys. Only Jesus is qualified to achieve
God's desire. It's right here in the text.
Look, verses five and six. Four, there is one God and there
is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who
gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given
at the proper time. If you haven't come to this specific
conclusion by now, let me state it plainly. Jesus and the gospel
should be the singular life focus of all people. Amen, amen, amen,
amen. All right, okay, make sure that
we're together here. But a question is raised still, guys. Why should
Jesus in the gospel be the singular life focus for all people? Well,
it's because only Jesus is qualified to achieve God's desire. And
he does that through the gospel. You see, verses 5 and 6 flow
directly out of verse 4 where God's desire is revealed. And
the way Paul phrases these verses show that the fulfilling of God's
desire is dependent on the truths in verses 5 and 6. And the first
thing the apostle does is show the qualifications of Jesus.
We see it in verse 5. For there is one God, and there
is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Within
this one verse, Paul is showing the unique nature of Jesus. That
in one person, he is both fully God and he is fully man. For there is one God, the man
Christ Jesus. You see it there? Listen, to
achieve God's desire for all people to be saved, provision
had to be made for our sin. For according to Isaiah 59-2,
our sins separate us from God. But your iniquities have made
a separation between you and your God, and your sins have
hidden His face from you. But not only this, but our sin
must be paid for, because we have offended the almighty, sovereign,
absolutely holy God. For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, not
might be death, it is. Sin must be paid for by God's
holy character. He demands it, has to be satisfied. God wouldn't be God if he didn't
deal with sin. And he has dealt with it once
for all in Jesus Christ. In 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, Paul
shows how uniquely qualified Jesus is to achieve God's desire. Why? Because he is the one mediator
between God and men. Notice the men is plural, referring
to all people. What makes Jesus qualified to
be the one mediator is his unique nature. For being God, whatever
he does has eternal effect. But being God, he can't be killed. Therefore, he took to himself
a full human nature in order that he could die in our place
for our sins. Put these truths together. And
we see that Jesus' death for our sins has eternal effect,
thus keeping saved, keeping saved all who he saves. Oh, that's
good news. You guys, we don't have to worry
about being saved 350,000 years from now. We're going to be saved. Why? Because Jesus, our God,
our Savior, is just that, God. And he saved us. Now, I know someone may astutely
ask, because you guys, again, ask good questions, where do
we see Jesus's death in verse five? Well, we don't, but we
see it in verse six, right? It's right there. Who gave himself
as a ransom for all. And of these truths, the apostle
says, which is the testimony given at the proper time. In
other words, this is the gospel. Only Jesus sufficiently paid
the sin debt of all people, including his own people, for only his
death satisfied God's wrath towards sin. And so, Christians please
God when we pray for all people and those who govern all people
to spend our lives focused on pleasing God, which he defines
as seeing all people saved and recognizing Jesus is the only
way to God. God wants us to pray for Jesus
and the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people. Moreover,
God's desire should define our lives. It's right there, verse
seven. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm
telling the truth. I'm not lying. A teacher of the
Gentiles in faith and truth. God's desire permeated every
aspect of Paul's life. He recognized that God gripped
his entire life for the express purpose of proclaiming Jesus
in the gospel. Paul lived Jesus's words in Mark
8.35, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it. Here
in our passage, Paul used a strong formula of affirmation to declare
this truth about himself. He says, I am telling the truth,
I am not lying. But his words to the Philippians
in chapter three, verses seven through 14, really drives this
point home. Listen, but whatever gain I had,
I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything
as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus,
my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered
the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that
I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness
of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like
Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the
resurrection from the dead. not that I have already attained
this or am already made perfect, but I press on to make it my
own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I
do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do,
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upper
call of God in Christ Jesus. Do you remember the model prayer
there back in the beginning of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 to
13? Remember how it begins? It says, Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Guys, that is a prayer for Jesus
in the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people. We
know this because heaven rejoices when one soul is saved according
to Luke 15, seven. And according to first Peter
chapter one, verses 10 through 12, angels long to look into
or understand this thing called salvation. Guys, heaven is obsessed
with people getting saved. They throw a party every time
one person comes to Jesus. Guys, we need to dedicate our
lives to pray that that saturates our culture. Only God can make
that happen. As I get ready to take my seat,
let me just ask a question. Have you ever run into someone
who for them Jesus is clearly the center of their lives? It's
like they got this really good look at Jesus. They tasted and
they saw that he's good and that his mercy endures forever. And
then they just flipped over. They fell head over heels in
love with and for him. You ever run into anybody like
that? I remember the first person that I ran into like that. She's
sitting here today. It's my mom. My mom loves Jesus. I believe
God put her in my life with a big old arrow in front
of her with her life that points to Jesus. Now, while I know by
God's grace alone that he has wrought me to be so just committed
to Jesus in the gospel, I believe with every fiber of my being
that because of my mom. I love Jesus and his gospel.
When I got to Clovis and I came up here to this church, I ran
into two ladies here who had that same singular focus.
Ladies, I want to invite you to get to know them, if you don't
already know them well. And if you do know them, get
to know them even more. One of them sitting here today, her
name is Cricket. She's sitting over there. She
loves Jesus. She is head over heels in love
with him and for him. Get to know her if you don't
already know her. The other lady, she'll be back when we can all
sit in every single chair without these masks. Her name is Jeannie
Espindola. Oh, she loves Jesus also. Get
to know these ladies. And I'm not saying, ladies, that
there's nobody else like that here. I'm just telling you who
I ran into. Get to know them. Family, God calls us to pray
for Jesus in the gospel, to be the singular life focus of all
people. So as I get ready to sit down, again, let me give
you two applications of this message. First, join us tonight
from 530 to 630. We're going to pray, we're going
to praise God during this election season. And 1 Timothy chapter
2 verses 1 through 7 is going to set our path. It's going to
be our guide tonight. So come on back. And the second
one is pray for 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 for yourself. Pray for your family and for
your family. That during this election season
and as you go through life, that Jesus and the gospel will be
your singular life focus. Let's pray. Father, how gracious you are
to us. We don't deserve any of it. And if we did deserve it,
it wouldn't be grace. But God, thank you. Thank you,
Jesus, for securing forever our salvation Thank you for making
us yours. Thank you that you have made
us to belong to one another, that we can encourage each other
to live our lives for you. So please, Jesus, take your rightful
place on the throne of our hearts individually and here at this
particular local church. You are supreme, Jesus. We boldly
proclaim that. Help us to regularly live life. All to the end that you are glorified
and your church is built up. In your name we pray. Amen. God bless you.
What God Desires for All People
Key Point: God wants His people to pray for Jesus and the gospel to be the singular focus of all people.
- Our involvement in God's desire (vv 1-3)
- God's desire revealed (v 4)
- Only Jesus is qualified to achieve God's desire (vv 5-6)
- God's desire should define our lives (v 7)
| Sermon ID | 103020147407461 |
| Duration | 44:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Timothy 2:1-7 |
| Language | English |
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