I think we're gonna be together four times this year as brothers and sisters in Christ, as fellow Presbyterians. I don't know if I mentioned this when I preached here before, but I am a son of the PCA. I grew up in a PCA church. Some of you may have heard of it. It's called 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The pastor, When I was still kind of young was James Boyce, and he very tragically passed away, but he had a very influential ministry, and then someone named Phil Reichen followed him, and it was in that church, in the PCA church, that I first began to have an interest in pastoral ministry. So, we love you, you love us. I'm so thankful for the partnership in the gospel that we have. It was great to hear Tim pray about the evangelism that you guys are doing right in the town square. And Matt invites me out and I was able to go only one time so far, but I will say it's amazing, I've shared this with other people, in the limited opportunities that I've had to go out and just talk to people on the street. It's kind of intimidating, right? Talk to total strangers. I will say it is amazing to see Of course there's people who have no interest. Of course there's people that just walk right by. I even remember the last time I was out there with Norm Fortney, somebody said, I'm good. Oh man. You're not good if you don't have Jesus, but it really is amazing to see the openness that people have, total strangers to hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ. So, thankful for you, thankful for your church, thankful for your pastors, and for the partnership that we have. I'm gonna preach tonight from 1 Timothy, chapter two. If you would turn there with me in your Bible. I'm gonna read verses one to seven. This is God's word. Let's give our attention to its reading. 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 am telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Let's ask God's blessing on the preaching of his word. Let's pray. Our gracious God and Father, we always tremble a bit as we draw near to you and through the preaching of your word because we understand through your grace the seriousness of what we hear, that you have appointed a mediator once for all, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that one day, a day that is coming soon, he will appear again to judge the living and the dead. And we would stand before you clothed in his righteousness. So we ask that you would help us this evening. We ask in the name of the one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ our Lord, that you would, by your Holy Spirit, open our hearts to hear these things in truth, to receive them by faith, and to practice them in our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. First Timothy is a great pistol. It's referred to as the Passerole pistols. This letter has a lot to do with our life together as believers. What are we supposed to be doing as the church? What is our calling? What is our place? What is our role in this world? One of the first things that Paul starts addressing in this letter is that there's problems in the church. Every church has problems. Every church has struggles. Every church has trials. Every church has troublemakers. You don't want to be one of those people. And Paul tells Timothy right off the bat, I left you in Ephesus to deal with people who are teaching error. And so Paul begins having to mention the fact that there are people that need to be corrected. There are people that would turn the church away from the true gospel, the pure gospel, the truth as it is in Jesus. Later in 1 Timothy, Paul uses this phrase about doctrine, that it has to do with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we as God's people should be about. Paul goes on to give something of his own personal testimony, where he says, and he doesn't deny, it's a great thing for pastors to say too, what does Paul say? He says, I'm the foremost sinner, but God had mercy on me. And he says, why God had mercy on him? It's so that other people would see God's mercy on Paul and be encouraged in their faith. And then we come to chapter two. And Paul starts giving instructions. And when you see this phrase, first of all, we're to understand that this is really important. This is of primary place in our understanding of what the church should be about. Now I understand it's a little bit redundant to say the church should be about prayer, right? We all know that. What should we be praying about and what informs our prayers? That is really the heart of this passage this evening. Paul says, first of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. I have four headings tonight and I'll just mention them as we begin. First of all, prayer for people and their leaders. Second, God's good will for his people. Third, God's good will for all people. And finally, God's plan to reach all people. I do think these verses relate to your prayer life as an individual. But they relate and they speak first of all to the fact of public prayer in the church. The church should be a place of prayer. What did Jesus say after all when he went into the temple courts and he had to overturn tables? and drive out the money changers. He said, my father's house should be a house of prayer. We should be about prayer. Prayer has an essential place in public worship. It was encouraging to hear, I'm usually the one praying, so it was encouraging to just be sitting there hearing your pastors pray. How should we pray? Who should we pray for? The way I would have us understand this phrase here, this list of different types of prayer, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, we can understand it in this way. We are to pray all sorts of prayers for every group of people. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue, all of the various communities within a community. Thanks to someone who is, a worshiper in this congregation, I have the opportunity, I started this last year, and I'm always looking for the Lord's confirmation, because I generally don't need more things to do, but I have the opportunity to serve as the chaplain at the VFW. And you know what's been really encouraging about that, is how encouraging people are there about my prayers. You know, still at the VFW, you go into the meeting room, where there's a bar just next door, and people drinking, many times to excess, and there's a Bible on the table, and so I, I said, do you guys mind if I read a scripture? And they said, no, you're the chaplain. So I read a scripture now, and I pray. And there's a written prayer, but I thought, why don't I just pray for the things that we're talking about? And it was amazing to me. It's been so encouraging and confirming to me to hear people respond to say, you know what, thank you so much for praying. Thank you for praying for that person. Thank you for praying in that way. We need to pray for all people. Yes, also, specifically, what does Paul list? He lists prayer for rulers and leaders. We need to pray for our president. We need to pray for our Congress. We need to pray for our judges. Our government definitely needs prayer, but we're to pray for all people, all classes, everyone in every socioeconomic status, as we say today. We pray for the wealthy and the low income, for the educated and the uneducated. I'm familiar because I've been here for five years now with the predominant choices for educational, for education for our children. And praise God we have freedom in Christ for how we educate our children. I've been convicted though as someone who, as a family that had our children in public schools and decided to make a change. You know we should be praying for the public schools. Think about all of the children who are growing up in our communities. K through 12, are we praying for them? Are we praying for the teachers? We've heard about how difficult it is. We've heard about all the problems. Are we as the church, imagine if a public school educator came in here and the impact that it would make on them to hear the church praying for them. We should pray for the public schools. We should pray for the public schoolers. What is one of the worst things the worst epidemics in our country that has gotten attention, but I think people can barely stand to think about it because it's unfathomable the number of people that have died. We need to pray for the drug addicted. We need to pray for the drug dealers. We need to pray for the people who are bringing these horrible substances into our country. We need to pray for those who maintain law and order. I've had reason to interact with law enforcement in my work as a pastor. And I got a renewed appreciation for the intensity of their work. Imagine, again, how it would impact a state trooper, a state police officer, or a district attorney, or anyone in the legal community to come in and hear the church praying for them in their work. It is intense work. It's draining work. We need to pray for our military. our men and women who serve overseas, here, in difficult places. We have a special opportunity as a town that happens to have an army post in the middle of it to pray for our military. We need to pray for our leaders, our government officials. I think we also need to be mindful, and I won't try to prescribe in any way how to pray specifically or in detail, but I think we should be mindful to pray for those we disagree with politically. You know, what's one of the interesting things about being a church that has the Westminster Confession as our confession, as I study in bits and pieces the history of the Westminster Confession and the men who came together to write that confession, they did not agree politically. They were on opposite sides of issues many times, but they agreed on the gospel. We need to pray mindful of political disagreements. We need to pray for everyone everywhere with all sorts of prayer. I heard a very gripping story that I think well illustrates the power of prayer and the power of a praying church. Again, I think these verses relate very specifically to the public ministry of prayer. And God uses the public ministry of prayer. But I heard a story that was very impactful that I think some of you were there and you heard it also, but I'll share it this evening to encourage us. in this call to pray as the church. What is one of the, besides drug overdoses and drug abuse, what is another horrific epidemic, a horrible evil in our culture today, in our world today? It's the evil of abortion. We were able to attend the Capital Area Pregnancy Center Banquet, and all of the testimonies from the women who spoke were Wonderful. But the last woman who spoke, she told her story, and this was her story. She was on the way to the abortion clinic. And she parked her car somewhere, she parked improperly, she parked illegally, and she said, there were the sidewalk counselors, and they saw that she parked improperly, illegally, and they were kind of yelling at her, or speaking to her to get her attention, saying, hey, you gotta move your car, you parked illegally. And she said, she just, you know, she's going there to have an abortion, clearly she's totally conflicted, and she started yelling back at them. And then she said she just was overcome by the Lord, fell to her knees, and the next thing she knew, all of these sidewalk counselors were circled around her, praying for her. And it was amazing to hear this woman's testimony. She said, I was repenting, I didn't even know what repentance was, but I just knew I needed Jesus. God used the power of the faith and the prayers of those people to bring that woman to Christ. We need to pray for all kinds of people. All people, everywhere, with every kind of prayer. This is wisdom for the church. We need to be engaged as the church. And don't misunderstand me tonight. I encourage you, as you have opportunity, because you are a citizen of this country, to be engaged politically. to be engaged according to biblical morality, God's law, the gospel, but we as the church are to be most engaged spiritually. I came across a great quote that speaks to this fact and that speaks directly to what's being conveyed here in this passage. It's from a Dutch theologian I'm sure many of you have heard of, his name was Herman Bavink. Brilliant man, also happened to be a politician. He was a member of the Dutch parliament for a decade. Listen to what he said about the church and our position vis-a-vis power in this world. This is what he said. Nowhere in the New Testament is there a ray of hope that the church of Christ will again come to power and dominion on earth. The most it may look for is that under kings and all who are in high positions, it may lead a quiet, and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. Therefore, the New Testament does not, first of all, recommend the virtues that enable believers to conquer the world, but while it bids them avoid all false asceticism, lists as fruit of the spirit the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Again, imagine someone coming into your church, our church, Redeemer or CRPC for the first time. Imagine them hearing their own well-being, their community being lifted up in prayer. Don't you think that God is gonna use that to soften their heart if they don't know Christ to the gospel? We need to pray for all people. This is God's will for us and for those outside. Do you see God's will for us as his people, as a people of prayer in this passage? This is God's will for us. I hope this is a relief to you tonight. It was a relief for me to be reminded of this. God's good will for us as his people in this world. This world that is filled with trouble. This world that does have tumultuous political seasons. This world that is beset by confusion and lies and distortions, this is God's will for us, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. We are to pray for all people, for leaders, for men and women in authority. We have a big government, there's a lot of prayers that we could pray for all those people. and we should be praying for them. We should be praying for our president. But God's will is not that the church, as the church, focus on political influence, but focus on what instead? Spiritual influence. We're the salt of the earth. God knows our circumstances. God knows the circumstances of the church in every part of the world. There are places where things are much more difficult for Christians. I hope you prefer to live in a country where the church is not outlawed. And also, we praise God because we live in a country where the rights of the image bearer, with the horrific exception of the unborn, are at least acknowledged. I hope you're thankful to live in a country where we have the freedom and the ability to gather on the Lord's day, unhindered by government authority. We don't appreciate enough what a blessing that is. A gift from God, which we should thank God regularly for. Again, there are countries where that is not the case. We are not very far from one of those countries. What country am I talking about? Haiti. We're a PCA and an OPC church gathered here tonight. Until only a couple years ago, sadly, We had a OPC missionary there, Ben Hopp and his family. They had to leave because of the conditions. I believe there's still an OPC, or PCA family there, Octavius and Marie Delfise. The conditions in Haiti have been horrible for decades. We should pray for Haiti. And as we think of Haiti, we should pray that they also, the believers in Haiti would be able to live a peaceful and quiet life. We read story after story of how difficult it is even just to live there right now. And we should praise God for the blessing and the benefit that we have to be able to live our lives in relative peace and order. This verse, this truth should be a relief to all of us. What does it mean? It means that God, step outside of the world of social media. Step outside of the world of the political discourse. What does God want for you and for me? He wants us to not live in a state of constant agitation and irritation. A state of where people are constantly saying, look at what this person did, look at what that person said. God wants you and me. God wants his church, his people, his redeemed to glorify and enjoy him. by working our jobs, by loving our children, by going to school, by playing sports, Lord willing, not on Sunday, by visiting the sick, by getting together, by having joint worship services, by getting together with our friends and family, by enjoying his creation, taking care of our homes. God's will for us is that we would believe in his son and live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Spring is here, hallelujah. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for winter to be over. It's gonna be time for the pool. Kids, this is one of the words I wrote down. It's gonna be time for popsicles. I think we're gonna have, at one of these joint evening services, an ice cream social. We'll have to figure out whose church loves ice cream more. I think our church might love ice cream more. It's a wonderful thing. It's a blessed thing to see our children growing up in church and enjoying times of fellowship like this. It's a wonderful thing to be able to get together in peace and tranquility and hear how one another are doing. To hear how the gospel is impacting our lives. To hear how the Lord is blessing us and guiding us. Yes, through difficulties. I know we can all speak to the difficulties in our lives tonight, but can you speak of God's blessing? Can you talk about how God, in the midst of all the turmoil in the world and all the troubles in your life, how he is blessing you with a peaceful and quiet life? I'm thankful. I grew up outside of Philadelphia. I'm from Montgomery County, and if you've been to Montgomery County, you know it's not Cumberland County. And there's differences, okay? There's too many Steelers and Redskins, excuse me, Commanders fans in this area, okay? I'm learning to love my neighbor. Even the Baltimore people, I don't know what that's about. But I am thankful as I drive around this area and I just, it's peaceful. And part of that we should recognize, part of that's because, okay, we're not Anabaptists, but you know what the Anabaptists do really well, the Mennonite and the Brethren? They order their lives, they care for each other, and they live a peaceful and quiet life. This is a blessed thing. I've thought about, for those of you who are Lord of the Rings fans, and this reference might indicate that, okay, maybe there's something bad coming, I pray that's not the case, but there's a city in the Lord of the Rings called Gondolin. And it's surrounded by mountains and it's kind of like this haven in the midst of all the battles and the tumult that's going on. And I kind of think of Cumberland County that way. It's a peaceful place. It's a wonderful place to raise a family. And I'm thankful that the Lord brought us here. And I'm thankful for the presence of the church here. God wants us to live a peaceful and quiet life. He wants our life in Christ to be a witness. He wants your life, not because we're over the top with our spirituality, not because we're in people's faces, but he wants our life, a life of dignity and sobriety and order to command the respect of the people that know us. Calvin said this. The Christian, speaking on this passage, he said, Christians are to refrain from base and disorderly conduct and to live as intelligent beings who know the difference between right and wrong. I'll say this because this passage relates to our government, our leaders. We all need to continue to recognize. I know there's been a change in the political leadership and I'm sure like many of you, I was thankful for that change. We still live in a country that does not have the right definition of marriage. That's not a good thing. We should pray about that. And we shouldn't shrink back from saying, no, I'm sorry, I love you, but that is not marriage. A marriage by God's creation and appointment is one man and one woman. But do you know what's also true? It's possible for us to live a peaceful and quiet life in the midst of a culture that is lost and sinking down. It doesn't prevent us as Christians, as the church, from keeping the marriage bed undefiled. In fact, in a way, don't you think it causes our light to shine even brighter? Let me suggest one other way that we as Christians live a dignified and godly life. It might seem like a small thing, but it's really not because our speech is everywhere, we're constantly talking. You know one way that I hope it's taken for granted that people aren't using profanity. And if you are using profanity, that's not a godly, Christ-honoring way to speak. But you know when you're around unbelievers, you don't have to come right out and say, hey, will you come to church on Sunday, let me tell you about Jesus. By all means, at some point we have to get to the gospel. But it occurred to me in the course of something that I'm involved with that just simply by not speaking that way, It pricks the conscience. It shows that, no, that's not a God-honoring way to speak. That's not a way to speak around children. That's not a way that anyone should speak. It's a way that we can have a witness. You may not be someone who wants to go and stand on the street corner and hand out tracts, but you can be someone, and you must be someone who wants to live a godly life in Christ. Because we're sinners, though, because we're saints, Sufferers and sinners, living a peaceful and quiet life is easier said than done, so we need the gospel. We believe the gospel, but we all still need the gospel. Don't we all trouble ourselves? I've been guilty of that. The glorious good news of God and the gospel and in this passage is you don't have to trouble yourself. You don't have to trouble yourself because of the world's problems. You don't have to trouble yourself because of your problems. Why is that? It's because there's a mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. The one who has given himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time. We can live in the midst of a world that is racked with problems and we can live as people who are still battling and dwelling sin because there's someone who stepped in. between you and God, between God and me, and his name is Christ Jesus. He's the perfect Savior. He's the Savior we needed because he is truly God and he's truly man. Hebrews, it says he's able to sympathize with us because he became like us, yet he is without sin. Jesus is the man that you and I need to help us live a peaceful and quiet life. Knowing God as the Savior is the prerequisite to a peaceful and quiet life. Do you find that your life is full of trouble? Do you find that you are a person who's, you're called to be a peacemaker. You're called to be at peace. Would people describe you as a troubled person? Would people describe you as someone who's always agitated and irritated? you need to come to the Savior. Or you need to bring all those things that are troubling you, that are weighing on you, to God, our Savior, through His Son, Jesus Christ. God's will for His people is that we would live a peaceful and quiet life. And do you see God's will? Christian, Church of Jesus Christ, do you hear His will for all people? This is what will draw people in. Believe me. People know about judgment, they know. That's why, that's why, sadly, we should pray for our government to intervene in the opioid epidemic. Do you know why people are turning to drugs? Do you know why people are trying to numb themselves? Because they haven't heard that there's a way of escape. They haven't heard about the mediator. They haven't heard about the man named Jesus whom God on that day on Calvary took all your sin and all my sin and placed it on Jesus so that none is left on you and all of it is on Jesus. And on the third day he rose from the dead and he ascended into heaven so he is as close to God the Father as he could humanly be, the mediator, the man Christ Jesus, so he can pray for you. so that when you do sin, the one who died for you is there to intercede with God and pray for your soul. We don't need anyone else. We shouldn't want anyone else. And this is God's good will for all people. This is the message. This is the urgent message that the world needs today. This is the message. Like I said, I'm thankful to live here, but friends, do not be deceived. Carlisle needs this message. Cumberland County needs this message. Our great God and Savior, he looks down from heaven and he looks with love on the world. And because he is a forgiving God, because he is the merciful one, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, he sees all of the misery of all the people apart from Christ. You and I couldn't bear that burden. You know, we get a glimpse of it through the news, we get a glimpse of it through people that do come into the church. and it weighs us down. God sees all of it. He knows completely the futility of life apart from him, the vanity, the emptiness, a life of relentless churning and stewing. Listen to how it's described in Titus 3. talking about what we ourselves once were. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another. There is a day of judgment coming. And on that day, you better be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Because there will be no more opportunity. There will be no other chance. There will be no more, the hand that is extended to offer you mercy and pardon and release, it will be drawn back. And instead there will be a sword. And there will be judgment. But until that day, God, the Savior, the Redeemer of sinners is extending his free offer of mercy and love and grace to all. And I think part of the tone and the texture and the essence of this passage is that this is what our churches are supposed to be about. You know, there's a lot of things that we need to believe. And this passage makes reference to the fact that you don't truly come to the Savior unless you come in the knowledge of the truth. You have to believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man. Our church, I don't know about the PCA right now, Matt could fill us in, but we have five membership vows. You don't have to affirm predestination. Now we're gonna teach you predestination, we're gonna teach you infant baptism, but you simply have to affirm that you are a sinner and Jesus is the savior, that he is truly God come in the flesh. You can't come to God without understanding who Jesus is and why he had to die and that his death was in your place, that he was suffering for your sins. But the glorious good news of the gospel, the thing that makes the free offer of the gospel a sweet offer and a real offer is that it's given by the God of all, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's given through Christ and in Christ. He is the one appointed. the one who was appointed to suffer in our place, the one who was appointed to die for us and rise again. There's a number of other things that I wanted to say, but I'm gonna seek to wrap up for the sake of time and because it is an evening service and not a morning service. It struck me looking at this passage that there's, I think, a definite echo or overlap with the word of God through Jeremiah to his people in exile. Let me read just some of that for you. God's people were sent to exile, and ironically, they were actually in a better position, because the people who were still in Jerusalem were deceived. Listen to what God told the people in exile. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage. that they may bear sons and daughters multiply there and do not decrease but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare. God wants us to live, God wanted his people in Jeremiah's day in exile. It was not good, they had to be kicked out, they were so bad. They were so bad they had to be sent to Babylon, but his will for them there was what? Essentially to live a peaceful and quiet life in the midst of Babylon. They weren't gonna take over Babylon, but they were called to live there and they were called to pray for the welfare of that city. We are living in the days between the resurrection of Christ and his return. We are living in the days where the grace of God is extended to all people. In the grace of God, let this be the flavor of our prayer life as a church, that we're praying for all people. Let this be the flavor and the aroma and the clear, explicit pronouncement of the preaching of the word to come to Christ, to be reconciled to God. Isn't that how your life has been changed through the Savior? Isn't that how your every day is different? I know you, I know many of you. I know Redeemer and I'm getting to know a lot of the folks here at CRPC. We all have troubles, we all have burdens, we all have cares, but don't you also praise God for the peace that you have through Jesus Christ? The peace that passes understanding. Don't you want others to come to know that peace? Don't you wanna see the lost brought in? It doesn't just happen through one sermon. It doesn't just happen through one church. It happens through the regular and consistent, Spirit-filled, Jesus-exalting ministry of the word, Sunday after Sunday, in home after home. We need to teach this gospel to our children. We need to tell our children, you need the mediator. You need to know that Jesus died in your place, that he suffered in your place, and now he's praying for you and he's calling you to trust in him. We need to tell our neighbors this message. We need to tell our leaders in government this message. You know, I mentioned... Two theologians tonight, I'll mention one again, that's Calvin. I was struck looking at his commentaries, they're always good, but I was struck by his pastoral heart. Do you know how he ended so many of his sermons? With a prayer of confession, John Calvin, yes, Lord, we confess our sins, we confess that apart from you we're totally depraved, but you know, he also prayed in this way, and this is how I'll close. That it may please him to grant this grace, not only to us, but also to all people and nations of the earth. Let's close in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this word. We thank you for the word of the gospel. We thank you that both now and until the day that Jesus returns, we can have confidence and we can have peace because it's Jesus who lived, it's Jesus who died, and it's Jesus who lives and reigns supreme. We bless your name, oh God, our savior. Would you help us to believe these things? Would you help us to know these things? And would you help us again by your spirit to put them into practice for the glory of your name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and let all God's people say amen.