Prayer & Our Mission

Theodore Weddle was an Episcopalian pastor in the early 1900s and was also a professor of English at Yale University. He wrote this very thought-provoking parable. On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur stood a life-saving station. The building was just a hut and there was only one boat but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many of those who were rescued and also others from the surrounding area wished to become associated with the station and to give their time, money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained, the life saving, life-saving station grew. In time some of the crew became concerned that the station was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more commodious place should be provided as the first refuge of those snatched from the sea. The emergency cuts were replaced with beds and better furniture was purchased for the enlarged building. The station became a popular gathering place for its members and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely. Fewer members were now interested in leaving the plus station to go to sea and life-saving missions. So they hired surrogates to do that work. However, they retained their life-saving motif in the club's decorations and the ceremonial lifeboat lay in the room where the club initiations were held. One dark stormy night, a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold wet, half-drawn people. They were dirty and sick and obviously from distant shores. The station was in chaos. The event was so traumatic that the people contracted for outbuildings to be constructed so future shipwrecks could be processed with less disruption. Eventually a rift developed in the station most of the members wanted to continue or to discontinue the station's life-giving activities, life-saving activities as being unpleasant and the hindrance to their normal social life. Some insisted however that rescue was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still a life-saving station. But the latter were ignored and told that if they wanted to keep life-saving as their primary purpose they could begin their own station down the coast which they did. Over time those individuals fell prey to the same temptations as the first group coming to care more about comforting one another than rescuing the perishing. After a while a few remembering their real purpose split off to establish yet another life-saving station and on and on it went. Today if you visit that sea coast you will find a number of impressive life-saving stations along the shore. Sadly shipwrecks still occur in those waters but most people are lost. What a penetrating picture of many churches today. Churches that had the charter of being a life-saving station churches that had the beginning churches that had the motivation the passion to drive to be life-saving stations but which have become comfortable places for members to encourage one another and the dirty work of rescuing the perishing has long been forgotten. I think the very heart of God beats for the lost of the world and that heartbeat resonates through 1 Timothy chapter 2. I didn't really recognize the tie until this week as I got more deeply into this chapter. You see in 1 Timothy 1 Paul has been instructing Timothy about teaching doctrine, correct doctrine, true Bible doctrine and he's encouraged him and challenged him and given him a charge to warn the church and to guard the church against false doctrine. Now in chapter 2 he moves to a whole other set of instructions and chapter 2 has to deal primarily with worship. What do you do in worship in the church? And so you might think well if he's going to address worship surely he's going to talk about preaching, right? No. Well he'll talk about music, right? No. Talk about giving? No. Talk about auditoriums to meet in? No. He says I urge then first of all or as of first importance that petitions, prayers, intercessions and Thanksgiving be made for all people. He jumps right into the most important part of a church's mission and that is prayer but this is not just an instruction about prayer. I've often preached this passage in different places and I've often treated it basically as an instruction manual on prayer and it wasn't until this week that I realized the common thread that runs through this chapter is the heart of God, the passion of God for the lost and that's what our prayer is to be directed toward. That's the heartbeat of our prayer. In verse 1 he says that prayer should be made for all people and we should even pray for those in authority. Why? Because verse 4 God wants all people to be saved and the way people are saved is through Christ who gave his life for six as a ransom for all and Paul says for that very reason in verse 7 I was given the responsibility and the privilege of taking the gospel to the world to the Gentiles. So the whole passage flows with this heartbeat of God's passion for the lost for the world and prayer is tied into that but prayer does not stand on its own. Prayer is designed to be the motivating fuel that exudes our passion to the Lord for the lost and so what does it mean to engage the church in prayer? If it means anything it means that we pray for a lost and dying the world. In fact the heartbeat of prayer should be our mission to reach the lost. Prayer and that passion are inextricably tied together they cannot be ripped apart in this passage and so as we look at what Paul says about prayer in the church and the importance of that the primary importance of prayer in the church let's not forget that this prayer is centered around God's heartbeat for the lost and passion to get the gospel to the whole world but he does begin by giving us some methods of prayer all of these different kinds of prayer are mentioned in verse 1 notice what he says I urge them first of all that petitions prayers intercession and Thanksgiving be made for all people he uses four different words for prayer and it's not just piling words on top of each other to sound eloquent and all of that there are different kinds of prayer being mentioned here the first one petitions or requests literally has to do with the expression of a personal need it means that we can come to God with whatever need is on our heart and that's a wonderful thought isn't it and we really don't have much trouble with that we we do that pretty naturally don't but I remind you that at the end of the verse these petitions these requests are to be made for all people so the scope is beyond us the scope is beyond our people the scope is beyond our needs to the needs of all people prayer for others is what is enjoined here in this word and then he says pray also not only with petitions or requests for the needs of others but pray also with prayers now that's kind of the general word in the New Testament the vanilla word for prayer but it does carry with it the underlying theme of worship it means to bow the knee to God it involves the idea of reverence of an attitude of submission to God and when he uses that word coupled with the idea of all people his thought again is not just that we come with a reverence for ourselves but that we come with a passion that God be reverenced and submitted to and known among all people in all the world and so our very worship is to be an expression of our passion for God to be known among the nations so petitions or requests prayers and then intercession now intercession typically is just understood to mean praying for somebody else these already said that requests be made for all people so he's not being redundant here there's a little bit of a shade of meaning in this word intercession that carries with it the idea of heart the word intercession literally means to fall in with another and it's the idea of someone who's walking down the road and you fall in with them you you join them you come alongside them and so the thought here is when someone is walking down a particular path in their journey of life if they're walking down a particular road you join them you fall in with them and your prayers become just as passionate as if it were them praying your prayers for that person become like their heartbeat their passion their prayer and you're expressing their needs as though they were your own because you've fallen in alongside them and you're helping them carry their burden that's the idea here and then notice giving a thanks he says giving of thanks also thanks giving is not just a holiday a season of year that we've just come through thanks giving is an attitude of the heart that should be there for all people it's not just tacked on to the end of our prayer or at the beginning thank you for all things God it is a spirit and an attitude that pervades all of our praying and all of our living should Paul said in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 18 give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus so no matter where you are today no matter what you're going through when you pray God is looking for you to come with an attitude of thanksgiving a heart of gratitude even in those days when you can find precious little to be thankful for as you look at the the chaos going on in your life you can always if your focus is correct on God if you're thinking about him there's always something that can pervade your prayer time of gratitude and thankfulness and that thanksgiving is to be made for all people again it's in the context of God's heart for all people is desire for all people to be saved that we should be giving thanks for the opportunity God's given us to reach out to people with the life-saving message of the gospel those are the methods of prayer but then notice quickly the subjects of prayer for whom should we pray who the subjects of our prayer well I've already anticipated this one you see at the end of verse 1 everyone I urged then first of all that petitions prayers intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people everyone now this is not just okay I've got a list everyone by name on planet earth obviously not that's not his point nor is this just a general impersonal God bless everybody it's not that either the point that Paul is making here is that nobody should be excluded from the realm of prayer make these requests these these this worship of our Lord the the falling in with others not just for you and your family and those close to you but for everybody nobody should be excluded that unsaved neighbor is included here the person that you work with is included here people that you don't even know across the world who have no opportunity to hear the gospel are included here this is a broad scope that goes far beyond ourselves and our circle of knowledge and acquaintance this is people everywhere everyone that we pray for it is a worldwide scope John Stott who until he died a couple of years ago was a great writer British theologian pastor also's church in London for many years wrote this in one of his books he said some years ago I attended public worship in a certain church the pastor was absent on holiday and the lay elder led the pastoral prayer he prayed that the pastor might enjoy a good vacation which was fine and that two lady members of the congregation might be healed which was fine also we should pray for the sick but that was all the intercession can hardly have lasted 30 seconds I came away saddened sensing that this church worshiped a little village god of their own devising boy when I read that it just struck me in the heart is that the way my prayer sound like I'm I'm praying to a god that is only concerned about my little click my little group my little circle of friends he says there was no recognition of the needs of the world and no attempt to embrace the world in prayer appreciated so much pastor Dan praying in his in the pastoral prayer this morning for operation Christmas childhood and praying specifically for the the millions of children that would receive those boxes and hear the gospel and that they would be saved in the countries of the world our scope our focus our passion needs to be beyond ourselves beyond our area certainly we should have a burden for our area for our town for southern west Virginia yes but our scope needs to go to the world our scope needs to go to everyone without without anyone being excluded all the nations of the world should be the desire of our heart say well how can I do that I don't really know how to do that there's a great way already provided for you to develop this passion we we put out do you recognize this we put out this every month it's a prayer calendar and it's available at the information center back in the lobby and we put out one every month and it has lots of you know corresponding to the days of the month lots of great things to pray for today for instance we're being asked to pray for Eric and Christina Richardson and France were praying for a small groups ministry our student community outreach which takes place on Sundays pastor Dan and his family and their request like that for every day but you know what's on the back of this calendar all the days of the month you know it's on the back I hope you've checked this out I say to my shame that there have been times when I've prayed for what's on the front and I've forgotten what's on the back I turned it over this morning when I was praying and saw that we should be praying today for 900 and 92,000 people in Jordan Arab Jordanian people who speak both Arabic and South 11 kind of language a smaller people group in the country of Jordan who are unreached who do not have access to the gospel and did you know that for every day of the month there is a people group like that back here that you can pray for you may not know those people I'm not familiar with that group of people that we're at being asked to pray for today but I'll tell you what it will do it will broaden your horizons and your heart to embrace the world and not just be so so narrow and myopic in our vision and seeing just right what's in front of us but but a vision for the world and a passion for the world that's what Paul's telling us to do to pray for everyone to pray for all of the nations of the world there are so many people who don't even have the gospel in their language in a written form where they've never been penetrated with the gospel and Paul is broadening our vision to pray for them to pray for them to hear the gospel. A.B. Simpson was the founder of the Christian and missionary alliance. He was speaking at a conference over a hundred years ago and another speaker well-known British writer and speaker F.B. Meyer was there. One day F.B. Meyer got up early and noticed Simpson kind of in an alcove a little room off to the side down near the lobby of that place where the conference was being held and he he walked a little close he was going to speak to him but when he got closer to the room he realized A.B. Simpson was praying and he saw him on his knees weeping and crying out to God with his arms around a globe crying out for the nations that's what Paul's telling us to do pray for everyone he's going to say later it's because of this that God sent me to the Gentiles to the nations to the peoples of the world we're to pray for everyone but then he narrows the focus a little bit and interestingly enough and very applicable to us in this particular setting is that we're also to pray for government leaders you see it there in verse two for kings and for all those in authority he doesn't he doesn't mention anything else about them he will give the reasons for praying that way in a moment but just pray for government authorities for kings and all those in authority presidents and supreme court and congressman in our setting in our particular form of government governors and and all kinds of folks who are in authority over us doesn't matter if you consider them to be good leaders or bad leaders that that's not the issue you know who the leader was in the Roman Empire when Paul wrote this letter Nero with the possible exception of Caligula Nelo was probably the most insane of all Roman empires the man was absolutely crazy and and he initiated the first full blown empire-wide persecution of Christians there are many historians who believe that the great fire Rome was started by Nero himself and blame the Christians for it so that he would have a reason to persecute Christians that's the kind of man we're talking about he was the he was the king if you will he was the emperor when Paul said we need to be praying for these people so it doesn't matter their political affiliation doesn't matter whether you consider them to be a good or bad ruler we are commanded by God to pray for our leaders doesn't matter their political persuasion or your political persuasion we need to pray for our leaders and we'll see in a moment exactly what we should be praying but it's far easier to criticize than to pray right you know maybe the next time someone begins criticizing either President Obama or President elect Trump or any other president we've had in the last 200 and some years maybe maybe the best thing for us to do maybe the best response would be you know we were willing to be praying for him and just let it go at that I haven't always done that I'll be honest but maybe that would be the best response why don't we why don't we focus our energy on praying rather than on criticizing we're to pray for everyone we're to pray for government leaders okay why why should we pray for these people Paul then moves into the reasons for prayer the reasons for prayer are two these are not exhausts deep again this is not a a whole seminar on prayer giving us all the reasons why we should pray but in this setting and specifically related to government authorities which he's just mentioned here are two reasons we should pray first of all there's a benefit to us really there's a benefit to us in this look at verse two he says for kings and for all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness but please don't misunderstand that Paul is not saying we should pray for government leaders so that we can live a quiet middle class life with no trouble it's not that's not what he's saying I believe what Paul has in mind here is he's praying for government leaders and asking us to pray for government leaders so that the result will be a peace that exists and a quietness within that will allow us to live godly and holy lives for the purpose of gospel opportunities of reaching the lost because he goes on to say god wants all people to be saved the purpose of having peace in a country as we pray for our country and our leaders is so that the door remains open that it is not hindered in any way so that we can preach the gospel share the gospel in an open unhindered way that's the benefit to us it's not so that we can live a quiet nice life with no trouble it's so that we have opportunity to influence others with the gospel Paul uses this same expression in another place in first Thessalonians chapter four and notice the tie-in here it's more clear in this passage he's talking about people who've quit their jobs and or busy bodies and other people's business all time on Facebook criticize and somebody well that's King John translations not in there I guess but anyway it says he says here's what you're supposed to do you to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life the idea is that peaceful peaceful existence now what does that mean and why are we to do that he says you should mind your own business and work with your hands just as we told you here's the reason so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders that you the way you live may provide gospel opportunities a quiet peaceful lifestyle is for the purpose of influencing others with the gospel so that your life can be a testimony you'll not be dependent on anybody won't be mooching off everybody else is the idea but the point is clear we pray for our leaders so that there will be freedom to get the gospel to as many people as possible that's the tie-in here that shows that our our prayers are to be with the result of gospel opportunities yes we want freedom from conflict yes we want freedom from undue regulation and oppression by government but the way we do that is we pray and the ultimate goal of our prayers is so that we'll be free to spread the gospel that's the purpose I love this I love this passage because of what it says and because of what it doesn't say when when Paul is wanting to affect change in the culture what do you pray for governmental authorities what do you do to affect that kind of change political agitation political action committees rallies pickets marches that's not what Paul suggests Paul suggest prayer pray if you want to have freedom in the Roman Empire to spread the gospel then pray pray for the leaders over us and I think Paul definitely had in mind praying for continued what was called in that day the the Pax Romana the Roman peace the the Roman Empire was in many ways a wicked empire but at this particular stage in history it controlled that part of the Mediterranean world in such a way that you were you were free to travel all over from country to country without any hindrance and there was a a settled mess about that that allowed for the gospel to explode across the Roman Empire now think Paul had that in mind let's pray for our rulers that we will still have that opportunity you know I think much of our energy would be better spent in prayer rather than rather than in political commentary if we prayed for our leaders as much as we talk about them and criticize them we might see more of a work of God in our nation did you know that it was prayer that brought down the Berlin Wall now I know that most of us have kind of been trained to think it was our former president Reagan's bold statement has he stood at the Brandenburg Gate in front of the the the wall in Berlin and said Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall and those were powerful words they resonate throughout history but what is little known by many people is that at that time and shortly after there were prayer movements springing up across eastern europe and one of them was in Berlin in 1989 in May of 1989 in Berlin and then also at Leipzig another city this is where it really started in the historic Saint Nicholas Church which had been a great church for center of the Reformation in in Germany back in the 1500s in that church a few people decided to start meeting for prayer that God would bring peace to their part of the world and they started reading the Bible and praying together well the group quickly expanded and moved to a larger room finally got so large they had to move out to the auditorium and finally it attracted the attention of communist authorities and the communist authorities sent people to infiltrate those prayer meetings and actually started arresting some of the leaders but the movement continued to grow so much so that in fact the main exit off the Autobahn going to that church was closed whenever they called for a prayer meeting communist authorities would close that if that didn't stop people from getting there within five months on October 9th 1989 2000 people crowded into that auditorium for prayer and another 10,000 people were in the streets outside praying and it wasn't long the wall began to fall the same thing could be said about Romania there are tremendous stories about what's happening in Romania also in Hungary in Ukraine in other Eastern European countries all at the same time there were these groundswells of prayer not political activism but prayer and God used the prayers of his people to overthrow evil so there's a benefit to us where gospel opportunities can continue and go even further because of the peace that may come and the allowance for us to live unhindered gospel centered lives there's a benefit to us but there's also a benefit to rulers as we pray for them in verses three and four notice it this is good and pleases God our Savior who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth and he's just said we need to pray for kings and those in authority over us why why does that please God because God wants all people to be saved the obvious implication is even those political leaders God wants them to be saved and should that not be the primary focus of our prayer for our leaders is that they would come to a knowledge of the truth I mean when you think of how that would radically transform government if people at the highest levels of government were radically changed by the gospel were saved by the grace of God see God wants all people to be saved our concern needs to be beyond petty politics or party affiliations our concern needs to be to pray for our leaders that they might get saved and thus begin a revival in this country that ought to be what we're praying for because God wants everyone to be saved you say wait a second if God wants everyone to be saved why is everybody saved are we saying that God doesn't get what he wants interestingly enough the language the New Testament was written in is much more precise than English there are there are two words in the original language for want or will one of them is a more general word which basically means a desire a wish if you will that's the word that's used here the other word is a stronger word which means something that is settled in in the sense of a decree this is God's will it's going to be done that's an entirely different word it's not the one used here the word used here is this is God's heart desire that all people be saved obviously in order for all people to be saved they've got to hear the gospel and they have to have the opportunity to respond in faith God's not going to force people to be saved he wants everyone to be saved that's the desire and the passion the burden of his heart but it's incumbent on us to take the gospel to people and that is the focus of prayer it goes all the way back to verse one we're to be praying with all these different kinds of prayer for everybody for all the nations of the world and for kings so that we can live unhindered gospel lives why because God wants everybody to be saved and so that it really falls back to that same heartbeat of God the reason for prayer is so that we might live unhindered lives to live out and proclaim the gospel so that all people can hear the truth and have an opportunity to be saved that that shows us that the heartbeat of prayer is the heart of God a passion for the lost those are the reasons for prayer but then Paul addresses the avenue of prayer how do we come to God in prayer and there is much in what he says there that expresses the heart passion that he has for the lost to know him he says verse three this is good and pleases God our Savior who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth four okay the word four ties what he's going to say next to what he's just said he wants all people to be saved come to a knowledge of the truth why because there is one God now that's not just a little exclusive statement of faith there's one God we believe in one God no no in the context he's saying there's only one God for all the nations you see what we're taught today by many people is that doesn't matter who people worship across the world as long as they are sincere in their efforts to reach out to some God won't God surely smile on that and what God is telling us here there's only one God there are not many gods that you can kind of craft in your own image and approach with sincerity of heart there's only one God which in the context means if he wants all people to be saved we've got to tell people about this true God people who are deceived and don't know who the true God is are dependent on those who do know him to share that message with them there's only one God and if God wants all people to be saved they've got to know who that one God is and there's only one way to get to him notice he goes on to say there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all people there's only one mediator one one person that brings God and man together and that is Christ now let me dive into this for just a few minutes we need to understand what the meaning of a mediator is because we kind of get this wrong because of our lifestyle today our democratic procedure our labor management type relationships we see mediator all different from what the Bible means you know in labor management type things today a mediator is is one who compromises brings compromise between two parties transmitting labor and management together and says okay management wants this labor wants this let's try to find some middle ground and maybe we can please both that's what a mediator does that is not at all the biblical concept in the Bible a mediator is one who intervenes between two parties to restore peace but there's only one of those parties that sets the terms and that's God nobody's going to be saved any other way than by God's terms you see Jesus didn't come to say okay let's all get together here I know God is kind of holy and and he has some standards and all and and and I know you have trouble meeting those but maybe we can get God to come down a little bit and compromise a little bit and maybe not expect quite so much and and that'll help and then you all give a little bit to and we'll find some common ground here in the middle that's not the way you get saved the way you get saved is by God's holy standards he's the one who sets the standards and it requires perfect righteousness to get into heaven so well that's impossible exactly exactly but Jesus didn't come to kind of find a compromise Jesus came as the sinless spotless Lamb of God the one who was perfectly righteous who was God and he took on himself human nature and human body he became man in that sense he brings together God and man he represents God in all of his holiness and his his standard of perfect righteousness but he became one of us so that he might understand we might know we might know that he knows from experience the human weaknesses and difficulties of this life and so that he might give his body in a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins that's why he became man there's only one way to God and that's through the mediator through Jesus Jesus himself said in John chapter 14 and verse 6 I am the way the truth and the life no man comes under the father but by me so the the the the meaning of this mediator the function of a mediator is to bring God and man together now there are several reasons why Christ can only be the mediator why Christ only can be the mediator there's several reasons for that one is that verse 5 says that this is God's word there is one God and one mediator between God and man so we could leave it right there and say because God's word says it that's the reason why Jesus only can be the mediator but let's go a little further than that a mediator has to be able to represent both parties and notice how he does that in verse 5 there's one God and one mediator between God and mankind the man Christ Jesus one mediator one person who brings God and man together that's Christ he is God now he becomes man through the incarnation through his coming into this world that we celebrate at Christmas he becomes man he joins divine nature and human nature he joins deity with humanity nobody else in all of human history has ever done that Mary didn't do that so you don't come to God through Mary no other saint in all of human history has ever combined deity and humanity so you don't come to God through praying to saints no priest preacher or rabbi has ever combined deity with humanity nobody's ever been a mediator like this to combine both so you don't come to God through a rabbi or a priest or a preacher you can only come to God and be right with him through Christ because he is the only mediator he's the only one who's ever combined both God and man in one person and that's what Paul's telling us here he's the only one that qualifies no other religious leader has done this booted didn't do this Mohammed didn't do this Abraham didn't do this Moses didn't do this the only person who's ever combined both in one person God and man is Christ so he's the only one possible to be the mediator who can bring us together but the third reason not only because the scripture say it and because he's the only one who combined both God and man the third reason is he has paid the adequate price for us to be reconciled to God to be brought back to God you see it there in verse six who gave himself as a ransom for all people now in the Bible ransom was a purchase price that was laid down for a slave to free that slave that was what a ransom was it was it was not necessarily for kidnapping that's typically what we think of as a ransom today but a ransom in that day was the purchase price that was paid to free a slave to buy a slave and then to let that slave go that was a ransom Jesus is the only one who has provided a ransom price who has laid down his own life he gave himself the Bible says here as a ransom for all people in other words he laid down a price that was sufficient for all people to deliver them from sin and and bring them to God in salvation the price that Jesus paid was adequate it was sufficient for all people now only those who respond and faith and trust Christ will be the recipient of that payment but the payment is sufficient for all and this is not just talking about Jew and Gentile here there is no good expositor of this passage that takes that view it's not just Jew and Gentile there have been some who've tried to twist it that way but that's not what he's talking about he's talking about everybody without exclusion all people back in verse one and all people here are the same thought the purchase price that was paid at Calvary was sufficient for the sins of everybody everybody it will only be effectual to those who trust Jesus' Savior don't try to twist this to make it something else it means all people so Jesus paid the only sufficient purchase price that's the reason he's the mediator nobody else has paid that kind of a price it's adequate but what you notice the testimony of this mediator there is someone who's responsible to get a testimony Paul says I'm that person verse seven and for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle I'm telling you the truth I'm not lying and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles Paul says I've been given this responsibility to take the gospel to the Gentiles apart from Jews Gentiles will also hear the gospel and he mentions three different roles that he is called to fulfill first of all a herald then an apostle then a teacher there's a difference in all three of those roles a herald is one who publicly announces a declaration of a government or a state in the Roman Empire heralds would go from village to village town to town place to place and they would gather in the public square important people or as many people in town and they would herald forth they would announce the edict of the Roman Empire the expectation of the Roman Empire whatever it may be and that was that was down done down through history before there were mass media types of possibilities most communications were done by heralds and it is a word that means it's actually the word is used for preaching in the New Testament it's the idea of heralding forth of publicly proclaiming the gospel and the message of the word of God and then the apostle there are no apostles today it's clear from the standards the qualifications for an apostle in the book of Acts that you had to be alive during the life of Christ you had to have seen his resurrection had to have been with him in his ministry that's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 I was like one born out of due season I came along a little later but he qualified as an apostle because Jesus appeared to him personally and commissioned him to the ministry so there aren't any apostles today those were first century people who planted the church but then Paul says I'm also a teacher of the Gentiles so those two functions still remain people who herald who announce who preach the gospel and then those who when people get saved teach them the truths of the word of God so all of us can be involved in that all of us can be involved in announcing the gospel but also in teaching people what the Bible says about the way of salvation that's the testimony of this mediator Paul's point is there's only one way to God and that's through Christ Christ is the only way now we're not going to get the verse 8 just forget that in your outline don't come up to me after the service and so you didn't give us that let me fill in the blanks here you OCD people just forget that okay we're gonna wait on that why because that opens a whole another can of worms that fits better with next week anyway and that's the role of women in the church so I'm praying a lot for the rapture this next week well some of you are not going to like what I got to say so maybe you're not going to like what the Bible teaches you let me let me close this way I want to challenge you to take a personal examination of your prayer life are you praying in the ways that Paul says to pray using the methods of prayer that he commands for us are you praying for the nations for everyone are you praying for your government leaders are you praying that we'll have doors of gospel opportunity left open for us and are you seizing those opportunities as God gives them to you are you praying that our leaders and others will be saved are you coming through Christ and Christ alone but I would encourage you not just to examine the methods and subjects and reasons and avenue of prayer I would also encourage you to take the flow of this passage the heartbeat of this passage and examine your passion in prayer are you passionately breathing the heartbeat of God for everyone for all the nations of the world for those who God wants to be saved and he wants him to come to the knowledge of the truth are you praying for them you see prayer really should fuel our passion for the lost and with the church gathers to pray it needs to be more than just a sick list it needs that's fine and it needs to be more than just about those who've lost loved ones that that's fine too but our heartbeat in prayer needs to be for the world we need to embrace like A.B. Simpson did the globe the world and pray with the passion that God has for lost people here in Princeton, Mercer County, Southern West Virginia the United States and across the world that's how we need to pray would you join me in prayer father forgive us forgive me when I am so narrow in my focus in prayer so many times my prayers began an end with me and mine or those in this church people I know and am rightly concerned about but Lord forgive me when my eyes do not go further to the nations to the world to people who you desire to be saved and I pray father that you would burden all of our hearts with your passion your heart for the world so help us to pray help us to worship help us to intercede help us to give thanks for the tremendous privilege of being able to share the gospel with others and may we pray it will be more diligent and get the gospel to as many people as possible in Jesus name we pray amen