Title: Praying Man
Contents
(1 Timothy 2:5-8) “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all; It is true and no lie that I have been appointed a preacher and an apostle. In faith and truth I have been a teacher to the Gentiles. Therefore, I want men everywhere to raise up holy hands in prayer, without anger or contention.”
1. The most basic posture of a man in the church. : Raise your holy hands and pray.
1) Apostolic authority and a teacher of Gentiles according to his calling as a witness to the Gospel of the Apostle Paul
- The change of Apostle Paul was a great shock to the Jews.
* For the Apostle Paul himself, he was a turning point in his life and a sure witness of Jesus Christ.
* Paul was a staunch Judaic Pharisee, who claimed to be the judge of Jesus and his followers.
* He was a destroyer of early Christianity as a staunch practitioner of what he believed was right.
* Paul's transformation was through his encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 15:3-10) “I first told you what I received, because according to the scriptures, Christ died for our sins, and that he was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and was shown to Cephas, and later to the twelve disciples. And after that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom were still alive until now, and some fell asleep, and after that he appeared to James, and after that he appeared to all the apostles, and lastly to me as an unterm one. I am the most of the apostles. I am a little one, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But it is by the grace of God that I am who I am, and his grace that was given to me was not in vain. Only by the grace of God who was with me.”
* He turned himself from a persecutor to a witness of Jesus by succumbing to solid evidence.
- He was a person who received a revelation from God, and he delivered the revelation for the gospel and order of the church.
* He couldn't keep quiet over all he had seen and heard.
* The reason he risked his death on a missionary journey was because of the solid evidence he had seen and heard.
* Today's text emphasizes the role of men in the church along with the order of the church.
* All men in the faith should be holy prayers in the firm faith.
2. Be a man as a holy prayer in the faith: prayer must not cease.
1) First, we must not be shaken in our firm faith.
- God is one, and there is also one mediator between God and man.
(Acts 2:36) “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for sure, that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, Lord (kuvrio) and Christ (Messiah)” (Acts 2:36).
* Jesus must be firmly present in himself as Lord and Savior of God.
* This is because prayer must come from this faith thoroughly.
(James 1:6-8) “But ask in faith, and do not doubt at all. The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Do not expect such a person to get anything from the Lord. All"
-Prayer is our answer to God's request
* Confess that he is the only God, the absolute, and the Creator God as the omniscient and omniscient.
(Psalm 18:2) “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
- The essence of prayer is an expression of absolute faith in God
* Prayer has the meaning of confession to God, which is already omitted in the beginning.
3) As a prayer, achieve the attitude of your heart.
- You must raise your holy hands so that you can pray.
* Because God is not a servant for our garbage disposal.
* Our ultimate purpose should be the motivation to do God's good will.
- If you have sin in yourself, you must first put it down before God. : Priority
(Isa 59:1-2) “Neither is the LORD’s hand short, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he does not hear. Is it crab?”
- You must think about whether it is a prayer to satisfy your own fleshly desires.
(James 4:3) “You ask and do not receive, because you ask erroneously to spend it on your lusts.”
* If you have your true will in God, boldly ask for blessings and what you want.
- You must have the right attitude towards your spouse.
(1 Peter 3:7) “Husbands, in the same way, live together with your wives according to knowledge, knowing that he is a weaker vessel and one who will also inherit the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
- Prayer is a promise God has given to all believers and a privilege as a child of God.
(John 15:7) “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
- Do not forget that all the victors of faith in the Bible were those who prayed.
(Exodus 17:11-12) “When Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' arms were weary, and they took a stone and laid it under Moses, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur were one And he lifted up Moses' hand from one side and the other from the other, and his hand did not go down until the sun went down. So Joshua struck Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword, and destroyed them.”
- There should be no rest in prayer.
* People are easy to be complacency and can easily fall into arrogance.
* Pray more when you are comfortable.