This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We want to invite you to one of our weekend services. Visit us online at
saddleback. com for locations and service times in your area.

Please visit us this weekend. Hi, I want to welcome you to our second week of
looking together through the book of first Timothy chapter two this week. Last
week as we began our look at first Timothy, we found out that this is a book
that's all about where you find the motivation for living a lifetime of faith.

Part of living a life of faith, part of the motivation for living a life of
faith is that you pray. You're not going to live with motivation for faith
unless you pray. But there's a point to this that sometimes I miss and maybe you
miss.

It's not just a matter of praying for yourself. More than we realize, the way
that you live the life of faith is greatly dependent on the way that you pray
for others. And that's what Paul talks about in first Timothy chapter two, the
first couple of verses, the verses we're going to focus on today.

Let me read those verses for you. Paul writes, "I urge then, first of all, that
requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings
and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all
godliness and holiness. " Now in these verses when he says, "I urge then," or
"therefore," he's referring back to the whole of chapter one, all that he talked
about, about the motivation for living the life of faith and the kind of heart
that we need to have for God.

And he's saying, "Based on living this kind of life, I want to make sure that
you're making requests. " In fact, he makes a list here. He says four things.

I want to make sure that requests and prayers and intercession and thanksgiving,
those four things, that those be made for everyone. Now the first three,
requests, prayers and intercession. When it comes to prayer, what's the
difference between those two?

John Calvin in his commentary said he couldn't see any difference between those
first three. Not two, but first three. What's the difference between requests
and prayers and intercession?

In one sense, it's a way of saying the same thing three different times. And
oftentimes the Bible does this, emphasizing something again and again and again.
Now there is a difference.

In these three, he is covering all the bases. He's saying, "I want you to make
requests. " Those are specific needs that you're talking to God about for other
people.

I want you to pray prayers. And he says pray prayers, that's the broader talk,
the conversation that you're having with God about other people. And he says, "I
want you to make intercession.

" And that has the strong idea of coming to God on someone else's behalf. The
whole idea behind it is that you're talking to God about other people. The main
issue for me as I read through these requests and prayers and intercession, and
then the last one that I more easily understand, thanksgiving for others, the
main thing that I have to focus on is not what do these words mean, I know what
they mean.

The main thing I have to focus on is, am I doing it? In fact, as a part of
walking through these verses today, I don't want to just talk about praying for
other people. I want to take some time to pray for other people.

He says, "I want you to pray for two groups here. The first group is pretty
inclusive. I want you to pray this for everyone," he says.

And then he picks out one group out of that larger group of everyone. He says,
"Especially for kings and all those who are in authority. " You probably don't
live in a country where there is a king, but you do have somebody who's in
governmental authority over you in some way.

It might be a president. It might be somebody who is a prime minister. You have
somebody who's in authority over you.

And Paul says, "I want you to especially make requests and prayers and
intercession and to give thanks for all of these people. " So let's take a
moment right now to do that, just wherever you are right now, driving in your
car, sitting and listening to this somewhere, maybe in your backyard or at a
desk somewhere. Wherever you happen to be right now, just take a moment in your
mind just to pray.

First to pray for everyone. Specific requests. Who is it that you know that you
need to make a specific request for them right now?

One of your children maybe, or maybe you don't have children, maybe you're
single and you need to make a specific request for a close friend of yours.
Maybe it's a specific request for somebody that you work with or a specific
request for somebody you go to school with, somebody in your family. Who is
facing a decision you need to make a request for them?

Who is it that's facing a situation in their life, a circumstance that's
troubling to them? You need to ask for God's peace in their life. Who is it that
you need to make a request for?

He says, "Pray for everyone. Make these kinds of requests and prayers and
intercession, intercession coming to God on behalf of another person. Who do you
know that's hurting?

" And you need to go to God right now on their behalf and just say, "God, I
bring them before you. You know I care about them. I care more about them.

I pray for this person that I care about today. Lift them up today. " As you
pray these prayers for everyone, you also want to make sure that you pray them
specifically for who Paul talks about here, for the person who's in some kind of
governmental authority over you.

If you are in America for your president, if you're in America for somebody in
Senate or in Congress that you need to pray for, maybe somebody in your state
Senate or Congress, somebody that is in government authority over you in some
way, it might be somebody that you meet at City Hall on a regular basis, the
mayor of your city or somebody who works in law enforcement. Who is it that you
need to pray for, for kings and all those in authority? Not just, "Lord, I pray
for them that they would make good decisions today," but it says make
intercession for them.

Go to God on their behalf right now. Pray for God's peace in that person's life,
that man's life, that woman's life. Pray for them to have a sense of God's
presence in their life today.

Pray that for our president today. Requests and prayers and intercession. Oh,
and there's one other thing here, thanksgiving.

First for everyone. Who is it today you need to give thanks for? Maybe there's
someone you thought immediately, "I don't want to give thanks for them.

" Well, that's where you start. Start with the person you don't want to give
thanks for because the Bible tells us to be thankful in all things. Give thanks
in your mind right now for someone in your life.

Who is it that you need to give thanks for in your family, at your school, at
your work? God, thank you for this person. Thank you that even though they're
going through struggles, you're at work.

Thank you that they've made an impact on my life. Thank you that you love them
even though they may not see it yet. I want to thank you.

I want to give thanksgiving for this person's life. And applied as Paul applies
it here, how can you give thanks for someone who's in authority over you? Give
thanks for someone who's in law enforcement or give thanks for someone who is in
government service in some way.

Give thanks for someone who is in Congress or Senate or give thanks for a
president. Give thanks if you're in a country other than America for your prime
minister. Who is it that you need to give thanks for right now?

You see, when I can give thanks to God for somebody else, there is something
that that does to my heart that is extremely significant, but it also does
something for their life more than I realize that is extremely significant. Paul
says, "I want you to pray for everyone. I want you to pray particularly for
kings and all those who are in authority.

" And he says, "I want you to do this so that we might live a peaceful and quiet
life in all godliness and holiness. " That's amazing to me. He is attaching my
ability to lead a peaceful life, a quiet life, but also a godly life and a holy
life to my prayers for others.

As you pray for others, recognize that that has an impact also on your life.
Pray that we would not live in turmoil and conflict with those who are in
authority, but that we would lead peaceful and quiet lives. Why?

Because that's the life that God has for you as a believer in Christ. Why?
Because that's the life that most attracts other people to Jesus Christ, the
peaceful and quiet life, the sense that you have a connection with God.

Your life isn't in turmoil. You're not in battle all the time. That's what
attracts people to Christ.

So pray that that would happen. I understand that in this world we are sometimes
in conflict with government, that government might be pushing something that,
when you take a look at God's Word, it's the exact opposite direction. And there
is a conflict there, no doubt about it, and we have to pray about that and work
through that.

But I have to admit that I sometimes get the feeling that some of us enjoy that
conflict. Not fight through it, not try to work through it, but we actually
enjoy it. In fact, we get our identity as a believer from being in conflict with
the government.

The problem is, when you allow that to happen, those who are not yet believers
look at you more as a crusader against government than as a follower of Jesus
Christ. They don't see you as someone with a peaceful and quiet life. They see
someone who objects.

They see someone who is angry. Now, just remember, as I'm commenting about this
with our government, that Paul wrote this to Christians who were facing conflict
with the Roman government that included persecution. And he says, "In this case,
you want to make sure you pray for those who are in authority over you.

" Now, as I say this, I want to be really clear. This does not mean that we
shouldn't fight for causes, for biblical causes. Of course we should.

It just means that we should balance our lives. And one of the ways that you
balance your life is by praying personally for those who are in authority over
you, especially those you have a conflict with. If you have a conflict with
someone, even if you don't know their name and they're in government somewhere,
some government office, you've never been able to meet them.

If you have a conflict as a believer in Christ, you better be praying for them.
You better be praying for them. So understanding what Paul says in these verses
means that you are praying for those that you have a conflict with.

And it also means that you recognize that Satan would love to minimize your
witness as a believer to a single cause rather than having people see that all
that you do grows out of your love for Jesus Christ and Jesus' love for you, the
depth of love that he has for you. And we've already prayed together today. We
usually pray at the end, but we prayed earlier.

So we're looking forward now to tomorrow. Tomorrow we're going to look at verses
three to seven, and we're going to focus on the good news of God's powerful
love.